1866 - The New Zealand Handbook (11th ed.) - CHAPTER VII. STATISTICAL AND GENERAL INFORMATION.

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CHAPTER VII.

STATISTICAL AND GENERAL INFORMATION, &C, &C.

The General Statistics of New Zealand are published by the New Zealand Government in a most useful "Blue Book" every third year--but, in a young and growing Colony like New Zealand where the "change and progress" is almost as great in twelve months, as, in some old, grown, countries, it is in twelve years, such "Blue Book" might, we think, be very advantageously published every year.

Table showing the progress made by New Zealand in the last four years--notwithstanding, that during this period half the colony (the North Island) was paralysed by a "Native War."

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Estimated Colonist Population, with Agricultural and Pastoral Statistics, of the Nine Provinces on the 1st January, 1866.

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Estimated "Nationalities" of New Zealand's present pioneering Colonist Population.

In each 100, there are of English born people...... 35
" " New Zealand " ...... 30
" " Scotch " ...... 16
" " Irish " ...... 8
" " Welsh " ...... 1
" " Australian " ...... 5
" " Nova Scotians, Cape Colony people, Americans, French, German and other Foreigners.....5
[TOTAL] 100

Marriages, Births, Deaths. --In the year 1863, when the Population was about 175,000, there were 1,500 Marriages, 5,100 Births, 1,900 Deaths.

Number of Vessels entering the Ports of New Zealand in the year 1863 -- 1,250 -- tonnage, 420,000 tons.

Letters received and despatched in the year 1864...... 4,200,000
Newspapers " " ...... 4, 300,000

Quantity of Wild Land sold under the Land Regulations described in Chapter V. by the Nine Provincial Governments in the year 1864: Town Lots 650 acres--Suburban Lots 6,000 acres-Country Land 700,000 acres: total sum received for Land Sales in 1864 £600,000. Land granted away in Free Grants, from 1856 to 1864, 300,000 acres.

Retail Shop Prices, varying in the different Provinces; but, on the average about as follows: --

Bread.... 3d. to 3 1/2d. per lb.
Beef and Mutton.. 7d. to 8d. "
Pork.....5d. to 6d. "
Butter (fresh)... 2s. 0d. to 2s. 6d. "

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Milk .... 5d. to 6d. per quart
Tea......3 0 per lb.
Coffee.....1 6 "
Sugar.....0 6 "
Cheese.....1 5 "
Salt......0 1 1/2 "
Rice......0 4 "
Tobacco.....6 0 "
Brandy; .....25 0 per gallon
"Wine " .... 20 0 "
Firewood.....10 0 per cord 1
Coals.....30 0 per ton

Vegetables are about the same price as at home. Fruit, except peaches and melons, is, as yet, scarce and dear.

Clothing, Hardware, Soft Goods, and most British manufactures, purchased at the counter, are on the average, from a third to a fourth dearer than in the Mother Country. The clothing worn, however, being of a plainer, more homely sort, the actual outlay of a family for apparel in New Zealand is, probably, no greater than in England.

RENTS. --Except for the first month or two, and in two on three of the larger towns, houses are not generally rented, most families soon getting to live in their own. But rents, generally, are full twice as high as in England, --two-room cottages letting at from 10s. to 12s. a-week, and four room at from 20s. to 30s.

EXPENSES OF LIVING. --Remembering that most people in New Zealand live, or soon may live, on their own little freeholds, where fall half of one's table, and most of one's fuel may be obtained from the land, and that groceries and other things may frequently be bought very cheap at merchants' auction sales, where two or three neighbours will join and buy bags of sugar, chests of tea, &c., it may certainly be said that the actual cash outgoings for living are, in the end, quite as little in New Zealand as in England, and sometimes less.

WAGES.
(Without Rations.)

N. B. --There is plenty of work at high wages for Boys and Girls of 14 years of age and upwards.

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(With Rations, or Living in the House.)

CURRENCY AND BANKS. --The currency is exactly the same as in England, each coin bears the same positive and relative value. The Bank of New Zealand, 50, Old Broad Street; 2 and the Union Bank of Australia, 38, Old Broad Street, London, are the two chief London-New Zealand Banks. They have branches in all the chief Settlements of the Colony, and issue letters of credit thereon; they also collect bills, remit monies (at either end), and transact all sorts of monetary business between the Colony and the Mother Country. The rate of interest allowed by the Banks in New Zealand on deposits for fixed periods of six months is about £5 per cent.; for periods of twelve months and longer about £6 per cent.

THE TARIFF.
Customs Duties chargeable under the "New Customs Duties Act, 1864," in all Ports of New Zealand.

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Duty Free.

14. Anchors and chains, and rod, bolt, bar, sheet, hoop, and pig iron and nails, sail-cloth, cordage, twine, cotton, yarn, bags, sacks, and wool packs, spirits of tar and turpentine, tobacco for sheep-wash, nuts of all kinds, powder (fit only for blasting purposes), and all unenumerated goods, wares and merchandise.

POSTAL REGULATIONS. --Hitherto, the Mail Service between England and New Zealand has been wholly, and we must add, badly, performed by the Indian Steamers of the P. & O. Company, leaving Southampton on the 21st and Marseilles on the 28th of each month, by way of the Red Sea, Galle, and Melbourne, the course of post being from 65 to 70 days. Now, however, an additional monthly service, direct between England and New Zealand, has been established by the "Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company," in conjunction

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with the West Indian Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, whose steamers leave Southampton on the 2nd of every month for New Zealand, via St. Thomas, Panama, and the South Pacific, and whose contract-time for the delivery of the mails at Wellington is only 49 days. 3

The following is the official circular lately issued by the General Post Office respecting this new Panama Postal Line; and undoubtedly the New Zealand letter-writing public of this country will largely avail themselves of a new service which, there and back, actually shortens the course of post to New Zealand by more than a whole month:--

MAILS FOR NEW ZEALAND AND THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES VIA PANAMA.

The Government of New Zealand have entered into a contract with the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company for a Monthly Mail Service by Steam Vessels from Panama to Wellington (New Zealand) with branch services to the other ports of New Zealand, as well as to Sydney and Melbourne. These vessels are appointed to sail from Panama on the 24th of every month, after the arrival of the Mails despatched from England by the West India Mail Packets of the 2nd of the month from Southampton. The New Zealand Mails will accordingly be made up at the London Office at 8 o'clock in the MORNINGS 4 of the 2nd of every month, for transmission by the new Panama Line of Mail Packets. When, however, the 2nd of the month falls on Sunday, the Mails will be made up on the morning of the 3rd. The following are the rates of postage upon the correspondence so forwarded, and these rates must be prepaid: --with "via Panama" marked on the envelope, newspaper, or cover--otherwise, they will be sent by the old, roundabout, route of the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Galle, and Melbourne.

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RATES OF POSTAGE.

LETTERS.

NEWSPAPERS, BOOK PACKETS AND PATTERNS.

NEWSPAPERS, BOOK PACKETS AND PATTERNS.

CHIEF OFFICERS OF THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT OF NEW ZEALAND.

Governor, Commander-in-Chief and Vice-Admiral .... His Excellency Sir Geo. Grey, K. C. B
Premier and Colonial Secretary (also temporarily acting as Colonial Treasurer, Postmaster-General and Minister of Customs) ........Hon. E. W. Stafford.
Attorney-General .......Hon. J. Prendergast.
Defence Minister ........ Hon. Col. Haultain.
Native Minister........ Hon. Col. Russell.
Auditor-General ........ Chas. Knight, Esq., M. D.
Chief Land Commissioner ....... Alfred Domett, Esq.
Registrar-Genera I.......... J. B. Bennett, Esq., M. D.

MEMBERS OF NEW ZEALAND'S "LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL."
(Life Peers.)

Hon. John Barton Arundel Ackland ............ of Canterbury.
Hon. Sir George Alfred Arney..................... of Auckland.
Hon. William Douglas Hall Baillie............... of Marlborough,
Hon. Thomas Houghton Bartley.................. of Auckland.
Hon. Andrew Buchanan.............................. of Otago.

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LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL--(Continued).

Hon. Henry Joseph Coote........................... of Wellington.
Hon. James Coutts Crawford ..................... of Wellington.
Hon. George Cutfield................................. of Taranaki.
Hon. John Anderson Gilfillan ..................... of Auckland.
Eon. John Hall ....................................... of Canterbury.
Hon. John Johnston ................................. of Wellington.
Hon, William Henry Kenny........................ of Auckland.
Hon. James Du Pre Lance ........................ of Canterbury.
Hon. George Leslie Lee.............................. of Canterbury.
Hon. James Menzies ................................. of Southland,
Hon, Henry John Miller ........................... of Otago.
Hon, Francis Scott Pillans ........................ of Otago.
Hon. Daniel Pollen.................................... of Auckland.
Hon. James Prendergast ........................... of Otago.
Hon. Thomas Renwick .............................. of Nelson.
Hon. Matthew Richmond, C. B...................... of Nelson.
Hon. James Crowe Richmond ..................... of Nelson.
Hon. James Rolland ................................. of Otago.
Hon. Andrew Hamilton Russell .................. of Hawkes Bay,
Hon. John. Charles Watts Russell ............... of Canterbury.
Hon. Henry Russell ................................. of Hawkes Bay.
Hon. John Salmon.................................... of Auckland.
Hon. Arthur Penrose Seymour ................. of Marlborough,
Hon. Robert Stokes ................................. of Wellington,
Hon. Alfred Roland Chetham Strode ............ of Otago.
Hon. William Swainson.............................. of Auckland.
Hon, Henry John Tancred ...................... of Canterbury.
Hon. John Parkin Taylor ........................... of Southland.
Hon. Henry Walton ................................. of Auckland.
Hon. George Stoddart Whitmore................. of Hawkes Bay,

SPEAKER--Hon. T. H. Bartley. CLERK--Leonard Stowe, Esq.

MEMBERS OF NEW ZEALAND'S HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
(M. P. s)

We regret that we cannot here give a list of the present Hon. Members of New Zealand's young House of Commons, the general election not being over at the date of our last despatches from the Colony. Their number, in these early days, is 70; and at present they are sent to the House by the nine provinces in the following proportion:--

Auckland .................. 15
Taranaki .................. 3
Hawkes Bay............... 2
Wellington ............... 9
North Island........... 29
Nelson ..................... 6
Marlborough............... 3
Canterbury ............... 13
Otago....................... 15
Southland.................. 4
South Island.............. 41

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SUPERINTENDENTS (Lieut.-Governors) OF THE NINE PROVINCES.

Auckland.................. His Honor Robert Graham.
Taranaki .................. His Honor Charles Brown.
Hawkes Bay.............. His Honor Donald Mac Lean.
Wellington ............... His Honor Isaac Earl Featherston.
Nelson ..................... His Honor Alfred Saunders.
Marlborough ............ His Honor Thomas Carter.
Canterbury ............... His Honor Samuel Bealey.
Otago ..................... His Honor Thomas Dick.
Southland.................. His Honor J. A. R. Menzies.

Judges of the Supreme Court.

BISHOPS.

Metropolitan Bishop of New Zealand...... G. A. Selwyn.
Bishopric of Wellington........... C. J. Abraham.
" Nelson ..................... A. B. Suter.
" Christchurch............... H. C. Harper.
" Waiapu .................... W. Williams.
" Otago...................... H. L. Jenner.

DISTANCE TABLE
(By Weekly Intercolonial Steamers.)

N. B. --From Wellington to Napier (Hawke's Bay) 210 Miles; from Wellington to Picton (Marlborough) 50 miles; from Auckland (by East Coast) to Napier, 370 miles.