170 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



of native life and ways that throw us back to the days 

 when few dwelt in New Zealand other than natives and 

 missionaries, and we shall see how far changes have been 

 made in the Maori forms of social life such as are likely to 

 benefit the race and be counted as factors in estimating the 

 possibilities of their continuance as a living force among the 

 colonists. 



The returns of the census that was taken in the month 

 of February, 1901, have now been published, and it would 

 appear from a memorandum, to the Hon. the Native Minister, 

 appended to Maori census returns by Mr. Under-Secretary Wal- 

 degrave, that there has actually been an increase in the Maori 

 population since 1896, when the previous census was taken, of 

 over 8 per cent. ; in other words, the native population is stated 

 as having risen from 39,851 in 1896 to 43,101 in 1901. This 

 result, it must be confessed, is most satisfactory as far as 

 figures are concerned, and when at the same time the returns 

 of the population show a marked diminution in the number of 

 half-castes there is reason to hope that the influences work- 

 ing for the betterment of the native race may yet have 

 the effect of staying their decadence and early disap- 

 pearance, such as has already come about in the case of 

 the Tasmanian natives. But although the census returns 

 have evidently been arranged and carried out with much 

 care by the official enumerators in the several districts, 

 and possibly few errors have been made, it is still very 

 doubtful whether the returns that have been made and 

 published at former periods when the census has been 

 taken were more than mere approximations. In 1867 the 

 estimated population of the native race was returned at 

 38,540, and in 1871 at 37,520. When the first census 

 attempted by the Colonial Government was made in 1874 

 the returns gave 45,470 as the native population, and in 1891 

 the numbers had fallen to 41,993. Then in 1896, as already 

 explained, the statistics of population gave only 39,854 ; but 

 since then a change has taken place of so marked a character 

 that it would appear as if some cause had been operating to 

 stay the constant diminution of population such as previous 

 censuses from 1874 had shown to be going on. No one who is 

 acquainted with the homes of the natives can doubt for a 

 moment that wherever there has been contact with the Euro- 

 peans improvements in many ways have taken place ; but 

 habit is a difficult thing to overcome, and men and women 

 who have lived under certain conditions for half a lifetime are 

 not likely to change suddenly their mode of living by merely 

 listening to what their children tell them of hygiene and the 

 way to maintain good health. 



The Eev. William Yate, in 1835, wrote in his book 



