Walsh. — The Passing of the Maori. 175 



The Official Year-book states that each time the census has 

 been taken since 1896 there has been a considerable increase in 

 the number. A similar statement will never be made in connec- 

 tion with any future census, and for the following, reason : In 

 former years it was impossible to arrive at anything more than a 

 very casual estimate. The system of enumeration was more or 

 less rough-and-ready, no particular care was taken in the appoint- 

 ment of reliable officers, and Maori information had to be largely 

 relied on. The Maori mode of computation was based on the 

 number of able-bodied men in a hapu or hainga, the women 

 and children being thrown in by a rough guess ; and, as the 

 Maoris were somewhat suspicious of the motives of the Govern- 

 ment, their returns were often purposely below the mark. As 

 time went on the enumeration was made with increasing accu- 

 racy, but it was only on the last occasion that it was made on 

 the lines of the European census — viz., by a systematic house- 

 to-house visitation by properly qualified officials, who were 

 accompanied on their rounds by intelligent and trustworthy 

 Maoris. The rise in the figures is therefore only due to the 

 increasing accuracy of the returns, numbers being each time in- 

 cluded that would have escaped in former calculations. Finality 

 has now been reached, and the next census will show that the 

 Maori population, instead of increasing, has been diminishing 

 all the time, and that if the present rate of declension continues 

 it must soon reach the vanishing-point. 



APPENDIX. 

 Article 2 of the Treaty of Waitangi. 



'' Her Majesty the Queen of England confirms and guaran- 

 tees to the chiefs of New Zealand, and to the respective families 

 and individuals thereof, the full, exclusive, and undisturbed 

 possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other 

 properties which they may collectively or individually possess, 

 so long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their 

 possession ; but the chiefs of the united tribes and the individual 

 chiefs yield to Her Majesty the exclusive right of pre-emption 

 over such lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to 

 alienate, at such prices as may he agreed upon between the 

 respective proprietors and persons appointed by Her Majesty 

 to treat with them in that behalf." 



