Although the European history of orderly settlement on the shores of Port Nicholson commences with the appearance of the New Zealand Company in early 1840, sealers, whalers, and traders were established in the region for more than a decade prior to that date. The settlement's link with the New Zealand Company is commemorated in many names of shore features – Somes Island for a Deputy Governor of the New Zealand Company; Lambton Harbour and the reclaimed Lambton Quay after John George Lambton, later, Earl of Durham; Thorndon after the residence of Lord Petre in England; Point Jerningham after E. J. Wakefield, only son of E. G. Wakefield; Chaffers Passage after E. M. Chaffers, captain of the Tory; and Lowry Bay after the mate of the Tory.

According to Maori tradition, the discoverer of Wellington Harbour was the voyager Kupe who entered it and camped at what is now Seatoun. The names of Matiu and Makaro (Somes and Ward Islands) commemorate the occasion. There is no record that Kupe named the harbour itself. The traditional Maori name for the harbour is Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara, the Great Harbour of Tara. The elder son of Whatonga, Tara became the eponymous ancestor of the Ngati Tara tribe which was the first to settle permanently in the Wellington Harbour area. The first European to discover the harbour was Captain Cook in the course of his second voyage, on 2 November 1773, but he did not enter it on account of unfavourable winds. Again, in 1827, d'Urville mentioned the existence of the harbour but he, too, found conditions unfavourable for an entry. But in the previous year Captain Herd, who was in command of a preliminary expedition for the First New Zealand Company, with the ship Rosanna and the cutter Lambton (Captain T. Barnett), entered the harbour which he charted. He named it Port Nicholson after Captain John Nicholson, the then harbourmaster at Sydney, New South Wales.

Port Nicholson is a large natural harbour at the southern extremity of the North Island and on the north-eastern shore of Cook Strait. It has a maximum length of over 7 miles and a width of 5¾ miles. The harbour is land-locked with an entrance of just over a mile from shore to shore and as it is surrounded by hills over 1,000 ft high, it provides sheltered anchorage in a region where wind velocities may exceed 100 m.p.h. The depth of water over the great bulk of the harbour exceeds 10 fathoms. At the western side of the entrance to the harbour, Barrett Reef has proved a navigational hazard. One of the most remarkable groundings on this reef was that of the Wanganella in February 1947. For the unusual period of a fortnight the weather remained fine and the seas calm, thus permitting the successful salvage of the vessel. Other wrecks on Barrett Reef were the Earl of Salt Esk, 1875, Hunter, 1876, and Norma, 1927. The greatest number of wrecks have been on Pencarrow Head on the western side of the entrance. Of some 55 wrecks in Wellington Harbour since 1841, 30 have been at the heads and only four on the obvious navigational hazard of Barrett Reef. The reef was named after Richard (Dicky) Barrett, sealer, whaler, trader, interpreter, agent of the New Zealand Company, publican, and notable early citizen of Wellington.

Port Chalmers is situated on the northern shore of Otago Harbour, about 6 miles south-west of Taiaroa Head. The main residential part of the town occupies a hilly headland separating Koputai Bay (containing the port) on the north-east from Sawyers Bay on the south-west. The industrial and business section and the port are at the head of Koputai Bay. The Dunedin-Waitati highway and the South Island Main Trunk railway skirt the slopes directly above the town. By road or branch railway Port Chalmers is 9 miles north-east of Dunedin. Port Chalmers is regarded as part of the Port of Otago.

The chief primary industries of the district are mixed farming and market gardening, and the town functions as a deep-water port for Otago and serves as a base for commercial fishing. There are also large wool stores. The main industrial activities are marine and general engineering, the repair of ships, and boatbuilding. Two graving docks, which can accommodate vessels up to 530 ft in length, are maintained by the Otago Harbour Board.

During the early 1800s sealers visited the vicinity. In the early 1830s, when the Weller whaling station was established at Otakou, near Taiaroa Head, the nearby Sawyers Bay was exploited for timber. Other European explorers were Herd (1826), d'Urville (1840), and W. Mein Smith (1842), all of whom visited the port when inspecting Otago Harbour. Frederick Tuckett also passed through during 1844 when he was seeking a site for the New Edinburgh Settlement, his vessel, the Deborah, giving the name to the bay where it anchored. Formalities for the purchase of the Otago Block were completed on 31 July of that year at the head of Koputai Bay, which is now the town's business centre. Soon after C. H. Kettle's arrival in 1846, the town site was laid out. In 1872, when the importance of the port had increased, a private railway company constructed a line linking Dunedin and Port Chalmers. The first cargo of frozen meat for the London market left Port Chalmers in the Dunedin in 1882. The last expedition led by Captain R. F. Scott sailed in the Terra Nova from Port Chalmers for Antarctica on 28 November 1910. Municipal affairs were administered by a town board from 1846 to 1866, when the township was constituted a borough. The town was named after the Rev. Thomas Chalmers, leader of the Free Church of Scotland.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 2,682; 1956 census, 3,012; 1961 census, 3,120.

by Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.

• Port of Otago, McLintock, A. H. (1951)
• Port Chalmers – Gateway to Otago, Bowman, H. O. (1948).

Porirua City is situated in Hutt county at the head of the southern arm of Porirua Harbour, about 13 miles north of Wellington. Both the Wellington-North motorway and the North Island Main Trunk railway pass through the urban area, and a suburban rail service connects with Wellington. The urban area comprises the greater portion of the Porirua basin and includes the borough of Tawa-Linden as well as the former county towns of Porirua, Titahi Bay, and Takapuwahia.

The earliest inhabitants of the district were the Tini-o-Maruiwi who were moa hunters. About A.D. 1100 Whatonga and his sons Tara and Tautoki settled in the area, and their tribes – the Ngai Tara and Ngati Ira – remained in possession until the 1820s when they were replaced by Te Rauparaha's Ngati Toa. Following this invasion European whalers and traders appeared in the district. Among the earliest of these were Alexander Davidson, John Bell, and Archibald Mossman who occupied Mana Island intermittently from 1832 to 1834. In 1839 they were succeeded by the Fraser brothers, who introduced sheep into New Zealand on their Mana Island and Porirua properties. In 1832 there was a small timber and shipbuilding industry on the south-western shore of Porirua Harbour. This probably belonged to William Cooper, a whaler who had arrived in New Zealand three years earlier. In 1836 Joseph Toms built a permanent whaling station at Parramatta (now Paremata) Point near the present railway bridge. Toms also owned 160 acres of what is now Titahi Bay township. On 10 October 1839 Captain William Hays bought the whole of the Porirua basin, excluding Cooper's and Tom's portions, for goods to the value of £1,950. Shortly before 24 January 1840 Hays sold his deed to a syndicate of Sydney merchants who called themselves the Polynesian Company. In February 1840 Colonel Wakefield purchased the Porirua district from Te Rauparaha, Te Rangihaeata, and the same chiefs who had sold it to Hays three months earlier. Although the Polynesian Company imported cattle for its holdings in March 1840, these sales were invalidated by the pre-emptive clause in the Treaty of Waitangi. The Polynesian Company was later compensated in Government land scrip. Late in 1841 the New Zealand Company opened the district for selection and much of the bush was felled. During the Maori troubles of 1846 the Hutt Valley land war spread to the Porirua basin where five stockades, built by the settlers after the Wairau Affray, were garrisoned by units from the 58th Regiment. The 1855 earthquake raised the floor of Porirua Harbour and ended any hopes that it would ever rival Wellington as a port. Since then the district has developed as a farming centre. A small village grew up at Porirua after 1891 when the Psychiatric Hospital was established. In 1897 the population was only 669.

In 1945, when it was realised that the Hutt Valley would no longer contain Wellington's increasing population, the Government directed its State housing development to the Porirua basin, the first State house being erected there in 1949. From the outset Porirua was planned as a satellite town for Wellington. In recent years the growth of population in the Porirua area has been so rapid that by the end of 1964 the total had increased to 19,400. On 2 October 1965 Porirua achieved city status.

Tawa, long known as Tawa Flat, attained borough status in July 1951. Porirua and Takapuwahia became county towns on 12 December 1953 and 17 October 1957 respectively. The name Porirua, or “Parirua” as it was originally, was bestowed on the harbour by Kupe. It means “the place of two flowings of the tide”.

POPULATION: 1961 census, 15,844.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

(Allomycterus jaculiferus).

This belongs to a group of poisonous tropical fishes which have the ability of greatly inflating themselves when molested; long sharp spines embedded in the skin then become rigidly erect, as a means of defence. It is frequently trawled in North Island waters. It is white, often blotched, and spotted with brown and yellow.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

In considering the size of the future population, a significant fact which emerges is that the abnormally low birthrates of 1935 have created a wave formation in the population age structure which, unless it is consciously or accidentally corrected, will repeat itself in approximate 27-year cycles of low numbers of women in child-bearing age groups and low birthrates. Thus a considerable degree of distortion in the age structure of the population may remain for a long time, causing varying stresses and strains on those parts of the economic and social structure which have to deal with the resulting rapid changes in rates of growth. Economic conditions, which are comparatively unpredictable, are an important influence on births, but relative economic conditions which are entirely unpredictable are an even more important influence on migration.

Economic booms and depressions do not affect all countries in the same way. A predominantly primary producing country such as New Zealand is likely to be harder hit by a fall in world prices than is a predominantly manufacturing country such as the United Kingdom. As a result, we find a tendency for population to flow back to the United Kingdom in times of world economic depression.

A significant effect of this from the point of view of the growth of New Zealand population is that under difficult economic conditions there is a tendency towards migration outflow at the very time when the birthrate tends to fall owing to delayed marriages.

It will be obvious that forecasts of future population involve an element of uncertainty. This is due on the one hand to incomplete knowledge of the psychological, physiological, political, and economic factors underlying changes in fertility, mortality, and migration levels, and on the other hand to the difficulty of accurately forecasting the future course of those factors which are understood.

The figures of projected population shown in the table below have been prepared by the Department of Statistics, but it should be understood that these projections merely show the effect of the assumptions, listed with the table on the future growth of the existing population. The assumptions, however, have been adopted only after careful studies of trends in the patterns of fertility, mortality, and migration and, in the light of available current information, are regarded as those most likely to produce realistic projections over the length of the projection period.

by John Victor Tuwhakahewa Baker, M.A., M.COM., D.P.A., Government Statistician, Wellington.

• The latest available figures of population, migration, vital statistics, etc., are published in the Monthly Abstract of Statistics. The New Zealand Official Yearbook, published annually, includes sections on population and vital statistics, but the most comprehensive review of the New Zealand population is given in the various volumes of the Population Census. Another publication that should be consulted, especially for migration figures, is the annual Report on the Population, Migration, and Building Statistics of New Zealand

In pre-European days and until 1860, the larger part of the population of New Zealand was in the North Island. The South Island was the more densely populated from 1860 until 1900, largely because of the discovery of gold in the sixties, the relatively easy availability of land, and the South Island's freedom from Maori troubles. After 1900, when the populations of the two islands were roughly equal, the North Island went ahead rapidly. This was largely due to the Government's opening up of new lands suitable for dairy farming and available in small lots, which in turn led to improvements in communications culminating in the completion of the Main Trunk railway line from Wellington to Auckland in 1908. The South Island suffered both from the exhaustion of its goldfields and from the development of industry in the North Island centres with larger populations and easier access to world shipping routes, following the opening of the Panama Canal.

The following table shows the populations of the two islands over the past 35 years.

The great bulk of the Maoris has always lived in the North Island. Of the 167,086 Maoris enumerated at the 1961 census, 159,946 were in the North Island, and 7,140 in the South Island. The proportions these figures represent – almost 96 per cent of the Maori population shown as living in the North Island and only 4 per cent in the South Island – have varied relatively little since the first Maori census of 1857–58.

During the two periods, 1926–36 and 1936–45, the total net gain in population to the South Island was, in fact, lower than its gain through natural increase. The movement away from the South Island between 1936 and 1945 was largely due to wartime population disturbances, including the absence of troops overseas, together with the movement of workers to the clothing and munitions factories of the North Island, either voluntarily or under manpower regulations.

Since 1945 the tendency for the North Island to gain population more rapidly than the South has continued, although at a slightly diminished pace.

The population figures for counties are considerably affected by urban drift – the gradual movement of population from rural areas to the towns. This population trend is neither new nor peculiar to New Zealand. It is common to many countries and seems to mark a stage in economic development. Losses in population during the intercensal period 1956–61 were recorded by about half the counties – 61 out of a total of 121. Of these, 38 were among the 69 counties in the North Island, and 23 among the South Island's total of 52 counties.

Urban drift has taken place over a considerable period – with, however, a marked check between 1926 and 1936. Very severe depression conditions in the latter half of the decade probably constituted the main factor in this trend. Lack of employment in the towns acted as a deterrent to the urban flow, while many unemployed either returned to their homes in country districts or were sent through the Unemployment Board to rural areas to take part in relief works, gold prospecting, and small-farm schemes. Between 1936 and 1945 the marked acceleration in the movement from country to town was a direct result of wartime conditions. In the postwar period the urban drift has continued, though not at the same pace.

The following table shows urban and rural populations at the 1961 census, with the urban population subdivided according to the size of towns. All boroughs and town districts with less than 1,000 population have been classed with county population as rural, as have extra-county islands, while migratory (shipboard) population is excluded.

The table is subject to the disadvantage that a slight increase in the population of towns near the group maxima may throw their whole population into the next group, or a merger of local bodies may produce the same result.

Urban and rural communities are not evenly distributed. The South Island, for example, contains proportionately a greater rural population than does the North Island.

At the 1961 census a total of 1,439,802 people, amounting to 59·62 per cent of the total New Zealand population, was enumerated in the 18 urban areas. These urban areas are statistical conceptions and not administrative units. Their purpose is to provide definite, stable, and comparable boundaries for the larger centres of population. In addition to the central city or borough, they include neighbouring boroughs and parts of counties which are regarded as suburban to the centre of population. Moving from north to south, the 18 urban areas are Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Gisborne, Napier, Hastings, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Hutt, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin, and Invercargill.

The percentage of the population living in the urban areas has risen since 1956, when a total of 1,253,280 people, amounting to 57·65 per cent of the total population, was enumerated in these areas. This rise of 2 per cent between 1956 and 1961 is the most considerable intercensal rise since 1945. In 1936 the percentage of the population living in the 18 urban areas was 52·70 per cent. As there was a gap of almost 10 years – a period that included the Second World War – between the 1936 census and that of 1945, it is hardly surprising that the population living in urban areas was found to have risen by over 4 per cent, to a total of 56·92 per cent in 1945. Between 1945 and 1956, increases in the percentage of urban area dwellers in the total population were relatively slight. The figure was 57·44 per cent in 1951, and 57·65 per cent in 1956. It should be noted, however, that the dwellers in urban areas do not constitute the entire urban population of New Zealand. A large number of boroughs and county towns of considerable size are outside any urban area. This includes some boroughs with populations of over 10,000 such as Masterton, Blenheim, Ashburton, and Oamaru.

For many years past, over 70 per cent of the urban area population has been concentrated in five main centres – the urban areas of Auckland, Hutt, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. In recent censuses the percentage has tended to fall slightly from the peak of 73·64 per cent recorded in 1945, which was partly attributable no doubt to wartime conditions. The lower proportion of the total urban area population in these five centres (71·08 per cent in 1961) may indicate a tendency for urban area growth to be more evenly spread.

The urban areas as a whole are growing in population more quickly than the country as a whole. Between 1956 and 1961 urban area population increased by 14·9 per cent, whereas the total New Zealand population increased by only 11·08 per cent. The rate of growth varied considerably between different urban areas, ranging from 31·70 per cent in the urban area of Tauranga to 5·67 per cent in the urban area of Dunedin.

As cities become larger, a movement of population from the central areas to the perimeter or outer areas is commonly experienced. Among the main reasons for this is the demand for central sites for commercial and industrial purposes, with a consequent rise in values, and increases in local taxation. In New Zealand, as a result of this trend, the larger cities such as Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin are tending to develop “hollow centres” from the point of view of population. Paradoxically, while the taking-over of central building sites for shops, offices, banks, and places of entertainment etc., is resulting in a relative depopulation of the inner areas of the main cities, the very facilities and employment opportunities offered as a result of this development are largely responsible, along with the growth of suburban secondary industries, for attracting further population to the same cities, with a consequent urban spread.

Factors Affecting Increase and Decrease

General Survey: Between 1956 and 1961 the population of New Zealand increased by 240,922, or 11·08 per cent. This compared with a rise of 12·10 per cent between 1951 and 1956, and with a rise of 13·93 per cent during the previous intercensal period. When armed forces overseas are included, the percentage increase between 1956 and 1961 becomes 11·09 per cent; that between 1951 and 1956 remains at 12·10 per cent; while the increase between 1945 and 1951 falls to 11·08 per cent.

The following table shows the size of the total population of New Zealand from the census of 1858 to that of 1961. It also shows the increases between censuses, and the average annual percentage increase. There were no censuses of Maoris in 1851, 1861, 1864, 1867, and 1871, and these years have accordingly been omitted from the table.

1 Excludes members of armed forces absent overseas.

2Includes members of armed forces absent overseas.

Numerically, the increase in population between 1956 and 1961 is the highest intercensal increase recorded in New Zealand. The highest number previously recorded was between 1945 and 1951, but this was swollen by the return of the wartime servicemen from overseas. Of the total increase of 240,922 between the censuses of 1956 and 1961, natural increase (births less deaths) contributed 83·0 per cent. The balance was made up by migration (arrivals less departures).

The steady growth in the population of New Zealand is due to two factors: a relatively high rate of natural increase, especially among the Maori people; and continued immigration, especially from the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands.

Population sizes and relationships are part of a dynamic, not a static, problem. This reminder may appear unnecessary; but it is surprising how many fallacious statements arise from neglect of it. The dynamics of New Zealand population growth can be illustrated by the construction of a simplified table showing increases on a day by day basis. For this, 1964 birthrates and death rates and population figures have been used, and a migration inflow of 15,000 a year has been assumed.

The relative importance of births as an influence on population growth should be noted.

On a percentage basis comparison, the population increase is slower in the United States of America than it is in New Zealand, but in the former country the present population is some 70 times as large. To provide for comparison, most population studies are on a percentage, or per 1,000, basis. Here are the above New Zealand components of growth on this basis:

From the point of view of short-term changes in the size of the population, the annual inflows and outflows from births, deaths, and migration may provide the necessary data for study, but in considering the age structure of the population, the age groupings in which these inflows and outflows occur must also be noted. Again, for any longer-term study of population trends, we must be concerned with the present and future age structure of the population as well as with the inflows and outflows, because the birthrates and death rates to which the population will be subjected are closely related to its age structure.

Changing Age Structure: The following table, which is based on the previous table, gives an impression of the age distribution of the growth components. To give a proper impression of relative size, all figures are quoted per 10,000 of the total population. The age distribution of the population and of births and deaths is based on recent experience. Age distribution of the migration inflow is taken as the average for the period 1938–57.

To complete the picture for each age group, the numbers of people who pass out of an age group each year by reaching the lowest age for the following group must be noted. For convenience these are shown separately below. The figures are, however, directly comparable with those in the previous table.

*Births

The annual movements shown in this table form by far the largest growth components in all except the oldest age groups, and obviously they are closely related to the number of births in previous years. For example, the number of people reaching the age of 45 during the present year is affected to a degree by past migration and death rates, but it is mainly decided by the number of babies born 45 years ago. Thus, the past rates of growth of the population have an all-important influence on the present age structure. The fact that as much as 33 per cent of the New Zealand population is aged under 15, and 72 per cent under 45, does not of course indicate a high mortality rate. Its main cause is the rapid growth of population in the past.

Apart from changes in crude birthrates and the effects of mortality and migration, those in the age group 15 to 29 were born on average 15 years before those in the age group of the under fifteens. Their parents were part of the population which existed 15 years earlier. This fact, in a population growing as fast as New Zealand's, means that their parents were part of a population only three-quarters as large. Applying this sort of reasoning successively to higher age groups, it is easy to see that even where mortality rates are low and migration inflow quite high, a population which has grown rapidly for many years is going to have a very small proportion of its people in the older age groups and a very large proportion in the younger age groups.

The effects of rapid natural increase on age structure are clearly demonstrated in the pattern of Maori population. The result of the high rate of natural increase in recent years (38·14 per 1,000 in 1961: over twice that of the European population) is that 48 per cent of Maoris are below 15 years of age and almost three-quarters are below 30 years of age.

This effect of fast population growth – the tendency for those in the younger age groups to be relatively numerous – has many sociological effects. The high relative cost and burden of education and the difficulty in maintaining an adequate ratio of teachers to pupils in schools and universities are readily apparent, as is the relatively small burden of making adequate provision for the aged.

Younger Marriages

A population trend affecting the birthrate is that towards marriage at younger ages.

The table shows, from 1920 onwards, the proportions of men and women married at each age group to every 100 marriages.

It will be seen that the proportion of minors among persons marrying has been increasing over a fairly long period. In the latest available year, one bride in every three was under 21 years of age, the proportion for grooms being one in 12.

A comparison of the census tables of marital status for decennial age groups over a 35-year period – 1926 to 1961 – reveals an increased proportion of married persons in all age groups. The figures for the 16 to 24 years age group illustrate the trend towards younger marriages. From this group, in 1926, only 72 out of every 1,000 men and 183 out of every 1,000 women were married; in 1961 the proportions were 144 out of every 1,000 men and 347 out of every 1,000 women. In the 25 to 34 years age group, the proportions married increased from 575 to 756 per 1,000 men, and from 694 to 875 per 1,000 women in the same period. (Incidentally, the greater proportion of married women to married men in these age groups illustrates the tendency for men to marry women younger than themselves.)

The proportion of young marriages provides a barometer of economic conditions. Those married in the 16 to 24 years age group and the 25 to 34 years age group, showed a considerable increase at the 1945 census, and the proportion has risen steadily ever since; but the years between 1926 and 1936 saw a fall, due no doubt to the postponement of marriage by young people during the worst years of the economic depression. The 1956 rate for males in the 16 to 24 years age group was exactly double that of 1936 – 130 per 1,000 compared with 65 per 1,000.

Past and Present Reproduction Rates

It is obvious that changes in economic conditions affect the birthrate, primarily because difficult economic conditions lead people to delay marriage and so cut down the percentage of married women in the child-bearing age groups. It is also obvious that changes in the birthrate will be felt a generation later. For example, the birthrate in present-day New Zealand is adversely affected by the delayed marriages and consequent low birthrate of the 1930s. The girl-babies born in those years are the mothers (actual or potential) of today, and so the low birthrate in the 1930s shows itself today in a low percentage of women in the child-bearing age groups, which are usually considered to be those of from 15 to 44 years of age inclusive. The following table shows the percentages of the female population in the ante-reproductive, reproductive, and post-reproductive age groups at intervals from 1926 to 1961.

The effect of low birthrates in the past on present marriage rates and birthrates is of particular importance as it introduces the possibility of a cycle of low birthrates, low marriage rates, low birthrates, low marriage rates, and so on. This cycle, if it is left to work itself out, would have an approximate 27-year time period corresponding to the time between the birth of a girl and her reaching the maximum age of child bearing. Migration cannot affect these cycles very much, as the proportion of women in the child-bearing ages among migrants differs only by about 3 per cent from the proportion in the whole of the population.

Although it would appear that a cycle of low birthrates and low marriage rates began in the years around 1935, it is also true that we had high birthrates in the years around 1908; thus, if the theory of cycles is to hold without exceptions, the birthrates around 1935 should have been unusually high, whereas, in fact, they were exceptionally low. The reason for the apparent paradox seems to have been the trend towards delayed marriages which has been already noticed. In the 1930s, fewer women were married during those years when fertility was at its peak; and marrying later, they had fewer years of potential child-bearing before them. Similarly, in 1961, the relatively low percentage of women of child-bearing age was partly offset by the higher percentage of those women between 15 and 44 years of age who were actually married and bearing children.

Immigration

Apart from the depression periods of 1886–90 and 1931–35, the inflow of immigrants into New Zealand has always exceeded the outflow. Immigration booms during the last century have already been mentioned. During this century there were Government-sponsored immigration schemes between 1906 and 1914, and again between 1919 and 1926. In 1947, post-war labour shortages led to a revival of State-assisted immigration, the new policy allowing for the acceptance of certain classes of non-British immigrants. Of the 40,454 assisted immigrants who entered New Zealand between 1 April 1946 and 31 December 1956, 5,594 were from the Netherlands, 91 from Canada, and 113 from other European countries, mainly Austria and Germany.

At the end of 1958, it was decided to restrict assisted immigration by limiting male workers from the United Kingdom to skilled tradesmen, farm workers, and those with the requisite experience for essential industries. At the same time, the recruitment of German, Austrian, Danish, and Swiss migrants was terminated. In 1960 steps were taken to increase the recruitment of skilled workers, and in March 1961 the Government announced a plan to bring up to 5,000 assisted immigrants to New Zealand in that year.

In most years the net migration gain considerably exceeds the number of assisted immigrants, indicating that large numbers of intending residents come to New Zealand unassisted. The following table compares the numbers of assisted immigrants with the net migration figures in three-year groupings over a 15-year period.

The net migration inflow has varied considerably during this century – from an inflow of 11 per 1,000 for the period 1901–05 to a net outflow of rather more than one per 1,000 for the period 1931 to 1935. This is the most unpredictable of all the growth components, but fortunately it is also on average the smallest component.

Death Rates and Life Expectancy

Death rates for the New Zealand population have been comparatively stable during the twentieth century, the lowest five-year period being 1931–35, when the death rate was 8·2 per 1,000, and the highest (excluding the war periods) being the five years 1901 to 1905, when it was 9·9 per 1,000.

Until recent years the Maori death rate has been a disquieting feature. In 1941 it was double the European, but since that year it has fallen almost continuously. In 1958 the Maori death rate of 8·67 per 1,000 was not only the lowest on record, but was also slightly below that for Europeans. Infant mortality rates among the Maoris continue to give cause for concern, but the death rate among the race as a whole has, during recent years, continued slightly below that among Europeans. In the year ending 31 December 1964, the Maori death rate was 6·21 per 1,000 of mean population, while the European death rate was 9·00. A deduction of the death rates from the birthrates gives a natural rate of increase of 36·11 per 1,000 for the Maori population as compared with 13·61 per 1,000 for the European population.

There is obviously an intimate connection between the death rate and the average expectation of life. Life tables depicting the pattern of mortality over the age-span of life for the non-Maori component of New Zealand's population have been constructed at various times since 1880. The most recent tables are based on the 1956 population census, together with mortality statistics for 1955–57.

Since 1880 the improvement in non-Maori life expectancy for both sexes has been most striking for the younger ages but has been relatively small for the advanced ages. Progress in medical science, coupled with improved social conditions, has resulted in substantial reductions in mortality from infectious diseases among infants and children. On the other hand, diseases of middle and old age are less amenable to control.

Life expectancy at birth for a Maori male increased by 3·18 years in the interval 1950–52 to 1955–57, with that for females increasing by 2·80 years. This was a substantial increase in a short period, and is evidence that Maori life expectancy is improving at a fast rate.

Sex Proportions

In common with most newly developed countries, early nineteenth century New Zealand had a predominantly masculine population. At the first general census of Europeans, taken in 1851, the numbers of males and females were in the proportion of 4 : 3. Following the discovery of gold in 1857 and 1861, there was an influx of several thousand gold miners to the country, reducing the ratio of females to males from 765 per 1,000 in 1858 to 620 in 1861. The selected immigrants of the seventies helped to restore the balance between the sexes, and the proportion of females to males rose from 704 per 1,000 in 1871 to 817 per 1,000 in 1881. From the late seventies onwards, the growing effects of natural increase produced a more even balance.

The graph at top of page 829 illustrates the sex proportions of the European population from 1851 to 1961, and of the Maori population from 1926 to 1961. The high female proportion of 1945 is due solely to the absence of troops overseas. The figure adjusted to include the armed forces gives a more accurate picture of the sex ratio.

The proportion of females, which has increased steadily from 1906 to 1945 (disregarding the war year 1916, and including troops overseas in the 1945 calculation) has decreased slightly since 1945, partly due to a high proportion of male immigrants and possibly influenced by the absence of females overseas on working holidays. Parity of the sexes will probably be reached in a few decades, unless this high proportion of male immigrants continues to upset the trend.

The Maori population has a higher masculinity than the rest of the population, but the trend is for the proportion of females to increase.

Historical Trends – European

An estimated European population of 50 in 1800 had risen to 59,413 – about 51 per cent of the total population – in 1858. By 1901 Europeans formed 94·4 per cent of the population, and the proportion has changed very little since that time. In 1961, Europeans formed 93·1 per cent of the population. The following table shows the increases in European population from 1851 to 1961.

The European population has shown increases at every census, although with considerable fluctuations in the rate of growth. Until the late seventies, the chief source of increase was through immigration, which showed marked periods of boom and decline. The discovery of gold in 1861 was a dominant factor in the population increase of 157,024, or 160·38 per cent, during the period between the December 1861 and the February 1871 censuses. Another boom in population occurred between 1871 and 1881, when the population was almost doubled, largely as a result of Julius Vogel's vigorous public works and immigration policy. In the peak year of 1874 there was a net inflow of 38,106, of whom 32,118 were Government-assisted immigrants. The depression of the late eighties and early nineties brought about a virtual cessation of gains from migration, but by that time natural increase had become the main component of population growth.

The rate of natural increase of the European population reached its peak in 1876–80, when the rate was 29·41 per 1,000 persons, and then fell almost continuously to the trough of 1936, when the rate was 7·89 per 1,000 persons. Since the New Zealand death rate has always been relatively low and stable, the decline was almost wholly due to the birthrate which, in fact, fell from 41·21 per 1,000 in 1876–80 to 16·64 per 1,000 in 1936.

1 Figures from 1861 adjusted to exclude all Maori-European half-castes.

2 Excludes armed forces absent overseas at census date.

A declining birthrate was common to the Western World in the thirties, and the depression merely accentuated the decline. With the economic recovery of the late thirties, the birthrate began to rise, possibly as a result of marriages delayed by bad times. In 1940, the birthrate rose in the course of one year to the highest rate since 1925, and the increased marriage rates in early wartime sent it even higher in 1941. The fall in 1942-43 may be attributed to the absence of troops overseas, the general dislocation of population, and uncertain war prospects. In 1944, the easing of the immediate threat to New Zealand, the partial demobilisation of the home forces, and the presence of American troops were doubtless responsible for the rise, which was accelerated in 1945 with the return of peace conditions and the consequent very high marriage rate. In 1947 the birthrate reached a peak: at 26·47 per 1,000 it was the highest since 1906–12. The subsequent fall has been much slighter than was predicted, and the rate has remained fairly stable throughout the fifties. During the year 1961 the birthrate among the European population was 25·53 per 1,000.

Historical Trends – Maori

Until 1951 the term “Maori” was restricted for census purposes to full-blooded Maoris and Maori-Europeans of half or more Maori blood. In 1951 the definition was extended to include those of Maori – other Polynesian descent, and in 1956 it was further extended to include those of Maori – other than European origin, provided that they were of half or more Maori blood.

The following table shows the Maori population from 1857 to 1961 with numerical and percentage changes between each census. It must be emphasised that the earlier figures are (to quote the Registrar-General in 1858) “as nearly as could be ascertained by the zealous efforts of competent persons” rather than completely accurate records. While the numbers of Maoris in pre-European times can only be roughly estimated, it is certain that the advent of the European was followed by a long decline in Maori numbers which lasted almost to the end of the nineteenth century. This has been blamed on a number of factors:

1. Diseases hitherto unknown in New Zealand were introduced by the Europeans and took a heavy toll of the Maoris. Chief among these were typhoid, measles, venereal disease, and, above all, tuberculosis. Consumptive patients in crowded, unventilated sleeping huts spread this latter disease without check. The dispersal of kinsmen gathered in infected villages to mourn the dead carried typhoid from village to village.

2. In some parts, and especially in the Wairarapa and Wellington districts, the Maoris moved their villages from healthy hilltop sites to low, often swampy, ground. The decline of the old pagan religion led to a neglect of the sanitary code bound up with it, and the consequent pollution of lakes and streams.

3. Sick Maoris relied on the ministrations of their priestly healers, the tohungas, whose traditional remedies were useless against the introduced diseases.

4. Child mortality was very high. The enumerator in Taranaki in 1891 reported that probably not more than one in three Maori children would survive to maturity.

5. Heavy casualties were sustained in tribal warfare following the introduction of firearms and, during the sixties, in the Maori Wars.

6. A feeling of race-despair and loss of “mana” engendered by loss of land to the European, by defeat in war, and by the general breakdown in health.

1 Exclusive of members of armed forces overseas.

2 Inclusive of members of armed forces overseas.

Contemporary reports frequently state that those tribes more remote from contact with Europeans were healthier and had more children. Between 1857 and 1874 the Maori population declined by 8,719 or nearly 16 per cent. By 1896 the number of Maoris had fallen from a probable 200,000 or more in pre-European times to 42,113.

The twentieth century, however, saw a resurgence of vitality among the Maori people. In recent years their high rate of increase has provided a strong contrast to the long decline during the nineteenth century, when Maori and Pakeha alike seem to have concluded that the race was doomed. The decline was reversed at the beginning of this century, and each census since 1901 has seen an increase. Since 1921 the Maori race has increased at a higher rate than the European, although the European population has received considerable increments from immigration, whereas the Maori population has relied on natural increase. In the year ended 31 December 1961, the Maori birthrate was 46·41 per 1,000 of mean population, the highest rate recorded during the decade.