Emphasis has always been placed upon the stocking of New Zealand with people from the British Isles. This is very apparent from Diag. 2, which depicts the numbers of immigrants in the population at census dates from 1861 to 1961, and divides them into the principal countries of birth. The first noticeable feature is the overall trend. The number of persons born overseas rose steadily in the first 20 years, but since then it has risen or fallen within comparatively narrow limits despite a fourfold increase in total population. A second prominent feature is the very high proportion of persons from the British Isles throughout the entire period. The peak year was probably 1926.

In the latest year (1961) there were, however, actually fewer from the British Isles than in 1886, or in the period 1911 to 1926. Thus the proportion at 67 per cent of all immigrants was the lowest recorded. This was largely due to the 75-year decline in the numbers of Irish, who totalled 51,400 in 1886 and only 17,800 in 1961. Other points of note are (i) the relative consistency in the numbers of Scottish immigrants; (ii) the fluctuations in the numbers of Australians – with a bulge in the early 1900s; and (iii) the fairly marked rise in recent years of “other British” and foreign immigrants. In the 1961 census 338,673 persons indicated that their birthplace was other than New Zealand – the largest number in our history and surpassing the previous highest census figure of 1926 by 16,500. Nevertheless, the high rate of growth of New Zealand born resulted in the overseas born being the lowest proportion of the total population yet recorded (14 per cent, compared with 24 per cent in 1926).

Of those who indicated in the 1961 census that they were born overseas, 227,459 stated their birthplace as the United Kingdom and Ireland, 35,412 as Australia, 2,863 as Canada, and 2,191 as Africa. If we regard these as all of British stock, together with a few smaller groups which can be similarly identified, it may be said that persons of British origin accounted for some 79 per cent of all persons born out of New Zealand (compared with 82 per cent in the previous census). Of the rest, 21,206 (63 per cent) came from other Commonwealth countries and island dependencies, leaving 49,066 as foreign born (other than persons from Eire). The foeignr born represent only 14·5 per cent of the total overseas born and only just over 2 per cent of the total population. More than one-third (17,844) were Dutch. Other countries of origin included China, 4,194; Yugoslavia, 3,534; U.S.A., 2,616; Scandinavian countries, 2,507; Germany, 2,269; Poland, 2,140; Hungary, 1,496; and Italy, 1,427.

Including persons born in New Zealand, people of other than European or Maori race totalled 31,012 at census date in 1961 – only a little more than 1 per cent of the total population. A third of these were mixed with European or Maori blood. Polynesians comprised 14,340, most of whom were post-war arrivals; 8,524 were Chinese; 4,179 were Indians; and 124 were Pakistanis.

Asian Races. The gold rushes of the sixties introduced the first considerable number of non-British immigrants, especially Chinese. These came initially from Australia but later direct from China, the census in 1874 recording 4,814 Chinese residents. Prejudice against Chinese immigrants resulted in special restrictions on their entry to New Zealand, including a poll tax introduced in 1881 and not removed until 1944. Because of these measures Chinese immigration was very slight for some 60 years, but there has been a resumption on a small scale in the past 20 years, especially of women and families of local Chinese. At census date in 1961, 66 per cent of overseas born Chinese women had arrived in New Zealand since 1946, compared with 38 per cent of Chinese men. Forty-one per cent of immigrant Chinese men had been in New Zealand for 30 years or more, and among the overseas born, men outnumbered women by more than three to two. In 1956 the figures had been almost four to two. More than half the Chinese now in New Zealand have been born here.

The only other Asiatic group of importance, but of more recent origin than the Chinese, comprises Indians and Pakistanis. Of the 4,403 recorded in the 1961 census, 2,501 (58 per cent) were born out of New Zealand and 1,823 (73 per cent of those born overseas) had arrived since 1946. Some of the Indians in New Zealand have come from Fiji.

From Northern Europe. The 1864 census showed that 505 persons were born in France – evidence of the early French interest in New Zealand – and 1,999 born in Germany, many of whom had just come from Australia. But the principal period of early European immigration was during the seventies and eighties when nearly 8,000 European migrants were assisted to New Zealand. The largest groups were German (3,185), Danish (2,009), Norwegian (743), and Swedish (727). Most of the Scandinavians came in under the “special settlements” schemes of land development, and settled in the Manawatu block and in the Seventy-mile Bush at Norsewood and around Dannevirke. Independent German immigration continued until 1914 (there were 3,400 German settlers between 1900 and 1914), but after that it virtually stopped except for the arrival of refugees from the Nazi regime prior to the Second World War. Most of the Polish residents came either in 1944 among the Polish refugees or among the displaced persons in 1949 to 1953.

Southern Europeans. A nucleus of 300 Italians arrived under the Government schemes from 1875 to 1877, and a small but uneven flow has continued. Most of the Italians are found in Wellington, Auckland, Nelson, and Canterbury. The first Yugoslavs (principally Dalmatians) came later than the Italians, worked the Northland gum fields, and later settled on some of the poorer land. Today about 80 per cent of them are found in Auckland and Northland. Most of the Yugoslavs now in New Zealand are of long residence.

Another old-established racial group in New Zealand is composed of Syrians and Lebanese. Most of them live in the cities, particularly in Auckland, Wellington, and Dunedin. In the 1961 census 1,082 persons so described themselves, but 84 per cent were born in New Zealand, demonstrating that the original migration took place many years ago.