The Wairarapa is located on the eastern side of the southern part of the North Island, bounded on the west by the Tararua Range and on the east by the Pacific Ocean. Some 40 miles wide, the region extends over a distance of 80 miles from Palliser Bay in the south to the Manawatu Gorge in the north. Included within these limits are the counties of Pahiatua, Akitio, Eketahuna, Mauriceville, Castlepoint, Masterton, Wairarapa South, and Featherston, which, with their boroughs and cities, form the basic units for the presentation of statistics. The figures for Castlepoint County, which is now part of Masterton County, are not shown separately in the statistical table, having in every case been included within the Masterton County totals. Masterton (population 15,128, 1961) is the principal town of the region which in 1961 had a total population of 43,141 (1·78 per cent of the national total), 5·38 per cent of which were classified as Maoris.