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Warning

This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

Statistics of the Wanganui-Rangitikei Region

Urban Population
Town 1911 1936 1951 1961 1961 Maoris
Wanganui 14,843 23,178 27,254 33,316 1,249
Marton 1,438 2,737 3,475 4,319 293
Taihape 1,577 2,183 2,344 2,682 217
Raetihi 399 1,182 1,153 1,343 341
Ohakune 743 1,394 1,621 1,542 363
Bulls 519 527 693 1,217 42
Total 19,519 31,201 36,540 44,419 2,505
County Population
County 1911 1936 1951 1961 1961 Maoris
Waitotara 2,213 3,672 3,576 3,301 301
Wanganui 3,549 3,822 3,763 3,505 989
Rangitikei 8,523 10,468 10,480 13,689 1,995
Waimarino 3,009 3,173 3,488 2,321 709
Total county 17,294 21,135 21,307 22,816 3,994
Total region 36,813 52,336 57,847 67,235 6,499
Land Occupation
County Average Area of Holdings 1960 Area Occupied 1960
acres acres
Waitotara 499 209,890
Wanganui 778 286,175
Rangitikei 713 866,527
Waimarino 1,142 402,003
Cows in Milk
County Cows in Milk Dairy Cows in Milk per 100 Sheep Shorn 1960
1921–22 1951–52 1959–60
Waitotara 6,745 7,183 5,887 2·18
Wanganui 4,466 4,722 4,046 0·82
Rangitikei 15,437 16,631 13,323 0·84
Waimarino 3,702 3,507 2,220 0·54
Total 30,050 32,043 25,476 ..

Wanganui remains the important regional centre for commerce and retailing, and the city council has sought to attract industry to the area. As an overseas port Wanganui is no longer significant, although the inwards coastal traffic in 1964 amounted to 90,407 tons (cement, manure, coal, and cereal products predominating). The coastal outward trade was only one-tenth of the inward figure. Marton, at the junction of the Main Trunk and the Taranaki line, has a number of factories, but it is largely a centre for the rural population, as is Bulls, which, in addition, gains some trade from the large volume of the passing motor traffic. The other settlements of the coastal areas are little more than villages – Fordell, Turakina, Kai Iwi, Waitotara, and Waverley. At Ratana Pa there is a Maori settlement composed of the adherents to the Ratana movements.

Co-creator
Samuel Harvey Franklin, B.COM.GEOG., M.A.(BIRMINGHAM), Senior Lecturer, Geography Department, Victoria University of Wellington.