STATISTICS AND RETURNS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 166, 14 July 1892, Page 11

STATISTICS AND RETURNS.

The beer duty collected' in the colony • during last month was £4,169, : The revenue returns for the colony for the March quarter, show a neb surplus for bhe year of £165,570. . \J : ' The excess of arrivals over departures in June is about 50 or 60, but the 6gures will probably bo slightly reduced when checked by pursers' returns. The colony's railway revenue for the four weeks ended March 28, amounted to £95,509 Is lid, of which the Auckland lines contributed £7,998 Is 6d. - - The amounb deposited in the Post Office Savings Bank during the past financial year was £1,842,987; withdrawn, £1,693,515; excess of deposits, £149,472. In May 1,859 men were employed on co-operative works at Wellington, under Governmenb supervision. Their average earnings for the monbh were 7s 6d per day. Tbe Customs revenue collected in the colony last month amounted to £115,033, the estimate being £131,250. The total revenue for the .firsb quarter of this financial year was £377,511. J The deaths during May in the Principal WellingtonborqughanUmbered 197; Birth's.! 394. Palmerston North, with a population of 4,303, appears in the list for the first time this month. The births show a decrease of 31, and the deaths an increase of 15 on the April returns. . The revenue is coming in vory well this quarter as compared with the corresponding quarter of last year. The Customs, in particular, promises that it will bo much better this year than either in 1890 or 1891 ; the railway revenue also shows' unusually good results. .It must of course be remembered thab the fir_t quarter's return is not an infallible indication of the year's receipts, but Ministers are well satisfied and consider the outlook for the colony very bright. The railway returns for April and May show a gratifying increase, principally in grain and merchandise. The increase is upwards of £12,000 in the revenue, and thoro is a prospect of its continuance, as owing to the lateness of the harvest and the condition of country roads, the graincarrying season will extend for a longer period than usual, and feed the South Island railways especially. In passenger traffic also there is an increase, some hundred thousand more persons having been carried on the railways than fn the. corresponding two montha of 1891. This is accounted for mainly by the Easter holidays falling within the above bi-monbhly period this year. Further results of the census of the sbh April, 1891, relating to the occupations of the people, are now published, and show that among our bread-winners those engaged in agricultural, pastoral, mineral and other primary pursuits make up a total of 90,546. They are followed at some distance by the industrials with about 70,500, and still further on. come the commercial population, numbering 43,195. The dependent or non-bread-winners are, .of course, 'a greab in "'themselves. . "Kiey figure up nearly 374,000 sous, or aboub halt as much again as bho independents. This state, of affairs, however, is likely to be; changed ;when our female population .get a little more power into their, fair hands. An examination of the occupations of the different classes of tho community reveals the fact that while we have only 1,135 persons ministering to our spiritual wants, 24 times that number are providing for the protection of our material bodies in lodging-houses, etc. We are indebted to aboub 12,000 persons forprovidinguawibhfoodand drink, spirituous and other. Of domestic servants there is no scarcity in the l-eporb, whatever our housewives may find in their own experience. Wo have aboub 3,000 persons who are in bhe happy condition of not requiring to work for a living, and 495 who either have to steal to make one, or cannot make it withoub coming in some way under the ban of the law. Surrounded as we are by the sea, it is not - astonishing thab we have nearly 2,000 fishermen, or almost twice as many as are engaged aa fishers of men. As far as health is concerned, we will no doubt compare favourably with the other colonies. Yet we havo our sick, our halt and our blind. The latter number 274 persona, and the deaf and dumb 166. The number of persons whom the reporb regards as insane is only some 1,798. The censuscollectors bad/evidently been told to put a lenient construction on the actions of their fellow men. Thore is only one solitary individual, according to the report, who deals in arms and explosives, while the number engaged as general dealer?, undefined, is 4,913. The Shaw; Savill and Albion Company have given notice of action againsb the Lyttelton Harbour Board, to recover £151 tor injury to the ship Cockermouth, which was damaged by a collision with the shijtj Soukar, when the latter broke her moorings in.Lyttelton hajbour during a .gale a few weeks ago. •—<--'"■- ■■■■'-fl***- ■■ j