The Governor, who is, by virtue of his office, commander-in-chief of the troops, has a salary of 5,000l. and of 2,500l. allowance. The general administration rests with a responsible ministry, consisting of about seven members. The following is a list of the present Ministry : Premier and Colonial Treasurer, also Commissioner of Customs . . Colonial Secretary and Minister of Education Minister of Public Works Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Hon. H. A. Atkinson. Hon. Wm. Rolleston. Hon. Thomas Dick. Hon. E. Mitchelson. Hon. E. T. Conolly. Hon. R. Oliver. The control of native affairs, and the entire responsibility of dealing with questions of native government, were transferred in 1863 from the Imperial to the Colonial Government. In 1864 the seat of the general Government was removed from Auckland to Wellington, on account of the central position of the latter city. Four second-class torpedo boats are (December 1884) being built in England for the defence of the colony. The volunteer force of the colony had a strength of 5,732 officers and men in 1884; there is, besides, an armed constabulary of 1,059 officers and men. Church and Education. There is no State Church and no State aid given to any Church. When the class settlements of Canterbury and Otago were originally formed the bodies in connection with the Church of England and the Free Church of Scotland obtained certain endowments, which they still retain. According to the census of 1881, 41.50 per cent. of the population (exclusive of Maories) belonged to the Church of England, 23.09 were Presbyterians, 9.52 per cent. Methodists, other Protestant sects represented being Baptists, Independents, Lutherans, Friends, and Unitarians. The total Protestants numbered 387,767, and Roman Catholics 68,984, or 14:08 per cent. of the population. There are 1,536 Jews, 4,936 Pagans, and 13,978 objected to state their religion. The University of New Zealand is solely an examining body, and grants degrees by virtue of a Royal Charter. It awards a number of scholarships to be held by students at affiliated colleges. In addition to four institutions of minor importance there are three affiliated colleges, viz:-Otago University at Dunedin, with 8 professorial chairs and 4 lectureships; Canterbury College at Christchurch, with 6 professorial chairs and 1 lectureship; and University College at Auckland, with 4 professorial chairs. There are (December 1883) 25 incorporated or endowed secondary schools, with 64 teachers and 2,209 pupils. The colonial primary school system is administered by an education department under a minister, 12 education boards, and 798 school committees. There are 943 public primary schools with 2,291 teachers, and 92,476 pupils ; 257 private schools with 625 teachers and 11,255 scholars; 10 reformatory schools and orphanages with 1,525 inmates, and 250 children boarded out with foster parents; 66 native schools, with 116 teachers and 1,923 scholars; and a deaf and dumb institution with 3 teachers and 32 pupils. In 1883-84 the amount expended from the Colonial Treasury on education of all kinds was 376,3361. The Otago and Canterbury University Colleges are munificently endowed. Education is obligatory, and at the public primary schools is free and secular. In 1881 the proportion above five years who could not read nor write (exclusive of Maories and Chinese) was 7.91. Revenue and Expenditure. The revenue of the colony may be divided into ordinary and territorial revenues. The chief source of the ordinary revenue is from customs receipts on imports, 1,396,6867. in 1883-4, receipts from railways, 963,1187. in 1883-4, stamp duties, 471,858l., property tax, 268,7741., telegraphs, 92,8711., and excise on beer, 57,0167. All property in excess of 500l. held by one person is subject to property tax. The average per head of taxation in 1883 was 31. 18s. 7d. (exclusive of Maories). The territorial revenue includes receipts from sales of crown lands, from depasturing licenses and assessments, and also from mining licenses and the duty on gold exported from the colony. The following table exhibits the ordinary and territorial revenues of the colony for the past five financial periods: According to official statement, in the financial period ending March 31, 1880, the expenditure, exclusive of that out of loans, For nine months only. exceeded the revenue by an amount of 961,455l.; in 1880-81 the revenue yielded a surplus over the expenditure of 26,7061., in 1881-2 a surplus of 203,6837., in 1882-3, 35,5497. In the year ending March 31, 1884, the total revenue of the Consolidated Fund was 3,493,6597., which, with a balance of 35,5497. brought forward, gave a total amounting to 3,529,5087. against an expenditure of 3,681,3207., thus leaving a deficit of 152,1121. The chief items of expenditure were for public debt, 1,565,8721., public works, 674,8731., education, 312,9797., posts, 246,3271., defence, 199,3497. The estimated expenditure out of revenue for 1884–5 amounts to 3,775,1527., and the revenue, including balances brought forward, to 3,835,500l., leaving an anticipated surplus of 60,3481. There has been for years past a large special expenditure out of loan moneys for purposes of public works. The most important of these is a complete system of railways, but large sums have also been expended on the construction of roads, on immigration and public buildings, &c. The average amount spent annually on public works of all kinds for the last five years has been a little over 1,400,000l., and the total from 1870 to March 31, 1884, 20,463,6077. The The public debt of the colony, dating from 1856, amounted to 77,1747. in that year, and rose to 27,422,6117. in 1880; in 1882 it was 29,946,7117., and in March 1884 it was 32,367,7117. A portion of the debt is to be repaid gradually by a sinking fund, which is raised by an annual charge on the ordinary revenue. accrued sinking fund at that date amounted to 2,792,8087., and the net debt to 29,574,9031. The total net debt per head of the population, exclusive of Maories, on March 31, 1884, was 54l. 13s. เ About one-third of the total liabilities of the colony are made up of loans granted by the legislature under the Immigration and Public Works Loan Acts' of 1870, 1873, and 1874. The total amount of these loans was upwards of 9,000,000l. at the end of 1882. Under the first of these Loan Acts, which created the Immigration and Public Works Loan of 1870, the sum of 1,000,0002. was guaranteed by the Imperial Parliament, sanctioned by 33 & 34 Vict. cap. 40. The loan was issued in England, at the price of 84 per cent., bearing interest at the rate of 4 per cent., and secured on the consolidated revenues of New Zealand. Area and Population. The colony of New Zealand, first visited by the Dutch navigator, Tasman, in 1642, and surveyed by Captain Cook in 1769, consists of two principal islands, known as the North and the Middle Islands. Besides these there are several small outlying islands, the chief being the Stewart or South Island and the Chatham Isles. The whole group is nearly 1,000 miles long, and 200 miles broad, and its coast line extends over 3,000 miles. The area of New Zealand is estimated at 104,027 square miles, two-thirds of which are fitted for agriculture and grazing. The North Island is estimated to embrace an area of 44,736 square miles, and the Middle Island 55,224, while Stewart's Island has an area of about 1,300 square miles. New Zealand was officially established as a colony in 1840. The total acreage of the colony is 66,577,280, and up to the end of 1883 17,430,021 acres had been alienated from the Crown. The following table gives the population of New Zealand at various dates according to census returns, exclusive of aborigines: In 1876, New Zealand, previously divided into ten provinces, was divided into 52 counties and boroughs. The first census of the colony by counties was taken March 3, 1878, and included Chinese and half-castes and persons on shipboard. Of the total population, 247,617 belonged to counties, and 163,028 to boroughs, which by the Counties Act are not included in counties. Chinese was 4,382, of whom only eight were females. The number of The census of April 3, 1881, gave the total population of 534,032, including 44,099 Maories (24,370 males, 19,729 females). This includes 5,004 Chinese, of whom only nine were females. The average density of the population was 4.693 per square mile, and of the population outside towns 2.89. Of the total white population in 1881, 489,769 were British-born subjects. The population on January 1, 1884 was (exclusive of Maories) 540,877 (294,665 males, and 246,212 females), and on June 30, 596,604. The number of births, deaths, and marriages was as follows in each of the five years from 1879 to 1883 : In 1883 there were 524 illegitimate births, or 2.8 per cent. of the total births. The total number of persons convicted of crime before the supreme and district courts in 1883 was 231. Of the total population in 1881, 64.85 per cent. are returned as domestic (wives, children, servants, &c.); 11.154 as agricultural; 13-148 industrial; 4.307 commercial; 2096 professional. At the census of 1881 there were four towns with upwards of 10,000 inhabitants in New Zealand-namely, Dunedin, 24,372, with suburbs, 42,802; Auckland, 16,664, with suburbs, 39,966; Wellington, 20,563; and Christchurch, 15,213, with suburbs, 30,719 inhabitants. All the towns largely increased in number of inhabitants between the enumerations of 1874 and 1881. It appears that in 1858 there were a total of 43,595 Maories in the whole colony. Although the Maories have greatly decreased in numbers since the settlement of Europeans, their number now (44,099) is slightly greater than in 1858. The total number of immigrants and of emigrants, and the surplus of immigrants over emigrants into the colony, was as follows in each of the five years from 1879 to 1883 :— The population of New Zealand is increasing more rapidly than that of any of the other Australasian colonies, both by natural increment and immigration. Trade and Industry. The commerce of New Zealand increased nearly ten-fold in the twenty years from 1859 to 1878. In 1880 the imports, which previously amounted to more than eight millions, fell to six millions, but rose again in 1882 to 8,600,000l. The exports rose to 6,858,000l. in 1882. The following table exhibits the value of the total imports and exports of the colony in each of the five years 1879 to 1883: |