In 1916 a new departure was made in connection with the enumeration of
Māori. The Māori census counted 49,776 (excludes Māori counted in the European census) for a total of 52,997, fewer than 1,900 reside in the
South Island. It was decided to enumerate the (South Island) Māori with the enumeration of the European population, the same schedules being used and the work done by the same Enumerators and Sub-Enumerators as for the European population. The
North Island Māori census, however, was also taken in October.
Cost The census of 1916 witnessed an important innovation in respect of the mode of distribution and collection of the census schedules, resulting in a considerable saving of expense. This was the substitution of the machinery of the Post Office for the old system of special Enumerators. Not only was the work performed more economically (the cost of collection was approximately £20,600 in 1911 and
£17,500 in 1916), but the schedules were in much better condition than at any previous census, the proportion of incomplete entries being infinitesimal, and the necessity for queries being reduced to practically nil. A point in connection with the 1916 census was the increase in the number of Enumerators' districts—ninety-five, as compared with fifty-nine in 1911—and it is probable that the consequential reduction in the average size of the districts made for increased efficiency. ==Summary==