(Note that we have defined the Kaponga District as bounded by the farms along the Mangawhero Road to the west and the Palmer Road to the east, with northern and southern boundaries provided by Mt Egmont and the Te Roti—Opunake railway.)

Not until 1916 did the census assign the population to localities. In earlier census reports the only local figures are those for roads, broken down only by county boundaries. As most of our District's roads also ran far beyond its boundaries, these figures are of very limited use to us. The approach taken here is first to estimate the population at the time of the 23 March 1886 census by building up a person-by-person list of folk known to have settled there by that date; next to endeavour to deduce the population at the 1916 census by manipulating its ‘locality’ figures; and finally to suggest a means of arriving at some estimates between these two dates.