The phenomenal increase in the population of New Zealand in the mid-'seventies was due largely to the control of immigration passing from the provincial councils to the general government, and the vigorous policy inaugurated by it. In 1874 and 1875 no fewer than 50,000 immigrants arrived in the Dominion. Judging by the census returns, the city did not gain largely by this influx of immigrants, although the provincial figures show that the country profited by it. The South Island was the greater gainer during these years, due mainly to the prosperity following upon the discovery of gold and to the better social and economic conditions which existed there. The South Island had no Maori War to unsettle it. The first half of the 'eighties, however, found the Auckland Province booming, and in this prosperity the city shared. The progress, however, was too rapid to be healthy; it was not built upon steady work, but was in the nature of speculation, particularly in land, which could not be characterised as wise. The inevitable happened; financial undertakings, great and small, became involved, and many succumbed. Amongst such institutions, the Bank of New Zealand, with its New Zealand shareholders, was numbered. Its failure would have brought ruin or serious hardship to many people, and the manner in which the Government of the day came to the rescue has already been indicated (p. 109). During the depression many residents sold out and emigrated to Australia, or elsewhere, some permanently, others temporarily. Houses and shops everywhere became vacant, and rents became absurdly low. In some cases people shut up their houses, boarded over doors and windows, and went away. The young city was experiencing the most serious reverse in its history, but the speed with which it recovered itself demonstrated its vitality. * * * * * With the advent of the 'seventies, Auckland may be said to have arrived at the modern period; the previous thirty years being now looked upon as the colonising era. In 1871 the city was constituted by Proclamation under "The Municipal Corporations Act, 1867," and in the same year the Auckland Harbour Board, to which the administration of the port was delegated by an Act of Parliament of the previous year, held its first meeting.