Thanks Beg
Those links I haven't seen before. And I do appreciate your and Spades assistance here. I don't have anyone in Wellington that can get the information for me.
I used to have access to the Poll Tax data base that was on DIA website - but they changed the website, and took it down. Now I have to look people up one by one - and that's assuming that they were a poll tax payer.
As for the numbers, I guess that was in a year book - or some statistics somewhere. My friend came over at 1 years old, with her mother. She doesn't have a birth certificate, and when she became a New Zealander, they made a declaration that she came as an infant with her mother.
I also see on the list that some of the children had English names. I wonder if they were born here, and were returning due to the Japanese war. In which case, they would not be considered as refugees (who had to pay for the privilege)