These official statistics suggest a very small increase in the population of the village in the 1970s and early 1980s, followed by a decline in 1986, which reduced the numbers to less than that of 1956. The results of a survey of the five communities made in 198839 are summarized in Table 12:3.

Table 12:3, Population of Five Communities, 198819

No. of Persons No. of Householders Greater Kinkora“ - 330 105

Maple Plains - 20 8 Middleton" - 218 62 Newton - 98 27 Shamrock — 127 35

Totals: 793 237

* Greater Kinkora includes 263 residents in Kinkora Village, and 67 others who live on the borders of the village.

** Middleton includes areas in both Townships 26 and 27.

The previous population count for the five communities was for the late 1920s, given in Chapter 8, when there was an estimated 143 households and a total population of about 630 persons.20 Between then and 1988 there appears to have been small increases in population at Kinkora, Mid— dleton and Shamrock.21

Table 12:4 presents the population statistics for St. Malachy’s Parish from 1935 to the present.

While these statistics can be only suggestive, because the five communities are not equivalent to St. Malachy’s Parish, they appear to point to the same conclusion reached above, that three of the communities have at least held their populations, and probably increased them; this appears to be contrary to the general trend in P.E.I. rural communities.

133

Table 12:4, St. Malachy’s Parish, Population22

No. of Persons

No. of Families/ Households 751 149 740 150 680 148 614 150

756 147 781 148 878 158 748 148 720 148 704 165 681 186 7 3 1 223

The 1988 survey questionnaire asked residents what they liked most and least about their communities. A majority liked two things: the proximity of church and schools, and the friendly and helpful neighbours. They disliked the lack of services such as a general store and a bank, as well as irritants such as cold weather and flies. Many liked the fact that these communities were near to work and the larger urban centres. Indeed as Table 12:5 shows most of the householders worked outside their home communities.

With about 72 070 of the actively employed householders in non-farming work these statistics emphasize the decline in farming in the five communities. However, although there are fewer farmers, farming is an important source of revenue in the area. In 1976 17.1% of people who filed income tax returns in the Kinkora “region” earned income from farming.24 This was the second highest percentage of any region on the Island, and was in sharp contrast with the average of 5.9% for P.E.I., as a whole. Nevertheless, the