1915] on the Visit of the British Association to Australia 347 



Australia has a population a little over 4J millions ; the density 

 of the population is only 1*57 per square mile, as against 80-93 in 

 the United States of America and 117*13 in Europe. 



The serious feature is the accumulation of a large section of the 

 population in a few large towns, nearly half being in the five chief 

 -cities of the five States. In view of the great dearth of labour on 

 the land, the large number of residents in a town such as Sydney 

 can only be accounted for on the supposition that the conditions 

 back in the country are so strenuous that many cannot stand them, 

 yet these townsfolk must be Hving largely on 'the country, directlv 

 or indirectly. 



The distribution of industries is indicated in the following table : — 



Estimated Value of Commonwealth Production, 1911. 



Agriculture £38,774,000 



Pastoral Industry ...... 50,725,000 



Dairying and Poultry Farming .... 19,107,000 



Forest and Fisheries ...... 5,72.8,000 



Alining 23,480,000 



Manufacturing 50,931,000 



Total . . £188,745,000 



What is included under "Manufacturing" I cannot say but the 

 item is a surprisingly large one, taking into account the high price 

 of labour and the statement constantly made that capital is not 

 lowing into manufacturing enterprises, on account of the difficulties 

 oonnected with labour. 



I have already remarked that Australia offers pecuHar problems. 

 The climatic conditions are altogether special— these dominate everv- 

 thing. Except near the mountains, it has a low rainfall ; as it is 

 not a mountainous continent — the highest peak is Mount Kosciusko, 

 7308 ft. in altitude, in the south-eastern part of Xew South AVales, 

 220 miles south-west of Sydney— the regions in which the rainfall is 

 at all considerable are few and far between. Over a large inland 

 area the amount is less than 10 inches per annum and the area within 

 which the rainfall does not exceed 20 inches is of astounding propor- 

 tions. The mountain regions all lie near to, if not within, the coastal 

 region. This will be obvious when relief maps of the continent are 

 inspected (Figs. 7 and 8). The western half is mainly a plateau region 

 from 1000 to 1500 ft. high ; the eastern half has high land at its 

 southern and eastern rims, whilst the inland portion is a great basin. 



On the whole Australia is a hot country, as the winters are not at 

 all cold even in the extreme southern region, palms growing out of 

 doors in Adelaide ; but the heat is a dry heat in most parts and 

 therefore it is bearable and very different from that experienced in 

 countries like Java or Ceylon, for example. 



Agriculture is necessarily greatly affected by the climatic con- 



