president's address. SECTION gh. 



571 



rapid advance had been niiide that the records were, in round 



iiiimbers : — 



Horses 160,000 Sheep ... • ...16,000,000 



Cattle 1,895,000 Pigs 114,000 



The following table shows the live stock of each State, and for 



the whole Commonwealth, at the end of 1907 : — 



The first start in agriculture was made with 8 acres planted with 

 wheat and barley by Captain Phillip in 1788. Nine years later the 

 total area under crops was nearly 5,000 acres, and 5o years after- 

 wards (in 1850) it was close on 500,000 acres. 



The area under crop in each State and the whole Commonwealth 

 for the year 1907 is given hereimder:— 



Commonwealth .. 



9,840,032 acres 



It will be seen that about one-third of the total crop area of the 

 Commonwealth is in the State of Victoria ; rather more than one- 

 fourth is in New South Wales; and rather less than one-fourth in 

 South Australia. 



The developineiil of both pastoral and agricultural industries of 

 the Commonwealth has been frequently dealt with, and I shall here 

 only draw attention to the fact that in regard to crops the area has 

 during the past 20 years advanced from 5,585,622 acres to 9,340,032 

 acres, representing a total increase of 3,754,410 acres, or at the rat« 

 of 67 per cent. 



The following table gives a comparative statement for each State 

 and for the Commonwealth. The New South Wales area has trebled, 

 and that of Queensland has increased in very nearly the same pro- 

 portion, while the West Australian area has advanced seven-fold. 

 Victoria, which has the largest area tmder cultivation, does not 



