CONCENTRATION OF POPULATION. 541 



colonies is necessary to attain tliis end ; and this will, doubt- 

 less, exist after federation iias become a fact. But is it 

 necessary to wait for federation, which may not be accom- 

 plished for years to come i* I have more than once urged 

 upon my Government the desirability of the Immigration 

 Authorities of the various colonies meeting in conference with 

 a view of better means being arrived at of obtaining a true 

 record of the intercolonial migration ; and I do not look for 

 much improvement until this takes place. Were such a 

 conference to be held, the statistical departments of the 

 various colonies might be of considerable assistance to it ; 

 and this I am quite sure would be willingly rendered. 



The defects I have drawn attention to indicate the desira- 

 bility of a census being taken oftener than once in ten years, 

 and add another argument, if such were needed, to the many 

 cogent reasons which have often been adduced in favour 

 of such a course. Much to the credit of Queensland and 

 New Zealand, a quinquennial census is now taken regularly 

 in both those colonies. In neither of them, it may well be 

 assumed, is the Treasurer anxious to spend the public money 

 unnecessarily ; and it may be set down as a certainty that 

 if the proceeding were not found to be advantageous it would 

 be discontinued. It is much to be desired that the example 

 set by these two colonies may, after this, be followed by 

 every other colony of the group. 



1 believe that the majority of the statesmen of Australasia, 

 especially those of them who are the most thoughtful and far- 

 seeing, are in favour of the population being enumerated 

 more frequently than it is at present ; and I submit that the 

 cost, which after all is not ruinous, ought not to stand in the 

 way of a census being taken at least quinquennially. I have 

 no hesitation in saying that the extra money expended would 

 not be wasted, but would be found, in the end, to operate 

 beneficially in the case of each one of the communities 

 concerned. 



6.— THE CONCENTRATION OF POPULATION IN 

 AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL CITIES. 



By U. R. HAYTER, C.M.G., Government Statistician of Victoria. 



The tendency of population to gravitate to large towns, and 

 especially to metropolitan towns, is most strikingly evidenced 

 ot late years. Thus Greater London, according to the recent 



