AUSTRALASIA. 



AUSTRO-IIUNGARIAN MONARCHY. 53 



:torcolonial customs union. The confer- 

 .rdcd as un important step toward 

 n-.'litlation of tho colonies. The confer- 

 ence declared itself in favor of an intercolo- 

 nial tV.v tndo policy, and bills ostul>li-liin^ 

 I'lonial free trade were, accordingly, in- 

 trndnr .-d into tho several colonial legislatures. 

 In S.-ptrmlHT a royal coiniiiis<ion was appoint- 

 ed in Victoria to consider tho expediency of 

 inviting tlio cooperation of tho other colonies 

 in providing 1. For tho extradition of offend- 

 cix from one colony to another. 2. That tho 

 of insolvency or the granting of prohato 

 shall he extended to all tho colonies. 3. Tho 

 adoption of a system whereby execution in one 

 colony upon the registration of the Superior 

 Court, may take effect in all the others. 4. Tho 

 i-staltlishment of a court of appeal. 



During tho month of March tho settlements 

 w South "Wales and Queensland suffered 

 from most distressing inundations. The over- 

 flow of the rivers and torrents, and the de- 

 struction of life and property, exceeded any 

 thing ever known before, even in Australia, 

 uirter of terrible floods. In New South 

 \V:ik-s several of the great streams rose more 

 than twenty feet above their usual level in a 

 low hours, and swept every thing before them, 

 swamping farm-lands, hamlets, and villages, and 

 drowning men and cattle wholesale. In Queens- 

 land several of the larger towns were half sub- 

 merged, and the inhabitants were compelled to 

 seek refuge in the churches and school-houses. 



An intercolonial exhibition was opened at 

 Sydney on the 30th of July, and was a great 

 success. The construction of a transaustra- 

 lian telegraph commenced at both ends, and 

 other sections were to commence immediately. 



In April a new mail line of steam-packets, 

 the California, New Zealand, and Australia 

 Steamship Company, was established, to pro- 

 mote a closer communication between Austral- 

 asia and the United States. 



The emigration to the several Australian 

 colonies, in 1868, is reported as follows: To 

 New South "Wales, 1,318; Queensland, 685; 

 Victoria, 6,566 ; Tasmania. 18 ; South Austra- 

 lia, 851; Western Australia, 168; New Zea- 

 land, 3,703 ; total, 12,809. The total emigra- 

 tion to Australasia, during the thirty years, 

 from 1838 to 1867, inclusively, amounted to 

 915,006. The Parliament in Melbourne, during 

 its session from February 11 till December 28, 

 1869, passed the following most liberal law : 

 " Each colonist and immigrant, no matter to 

 what nationality he may belong, has the privi- 

 lege of selecting for himself 320 acres of crown 

 hind, for which he pays an annual rent of two 

 shillings per acre during the first ten years. At 

 the expiration of that term ho enters into the 

 full and free possession of the land." It is ex- 

 pected that the enactment of this law will soon 

 direct a liberal flow of emigration to the colonies. 

 Tho following is a condensed report from 

 the official statistics of the colony of Victoria, 

 for tho year 1869 : The total imports. into the 



colony were estimated at 13,320,662 sterling, 

 against 11,676,080 in 1868. Of this amount, 

 6,250,000 came from Great Britain, and 

 4,500,000 from British colonial possessions. 

 The total exports, during 1H(9, summed up 

 15,593,990, against 12,733,427, showing an 

 increase of nearly 23 per cent. The entries at 

 t In- ports of the colony comprised 2,007 vessels, 

 together of 653,862 tons; the clearances 2,172 

 vessels, together of 686,207 tons. At the end 

 of 1869 there were, in the colony of Victoria, 

 143,934 horses; 181,854 milch-cows; 571,828 

 heads of cattle ; 9,756,819 sheep ; and 136,206 

 hogs. The number of auriferous quartz-ridges, 

 worked by miners and diggers, amounted to 

 2,651 ; the area of the alluvial quartz-diggings 

 extended over 884 square miles. Of machines 

 used for the digging, crushing, and washing 

 operations, there were 6,068, of an aggregate 

 value of 2,150,432 sterling. The total quan- 

 tity of gold obtained was 1,657,498 ounces, of 

 which 587,694 were from the quartz-ridges, and 

 1,069,804 ounces from the alluvial diggings. Be- 

 sides, there were 9 silver-mines; 8 antimony ; 1 

 copper ; 2 tin ; 14 coal ; and 3 slate-mines. 



AUSTRO - HUNGARIAN MONARCHY, 

 now the official title of the empire formerly 

 called Austria. Emperor, Francis Joseph I., 

 born August 18, 1830 ; succeeded his uncle, 

 Ferdinand I., on December 2, 1848. Heir-ap- 

 parent, Archduke Rudolph, born August 21, 

 1858. In this article we treat of the affairs 

 belonging to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy 

 as a whole, and those belonging to Austria 

 proper, or the cis-Leithan provinces, reserving 

 the affairs of the trans-Leithan provinces for 

 the article Hungary. 



The area of the Austrian empire, according 

 to the latest official statements, amounts to 

 240,381 square miles. The last census, of 1857, 

 showed the population of the provinces now 

 constituting Austria (Lombardy and Venetia 

 have since been lost) to amount to 32,530,000. 

 A new census was taken in 1869, the results of 

 which, so far as published, are as follows: 



Province*. Population 



1. Cis-Leithan Provinces (Austria proper) : 



1. Lower Austria 1,90ft. 708 



2. Upper Austria 736,6ia 



3. Salzburg 153,159 



4. Styria 1,137,748 



6. Carinthia. . . ; 837,694 



0. Carniola 46,334 



7. Goertz, Graclisca. Ictria, and Trieste 601.381 



8. Tyrol and Vorarlberg 885,406 



9. Bohemia 5,140,150 



10. Moravia 2.030,783 



11. Silesia 513,352 



12. Gallcia 5,444,016 



n. Bukovina 513,404 



14. Dalmatla 468,781 



Total cis-Leithan Provinces 80,242,835 



II. Trnns-Leithan Provinces (Hungary) : 



15. Hungary 11,180.048 



16. Croatia, and Slavonia 1,023,858 



17. Transylvania 8,122,468 



Total cis-Leithan Provinces 14,234,305 



III. Tho Military Frontier (which is adminis- 

 tered by tne Ministry of War of the Aus- 

 tro-Huugarian empire) 1,197.181 



Total Austro-Uungarlan monarchy. 85,943,594 



