AUSTRALASIA. 



45 



AUSTRALASIA. The statistics of popula- 

 tion, births, deaths, immigration, and emigration 

 of the British colonies in Australasia for 1888 

 are given in the following table : 



Finance. The revenue and expenditure of 

 the several colonies, and the public debt of each, 

 were as follow : 



Commerce. Wool is the principal export of 

 New South Wales, the quantity exported in 1888 

 being returned as 235,848,944 pounds, of the 

 value of 9,089,776. The value of the gold pro- 

 duced in the three years 1886-'88 was 1,051,192. 

 The silver-lead ore'raised in 1888 was valued at 

 1,075,737. The copper product in 1887 was 

 199,102 in value. The output of tin in 1888 

 was valued at 582,496. The product of the 

 coal mines was 2,922,497 tons, valued at 1,346,- 

 440. The export of wool from Victoria in 1888 

 was 118,453,968 pounds, valued at 5,170,930, of 

 which not more than three fourths was the prod- 

 uce of the colony. The export of gold was 3,- 

 690,519, after which came breadstuff s, of the value 

 of 938,008, and live stock, of the value of 406,- 

 777. The exports of manufactured articles to 

 the other colonies are considerable. The largest 

 exports of Queensland in 1888 were gold, of the 

 value of 1,662,639 ; wool, 2,258,365 ; sugar, 



Gold from the mines of the colony, most of which 

 are on Government land, was exported to the 

 amount of 914,300. Grain, flour, and pulse 

 was exported of the value of 761,795. Frozen 

 meat, viz., mutton in whole carcases, has become 

 an important article in the trade with England, 

 the value of the export in 1888 being 628,800. 

 The export of Kauri gum was valued at 380,- 

 933 ; of tallow, 124,950 ; of timber, 179,543 ; 

 of hides, skins, arid leather, 214,194 ; of butter 

 and cheese, 197,170. From the Fiji Islands the 

 chief export is sugar, of the value in 1888. of 

 270,649, besides which there is a trade in the 

 dried kernel of the cocoanut, called copra, in 

 bananas, and other products of the .soil. The 

 extent of the total foreign trade of the several 

 colonies is shown in the following table : 



Navigation. The following table shows the 

 number of vessels and the tonnage entered and 

 cleared at the ports of entry in each colony : 



Communications. The following is a state- 

 ment of the mileage of railroads completed, the 

 number of miles of new railroads under construc- 

 tion or authorized, the total capital cost of the 

 railroads in each colony, and the gross earnings 

 and working expenses for the last year reported : 



384,419 ; and tin, 230,360. Wheat, including 

 flour, is the leading export of South Australia. 

 The value of the wheat exported in 1888 was 

 1,492,145 ; of the flour, 663,701 : of the wool, 

 1,610,456 ; of the tin, 325,227. the principal 

 exports of Western Australia are wool, of the 

 value of 423,762 in 1888, after which come 

 pearls and shells, timber, and sandal wood. Tas- 

 mania exported in 1888 wool of the value of 

 306,930 ; tin, of the value of 426,326 ; timber 

 and bark, of the value of 133,027 ; and fruit, 

 green and preserved, of the value of 120,494. 

 New Zealand's chief commercial product is wool, 

 the value of the export in 1888 being 3,1 15,008. 



The length of telegraph wires in the several 

 colonies, the number of messages, and the num- 

 ber of letters carried by the post-office are shown 

 in the following table : 



