684 AUSTRALIA 



and Western Australia "general religious teaching" is part of the course. In other states 

 the system is more rigorously secular. In no state is denominational religion taught in the 

 state schools; but private denominational schools exist, being maintained especially by the 

 Roman Catholic Church. The compulsory age for school attendance is in the largest States 

 from six years to fourteen years, in no State less than six years. 



Production and Industry. Australia, down to the end of 1912, had enjoyed seven fairly 

 good years. The early stage of the Federation was marked by a severe drought which 

 checked for a time the development of prosperity. But since 1905 the growth of prosperity 

 in the Commonwealth has been very great. A valuation of the total production of the 

 Commonwealth shows in 1907 a value of 114,585,000 (average per head 30.2.6), in 1909 

 174,503,000 (per head 40. 16. 6), and in 1910 187,734,000 (per head, 42.19.2). 



In 1906 the total value of the pastoral products of the Commonwealth was 45,389,000; 

 in 1907, 50,660,000; in 1908, 47,259,000; in 1909, 50,064,000; in 1910, 56,993,000. 

 These returns from the chief Australian industry afford a safe index to the growth of prosper- 

 ity in others. The area under crop in 1905-06 was 9,433,455 acres. It amounted in 1906-07 

 to 9,552,800 acres, in 1907-08 to 9,358,902 acres, in 1908-09 to 9,891,243 acres, in 1909-10 

 to 10,972,299 acres, and in 1911-12 to 12,105,125 acres. The production of wheat increased 

 from 68,520,772 bushels in 1905-06 to 95,111,983 bushels in 1910-11 of a value of 16,458,187. 

 The figures for 1911-12 are not so good, the estimated yield being 71,664,971 bushels; the 

 falling off was due to a somewhat unfavourable season. The growth of sugar cane, in spite 

 of the great change made in its conditions by cutting off the supply of coloured labour, has 

 held its own. In all other crops fruit, vines, oats, hops, potatoes there was either prog- 

 ress or stability. Some promising indications were gleaned of future success in the cultiva- 

 tion of coffee, tobacco, cotton, oil plants and fibres. In dairy farming there was great 

 progress. The export of butter in 1906 was 75,802,856 Ibs., in 1910 it was 87,928,151 Ibs., 

 and the value of dairy farm exports increased from 3,352,803 in 1906 to 4,127,074 in 

 1910. The total yield from agriculture, including dairy, poultry and bee farming, was 

 38,960,000 in 1906 and 57,139,000 in 1910. In mineral production, Australia kept a 

 high place, in spite of the dwindling gold returns from Victoria and West Australia. The 

 mineral production of the Commonwealth reached to its highest potnt (28,301,346) in 1907. 

 In 1908 it was 24,580,303; in 1909 (the year of a disastrous coal strike) 23,074,935; in 

 1910 it was 23,215,191. The chief items in this total were gold 11,553,840, coal 3,684,- 

 041, copper 2,389,412, silver-lead bullion and ore (shipped abroad to be refined) 1,934,735, 

 tin 950,768 and zinc 1,289,781. The great mineral resource, of the future in Australia 

 will, doubtless, be-coal. A conservative estimate of the amount of coal available for easy 

 working in the state of New South Wales alone is over a thousand million tons. Mineral 

 oil shale exists also in Australia, and the Commonwealth Government is now offering bounties 

 to the extent of 20,000 a year to encourage the local production of kerosene and paraffin 

 wax. Up to 1910 the value of the products of oil shale in New South Wales had reached 

 2,251,081, and the actual year's production was worth 33,896. Queensland and Tas- 

 mania have also deposits of oil shales. 



There has been a steady progress in manufactures in Australia since the Federation. 

 In 1907 the total of wages and salaries paid in factories was 18,323,977, with an average 

 wage of 77.32. In 1910 the total of wages paid was 23,874,959, with an average wage 

 of 87.11. The total value of the output of factories in 1909 was 107,409,733; in 1910 

 120,770,674. The value added in process of manufacture was 42,216,493 in 1909 and 

 48,048,032 in 1910. The factory industries are not, so far, of a highly organised type. 

 Great iron industries are yet to be created, though the presence in many parts of Australia 

 of deposits of iron ore and the cheapness of coal have invited their establishment for many 

 years. In 1909 the Australian Government offered bounties to a total of 150,000 for pig 

 iron, puddled bar-iron and steel made from Australian ore; and further bounties to the 

 extent of 30,000 for galvanised iron, wire-netting and iron pipes. So far, however, no very 

 great results have followed. During 1912 there were reports that great iron-smelting works 

 were about to be established in New South Wales by a company which had been before 

 chiefly interested in silver-mining. 



Forests and fisheries bring an amount of nearly 5,000,000 to the Australian purse. 

 But in neither case is there creditable progress. The timber resources are usually prodigally 

 wasted; and until very recently there was no attempt at reforestation. The fisheries are 

 not exploited in any systematic fashion, there being little or no deep-sea fishing or fish- 

 curing. In both these matters, however, better things are promised in the future. Bounties 

 were available during 1912 to the extent of 10,000 for Australian preserved fish, and there 

 are 13 fish-curing establishments. In 1909 the Federal Government launched the "Endeav- 

 our, "a vessel specially built to investigate and chart deep-sea fishing grounds. The "En- 

 deavour" has since been engaged in the collection of information regarding the migra- 

 tion, feeding grounds, etc., of fish in the waters off the Australian coast, and it is hoped 

 that the ultimate result will be the foundation of a groat fishing industry. 



Trade and Commerce. Since Federation the overseas trade of the Commonwealth has 

 increased rapidly. In 1901 the total was valued at 92,130,000; in 1911 at 146,456,000 

 The records since 1906 have been: 



