AUSTRALASIA. 



63 



era Pacific, accompanied it and informed the 

 natives that the reason for returning the labor- 

 ers was that they were illegally recruited, and 

 that the Queen would protect them from labor- 

 ships henceforward. Each laborer was given 

 from 3 to 6 worth of " trade," according to 

 the length of time he was employed in the 

 colony. Bundles of trade were given to the 

 relatives of those who had died in captivity. 

 Presents of tobacco, hoop-iron, and calico 

 were freely distributed among the rest. These 

 gifts not only propitiated the natives toward 

 the newly - declared British sovereignty, but 

 also forefended reprisals for the deaths of the 

 laborers and the violent deeds of the kidnap- 

 pers, as the acceptance of presents, according 

 to native customs, wipes out blood feuds and 

 condones all offenses. The bill for the com- 

 pensation of the sugar planters deprived of 

 their laborers provides that claims for loss of 

 service of the returned Kanakas must be pre- 

 sented before Jan. 1, 1886, to be adjudicated 

 upon by the Judge of the Southern District 

 Court, assisted by two assessors, one appointed 

 by the Government and one by the planters. 



New Sonth Wales. The ministry is composed 

 of the following members: Colonial Secre- 

 tary and Premier, Alexander Stuart ; Colonial 

 Treasurer, George R. Dihbs; Minister of Jus- 

 tice, Henry E. Cohen ; Minister of Public In- 

 struction, W. J. Trickett; Attorney-General 

 and Acting Colonial Secretary, W. Bede Dai- 

 ley; Minister of Public Works, F. A. Wright; 

 Postmaster-General, James Norton; Minister 

 of Mines, Joseph P. Abbott; Secretary for 

 Lands, James Squire Farnell. The Agent Gen- 

 eral for the colony in London is Sir Saul Sam- 

 uel. The Governor is Lord Carrington, who 

 succeeded Lord Augustus Loftus. 



Of the 751,468 inhabitants in 1881,516,612 

 were Protestants, 207,606 Catholics, 3,266 Jews, 

 9,345 Pagan?, 1,042 of other beliefs, and 136,- 

 971 unspecified. The expenditure on the pub- 

 lic schools in 1883 was 870,571. The total 

 attendance in the schools of all classes was 

 189,983 pupils, with 4,543 teachers. The popu- 

 lation on April 3, 1881, comprised 411,149 

 males and 340,319 females. The increase in 

 ten years was 49 per cent. The net immi- 

 gration in 1883 was 41,179 persons. The num- 

 ber of marriages in 1883 was 7,405; births, 

 31,281; deaths, 12,249. The population of 

 Sidney, in 1884, was estimated at 250,000. 



The total value of imports in 1883 was 20,- 

 960,157, of exports 19,886,018. The quantity 

 of wool shipped to the United Kingdom in 1883 

 was 100,628,784 Ibs., valued at 5,286,177. Tin 

 of the value of 973,570, copper of the value of 

 437,675, tallow of the value of 362,137, and 

 preserved meat of the value of 320,437 were 

 exported to Great Britain in that year. The 

 product of gold in 1883 was 122,256 ounces, 

 valued at 341,124; of copper, 6,442 tons, 

 value 368,409 ; of tin, 6,897 tons, value 

 341,124; of coal, 2,521,457 tons, value 1,- 

 201,941. The yield of wheat in 1884 was 



4,345,437 bushels, acreage 289,757; the yield 

 of maize, 4,538,604 bushels; of sugar, 35,220,- 

 640 Ibs.; of wine, 589,604 gallons. There 

 were in October, 1884, 34,000,000 sheep, 

 1,646,753 cattle, 326,964 horses, 189,050 pigs. 



The area of the colony is about 207,000,000 

 acres. On Sept. 80, 1883, 36,553,416 acres 

 were in private hands, leaving the public do- 

 main still 170,446,484 acres. When the land 

 bill of 1884 was presented there were occupied 

 for pastoral purposes 148,380,005 acres, of 

 which 129,688,006 acres were held under pas- 

 toral leases, 16,058,869 under pre-emptive 

 leases, and 2,561,130 under auction leases. 

 The number of pastoral runs was 4,319, of 

 pre-emptive leases 17,635, of auction leases 

 3,542. The number of conditional purchases 

 up to Sept. 30, 1883, was 132,364. In 1884 

 there were 121,975, covering 15,416,007 acres, 

 on which the interest and installments had not 

 been discharged, the balance due the Govern- 

 ment being 11,562,005. 



In 1883 there were 1,320 miles of railway 

 completed, and 597 miles under construction. 

 The earnings were 1,931,464, expenses 1,- 

 177,788. Of telegraphs there were 17,272 miles 

 of wire, constructed at a cost of 569,315. 



The chief source of revenue, producing more 

 than half the total receipts, has been in recent 

 years the sale and rental of public lands. The 

 sales were partially stopped in 1884 on account 

 of the new land act, which went into force Au- 

 gust 6, 1885. Customs duties produce usually 

 about one fourth of the total revenue. The 

 revenue for 1884, including loans, was esti- 

 mated at 7,466,567, and the expenditure, in- 

 cluding outlay on public works, at 7,278,538; 

 the revenue for 1885 at 8,695,929, and the ex- 

 penditure at 8,420,575. The public debt, in- 

 curred mainly for reproductive public works, 

 amounted on Dec. 31, 1884, to 30,132,459. 

 The expenditure on railways and telegraphs 

 amounted at the end of 1882 to 17,654,079. 



The new land act is intended to settle small 

 graziers on the land and give them ample time 

 to pay for their farms, but to discourage and 

 prevent the acquisition of large pastoral estates. 

 Out of 17,000,000 acres "free-selected," under 

 the old law, only 3,000,000 are in the hands of 

 lona fide occupiers. The remaining 14,000,- 

 000 have been the means of enabling the " sheep 

 kings " to filch from the Government the rest 

 of the public domain. By having all the favor- 

 able spots that give access to water free-select- 

 ed by his servants and tools, the squatter be- 

 came practically the owner of his run, which 

 he could extend to any limit in the same way. 

 By this fraudulent device great estates of tens 

 and hundreds of square miles were acquired in 

 perpetuity under a nominal rent. The new 

 law requires every transaction to pass under 

 the scrutiny of a local land court and be sub- 

 jected to full publicity. A large portion of 

 the land now occupied by squatters is open for 

 selection under the new act. 



Victoria. The ministry, constituted in 1882, 



