AUSTRALASIA. 



65 



of 140,545, and copper of the value of 234,- 

 780. The valuation of real property in the 

 colony in 1883 was 50,000,000, of personal 

 20,000,000, 



The mileage of railroads completed, Dec. 31, 



1883, was 990, began 225 miles; the length of 

 telegraph lines 5,278, of wires 8,824 miles. 



The revenue for the year ending June 30, 



1884, was 2,009,484, the expenditure 2,370,- 

 242. The public debt, incurred exclusively 

 for railroads, telegraphs, and harbor improve- 

 ments, amounted to 15,511,000. 



Queensland. The following is the list of min- 

 isters : Premier and Colonial Secretary, Sam- 

 uel Walker Griffith ; Colonial Treasurer, James 

 Robert Dickson ; Postmaster-General, Charles 

 Stewart Mein; Attorney- General, Arthur Rut- 

 ledge; Secretary for Public Works, William 

 Miles; Secretary for Public Lands, Charles 

 Boy dell Dutton ; without portfolios, R. Bing- 

 ham Sheridan and J. F. Garrick. The Gover- 

 nor is Sir Anthony Musgrave, appointed in 

 April, 1883. The Agent General for Queens- 

 land in Great Britain is James Francis Gar- 

 rick. 



The population in 1881 was 213,525, of 

 which number 125,325 were males and 88,200 

 females. Included were 11,229 Chinese and 

 6,348 Polynesians. The number of aborgines 

 is estimated at 20,585. The total population 

 on June 30, 1884, was computed to be 301,577. 

 Brisbane, the capital, contained 36,109 inhabit- 

 ants in 1883. The net immigration in 1883 

 was 34,371 persons, including 1,837 Chinese 

 and 4,159 Polynesians The number of mar- 

 riages in 1883 was 2,392, of births 9,890, of 

 deaths 5,041. 



The total value of imports in 1883 was 6,- 

 233,351, of exports 5,276,608. The export of 

 wool was valued at 2,277,878 ; of sugar, 

 539,238 ; of hides and skins, 155,998. The 

 shipments of gold in 1883 were 193,994 ounces 

 of the value of 698,138. The value of the 

 tin product in that year was 588,012. 



About one half the area of the colony, esti- 

 mated at 668,224 square miles, is covered with 

 forest. More than two thirds is leased by the 

 Government to squatters for pastoral purposes. 

 The 9,243 runs cover 486,763 square miles, or 

 311,528,320 acres, and yielded in 1883 a rent 

 of 238,057. The acreage of crops in 1883 was 

 157,243. There were 47,897 acres under sugar- 

 cane. The produce of 26,667 acres was 36,767 

 tons of sugar valued at 997,029. 



At the end of 1883 1,038 miles of railroad 

 were open to traffic and 454 miles in process 

 of construction or authorized. The amount 

 invested by the Government in railroads to 

 that date was 7,431,142. The earnings in 

 1883 were 548,116 and the working expenses 

 291,347. The mileage of telegraphs was 

 6,654, with 10,617 miles of wire. 



The movement for the separation of North- 

 ern Queensland was started in 1882 and gained 

 momentum as the black labor question became 

 acute. It was not based ostensibly on the 

 VOL. xxv. 5 A 



principle of perpetuating disguised forms of 

 slavery. The promoters of the scheme as- 

 serted that the tropical climate of Queensland 

 north of the twenty-second parallel of latitude 

 rendered the conditions of labor that were 

 adapted for the older portion of the colony im- 

 possible ; but the labor question they reserved 

 for the action of their own Legislature. Their 

 ostensible grievance was that the Queensland 

 Government does not expend on public works 

 in their part of the colony sums proportionate 

 to the amount it extracts from it in the way 

 of taxes, and that the railroads already au- 

 thorized for the development of the sugar 

 and mining districts of Northern Queensland 

 are scarcely begun after years of delay. 

 Wealth, profits, and wages are on a larger 

 scale than in the older settlements, and ex- 

 penditure in proportion; consequently they 

 pay a large share of the customs duties. Rep- 

 resentation is proportioned to the population, 

 and as they number only 9,361, they have 

 only 8 members in the Parliament to 47 for 

 the 50,664 inhabitants of the southern section 

 of the colony. If they were a separate colony 

 they would soon build their own railroads and 

 develop much more rapidly the enormous 

 mineral and agricultural resources of their 

 section. The same considerations precisely 

 induced the Imperial Government to separate 

 Moreton Bay, the present Queensland, from 

 New South Wales in 1859. 



Western Australia. The Governor of the colo- 

 ny is Sir Frederick Napier Broome, appointed 

 in December, 1882. The revenue in 1883 was 

 284,363, the expenditure 240,566. The value 

 of imports in 1883 was 516,846, of exports 

 447,010. There were 55 miles of railway 

 open to traffic at the end of 1883 and 68 under 

 construction, 1,609 miles of telegraph completed 

 and a line of 750 miles, from Geraldton to the 

 northwest coast, to connect with the ocean ca- 

 bles, in course of construction. Western Aus- 

 tralia, retarded in her earlier development by 

 the convicts colonized there, and still relative- 

 ly backward because the valuable natural re- 

 sources of the country are not so immediately 

 available as those of other parts of Australia, 

 is making rapid progress under the energetic 

 administration of Sir Napier Broome. A rail- 

 road from Freeraantle to York, 91 miles, was 

 opened in June, 1885. The governor signed 

 in London, in 1885, a contract for the con- 

 struction of a railroad, 220 miles long, extend- 

 ing the line that runs from Perth to Beverly 

 to the town of Albany on the south coast. It 

 is on the land-grant system pursued by the 

 United States Government. The company re- 

 ceive 12,000 acres of land for every mile of 

 railroad built. The Government were treat- 

 ing at the same time for another railroad, 200 

 miles in length, to run from Guildford to 

 Geraldton. Two syndicates contemplated the 

 building of other railroads. Another impor- 

 tant public work is the harbor of Freemantle, 

 near Perth, which Sir John Coode is con- 



