AUSTRALASIA. 



61 



natural products. South Australia sent fruits, 

 cereals and fodder-plants, wine, and wool. 

 From New South Wales there were examples 

 of pastoral products, including mohair from a 

 new breed of goats, and products of the fisher- 

 ies and the mineral and other industries of the 

 colony. Queensland exhibited gold, silver, cop- 

 per, and lead ores, tin, wool, amber, and pearl- 

 shell, quartz-mining machinery in operation, 

 sugar, and coffee. Western Australia was rep- 

 resented by sandal- wood and a variety of fine 

 timbers. New Zealand had an extensive dis- 

 play of wool, grain, minerals, manufactured 

 products, woods, and building materials, and 

 very complete collections exhibiting the scen- 

 ery, geological features, and natural history of 

 the country, and the life and industries of the 

 aborigines, as well as of the colonists. Before 

 the exhibition closed the Prince of Wales, un- 

 der whose auspices it had been organized, sug- 

 gested that a permanent Colonial Institute 

 should be established in London. The Aus- 

 tralian colonies offered to contribute jointly 

 30,000 a year for this object. 



The End of the Dronght. After four years of 

 drought that has inflicted severe losses on the 

 Australian stock-growers, and caused stagna- 

 tion in every branch of trade, the rain began 

 to fall in quantity in July, and the mildness of 

 the winter allowed the grass to spring up 

 everywhere in abundance. New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland 

 each received refreshing rains, which were 

 sufficient to stop the starvation in the flocks 

 and herds. 



New Sonth Wales, the oldest of the Aus- 

 tralasian colonies, has a Constitution, which 

 vests the legislative power in a Parliament of 

 two houses, the first of which is called the 

 Legislative Council, and consists of not fewer 

 than twenty-one members nominated by the 

 Crown. The second, called the Legislative 

 Assembly, consists of 119 members, elected by 

 seventy-two constituencies. The members of 

 either body must be of age, and naturalized 

 subjects of the Queen. The electors have no 

 property qualification, and the votes are taken 

 by secret ballot. The execution is in the hands 

 of the Governor, who is nominated by the 

 Crown. The present Governor is Lord Car- 

 rington, who assumed office Dec. 12, 1885. 

 Re is advised in the exercise of the executive 

 by a Cabinet of nine ministers who were ap- 

 pointed Feb. 26, 1886, as follows: Premier 

 and Treasurer, Sir P. A. Jennings ; Colonial 

 Secretary. G. R. Dibbs; Attorney-General, 

 John Henry Want ; Secretary for Lands, Hen- 

 ry Copeland ; Secretary for Public Works, W. 

 J. Lyne ; Minister of Justice, J. P. Garvan ; 

 Minister of Public Instruction, A. Renwick, 

 M. D. ; Secretary for Mines, James Fletcher ; 

 Postmaster-General, F. B. Sutton. 



The colonial naval defense is a voluntary 

 body consisting of 640 officers and men. The 

 military establishment comprises a permanent 

 force of 513 officers and men, 5,185 partially 



paid volunteers, and 3,012 on the reserve force ; 

 making a total of 8,197. The maintenance of 

 this force cost 188,693 in 1884. 



Education is under control of the state, and 

 in 1884 the Department of Instruction expend- 

 ed 797,763, which was a decrease of 72,- 

 808 from the expenditure of 1883. The total 

 attendance in the schools of all classes was 

 202,519 pupils, with 4,860 teachers. 



The estimated population in 1884 was 921,- 

 268. In 1884 there were 72,486 immigrants 

 and 40,254 emigrants, showing a net gain of 

 32,232 immigrants. The births in 1884 were 

 33,946, and deaths 14,220, showing an excess 

 of births over deaths of 19,726 ; number of 

 marriages, 7,482. The estimated population 

 of Sydney, the capital, in 1885, was 260,000. 



The principal source of public revenue was 

 formerly derived from the sale and rent of 

 public lands, which produced more than one 

 half the total annual receipts, but in 1884 these 

 sales were partially stopped on account of a 

 new land act which went into force Jan. 1, 

 1885. The next- most important source of 

 revenue was from customs duties, which yield- 

 ed one fourth the total annual receipts. The 

 only direct tax is the stamp-tax. The revenue 

 for 1885 was estimated at 8,695,929, and ex- 

 penditures at 8,420,575. The public debt, 

 which was chiefly incurred for railways, tele- 

 graphs, and other reproductive public works, 

 amounted to 31,601,959 on Dec. 31, 1885. 

 The expenditure on railways and telegraphs 

 alone amounted to 22,196,330 at the end of 

 December, 1884. 



The total value of imports in 1884 was 22.- 

 826,985 ; of exports, 18,251,506. The staple 

 article of export is wool, of which there were 

 120,221,143 pounds shipped to the United 

 Kingdom in 1884, valued at 8,403,530. The 

 next most important articles of expert to Great 

 Britain are tin, of the value in 1884 of 757,- 

 213 ; copper, of the value of 410,182 ; tallow, 

 of the value of 380,542 ; preserved meat, of 

 the value of 165,739. 



The total area of the colony is about 207,- 

 000,000 acres. Of this, in 1884, there were 

 141,158,400 acres leased for pastoral purposes ; 

 35.035,504 acres devoted to agricultural pur- 

 poses; under wheat, 275,250 acres, yielding 

 4,203,394 bushels in 1885; under maize, 115,- 

 560 acres, yielding 2,989,585 bushels; under 

 sugar-cane, 6,997 acres, yielding 21,835,072 

 pounds of sugar. The vine is cultivated, and 

 in 1885, 441,612 gallons of wine were made. 



In March, 1885, New South Wales had 30,- 

 379,871 sheep; 1,336,329 horned cattle ; 330,- 

 603 horses; and 211,656 pigs. 



In 1884 the quantity of coal mined was 

 2,749,109 tons, valued at 1,303,077. There 

 were produced in the colony 105,983 ounces 

 of gold, valued at 390,229. The copper and 

 tin mines are also very valuable, the former 

 producing 7,233 tons of copper in 1884, valued 

 at 363,854; of tin, 5,256 tons were produced, 

 valued at 207,827. 



