AUSTRALASIA. 



45 



pearance of the star from the heavens. The 

 second paper is a list of corrigenda to various 

 star-catalogues. 



Dr. Swift has published in the "Astrono- 

 mische Nachrichten " his sixth catalogue of 

 nebulae, discovered at the Warner Observa- 

 tory, Rochester, N. Y. 



Astronomical Prizes. The Lalande prize of the 

 Paris Academy has been awarded to Dr. Back- 

 lund for his investigations on the motion of 

 Encke's comet ; the Valz prize to M. Bigourdan, 

 chiefly for his inquiries into the effect of per- 

 sonality in the observation of double stars; 

 and the Damoiseau prize to M. Souillart, for 

 his revision of the theory of Jupiter's satellites. 

 An encouragement of 1,000 francs from the 

 Damoiseau fund has also been decreed to M. 

 Obrecht. The gold medal of the Royal Astro- 

 nomical Society has been awarded to Mr. G. 

 W. Hill for his researches on the lunar theory. 

 The Watson gold medal of the United States 

 National Academy of Sciences and an hono- 

 rarium of $100 were conferred on Dr. Gould at 

 the spring meeting of the Academy in 1887, 

 and the gold and silver medals of the American 

 Academy, of Boston, were presented to Prof. 

 Langley on May 11, 1887. The Warner prizes 

 of $100 for each new comet discovered have 

 been awarded to Messrs. Barnard and Brooks, 

 the former having detected three and the latter 

 two comets, including that of Olbers. On ac- 

 count of the importance of early observations 

 of the latter comet, and the uncertainty exist- 

 ing in the computed period, a special prize had 

 been offered for its detection. 



Bibliography. Among the recent books 

 worthy of mention are : Houzeau and Lancas- 

 ter's " Bibliographic gen6rale de 1'Astronomie," 

 vol. i, Part I ; Oppolzer's " Canon der Finster- 

 nisse" ; and Schram's " Tafeln zur Berechnung 

 der naheren Umstande der Sonnenfi nsternisse "; 

 Airy's " Numerical Lunar Theory " ; Lockyer's 

 4i Chemistry of the Sun " ; Braun's " Cosmog- 

 onie " ; and also the second editions of Miss 

 Clerke's " History of Astronomy during the 

 Nineteenth Century"; and of Lancaster's "Liste 

 gen6rale des Observatoires et des Astronomes." 

 We are glad to notice the reappearance of the 

 " Astronomical Journal," which was started 

 by Dr. Gould at Cambridge in 1849. The sixth 

 volume was completed in 1861, and, after 

 an intermission of twenty-five years, the first 

 number of the seventh volume is dated Nov. 

 2, 1886. 



AUSTRALASIA, a division of the globe, of which 

 the chief inhabited portions are the British colo- 

 nies of the Australian continent and r the islands 

 of New Zealand and Tasmania. The colonies of 

 New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South 

 Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand possess 

 responsible government. Western Australia has 

 a representative system that is more under the 

 control of the crown ; and the Fiji and Rotumah 

 islands, the Kermedec islands, and the Auck- 

 land islands, with the Carolines and many small 

 islands, constitute crown colonies. The total 



area of British Australasia is 3,288,366 square 

 miles, with a population of 3,625,809 souls. 



Naval Defense. Most of the colonies have ac- 

 quiesced, fully or in part, in the recommenda- 

 tions of the British Admiralty for co-operation 

 in the naval defenses that were submitted to 

 the Colonial Conference held in London early 

 in 1887. The Admiralty adopted Admiral Try- 

 on's suggestion of fast cruisers, but instead of 

 favoring the " Scout " class, recommended the 

 "Archer " class. These have a displacement of 

 1,630 tons, will steam 17 knots an hour, and 

 carry six 6-inch breech-loading rifled guns, be- 

 sides a torpedo armament. It is proposed to 

 secure five of these and two fast torpedo-boats 

 having a displacement of 430 tons, steaming 

 19 knots, and armed with three tubes for White- 

 head torpedoes, one 3-inch breech-loading gun, 

 four quick-firing 3-pounders, and two machine- 

 guns. This fleet will be auxiliary to the ves- 

 sels possessed by the separate colonies, and to 

 the Australian squadron of the British navy. 



New South Wales. The Legislature consists of 

 two branches, the Legislative Council and the 

 Assembly, the former of which is composed of 

 not less than 22 members, nominated by the 

 Crown, and the latter of 122 members, elected 

 by manhood suffrage and secret ballot. The 

 Governor, who is appointed by the Crown, is 

 Lord Carrington, who assumed office on Dec. 

 12, 1885. The Ministry, appointed on Jan 19, 

 1887, consists of the following members : Pre- 

 mier and Colonial Secretary, Sir Henry Parkes; 

 Colonial Treasurer, John Fitzgerald Burns ; 

 Minister for Lands, Thomas Garrett; Minister 

 for Public Works, John Sutherland ; Attorney- 

 General, W. J. Foster ; Minister for Public In- 

 struction, James Inglis ; Minister for Justice, 

 William Clarke ; Postmaster-General, C. J. Rob- 

 erts; Minister of Mines, Francis Abigail. The 

 area of the colony is 310,700 square miles. 

 The estimated population in 1885 was 957,985. 

 The average net immigration during the five 

 years 1880-'85, was 30,000 per annum. In 

 1885 the number of immigrants was 78,138, 

 and of emigrants 30,455. The births in 1885 

 numbered 35,043, the deaths 15,282, and the 

 marriages 7,618. The population comprised 

 662,635 Protestants, of whom 425,883 belonged 

 to the Church of England, 92,542 to the Pres- 

 byterian, and 82,195 to the Methodist Church ; 

 264,692 Roman Catholics; 4,215 Jews; 11,882 

 Pagans ; and 18,776 of various beliefs. The 

 state schools in 1885 had 181,573 scholars and 

 3,553 teachers. Sydney, the capital, contained 

 at the end of 1886 about 280,000 inhabitants. 



The value of imports in 1885, including spe- 

 cie and bullion, was 23,295,232 ; the value of 

 exports, 16,541,745. The export of wool was 

 valued at 7,678,247. The quantity of wool 

 sent to Great Britain was 110,106,216 pounds, 

 of the value of 4,958,759. The number of 

 sheep in the colony in March, 1886, was 84,- 

 551,662. The area leased for pastoral purposes 

 in 1885 was 217,407 square miles. The area 

 under cultivation was only 868,093 acres, pro- 



