AUSTRALASIA. 



57 



AUSTRALASIA, a division of the globe em- 

 bracing the continent of Australia and the isl- 

 ands of the South Sea and Western Pacific, most 

 <if which are under British dominion. The sta- 

 ti>tics of population for the British Australasian 

 colonies for 18b9 are givon in the following table : 



The census taken in 1891 shows a remarkable 

 increase in the population of the cities. Mel- 

 bourne, which now contains nearly one half of 

 the total population of Victoria, has increased 

 72 per cent., while the other parts of the colony 

 show an increase of only 11 per cent, in ten 

 The present population of Sydney, the 

 cubital of New South Wales, is 386,000, showing 

 an increase of 70 per cent, during the decade. 

 The population of the whole colony is returned 

 as 1,134,000, exclusive of Chinese. Adelaide, the 

 capital of South Australia, has 133,000 inhabit- 

 ants, or 29,000 more than a decade ago. 



Finance. The revenue, expenditure, and 

 debt of each of the colonies are as follow : 



I--:'. t!890. 



Commerce and Production. The foreign 

 trade of the several colonies in 1889 is shown in 

 the following table : 



Most of the settled portions of Australia are 

 within the temperate zone. The raising of 

 sheep and mining are the principal industries. 

 For agriculture the climate is too dry, and arti- 

 ficial irrigation is yet in the experimental stage. 

 In New South Wales only 1,164,475 acres were 

 under cultivation in 1890. There were 6,570,- 

 335 bushels of wheat produced, and 5,354,827 

 bushels of corn. Other grains are grown, as 

 well as hay and fodder in large quantities, sugar 

 cane, of which the product in 1890 was 168,862 

 tons, oranges, and the vine, of which the yield 

 was 688,685 gallons of wine and 8,702 of brandy. 

 The number of sheep in 1889 was 50,106,768; 

 of horned cattle, 1,741,592 ; of horses, 430,777. 

 The number of persons engaged in agriculture 

 and pastoral pursuits was 106,226. A few of 

 the forests are owned by the state and all are 

 under state control, owners paying a royalty on 

 all timber cut, which was 185,021,000* feet in 

 1889, valued at 617.000. Gold is found every- 

 where, but the rich deposits have been exhausted. 

 In the four years 1886-'89 the gold coined and 

 exported was 1,482,330, about one quarter as 

 much as during a like period in the first twenty 

 years of go ] d mining. Silver-lead ore, silver, 

 and lead were produced in 1889 to the amount 

 of 1,899,197; copper product, 122,444; tin, 

 207,670; coal, l,632.*-l!i. Manufacturing in- 

 dustries in New South Wales employ 4l.l IV !' 

 persons. The wool export in 1889 was 966^89,- 

 029 pounds. 



Victoria, aided by a protective tariff and hav- 

 ing a limited area of pasturage, has become the 

 leading manufacturing colony. The number of 

 hands employed in iss<> was 59,181. Gold min- 

 ing has declined in the past twenty years to the 



