36 



AUSTRALASIA. 



crnor is High Commissioner for the Western 

 Pacific, intrusted with the supervision of British 

 interests in the islands under native rule. 



Area and Population. The area in square 

 miles of the British Australasian colonies, accord- 

 in" to the latest surveys, and their estimated 

 population on Dec. 31, 1898, or June 30, 1899, are 

 given in the following table: 



An estimate made for the purpose of apportion- 

 ing representation under the federation scheme 

 gives New South Wales 1,348,400; Victoria, 

 1,162,900; Queensland, 482,400; South Australia, 

 370,700, and Tasmania, 182,300 inhabitants. 



The population of 'New South Wales on June 

 30, 1899, was composed of 725,900 males and 

 031,150 females. At the end of 1899 it was- esti- 

 mated at 729,005 males and 627,645 females ; total, 

 1,356,650, including 8,250 aborigines. The popula- 

 tion of Sydney, the capital, was estimated in 1898 

 at 426,950, including suburbs. 



In Victoria it was estimated in 1899 that 

 (Hit!, 110 of the total population lived in towns. 

 Melbourne, the capital, in 1897 contained 469,880 

 inhabitants, nearly two fifths of the population of 

 the colony, while in Ballarat there were 44,848, in 

 Bendigo, or Sandhurst, 42,992, and in Geelong 

 23.334. The emigration from the colony has for 

 five years past exceeded the immigration, chiefly 

 owing to the exodus to the gold fields of Western 

 Australia. 



Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, contained 

 nt the end of 1898 a population of 107,840 souls, 

 its environs included. The Chinese immigrants 

 into Queensland in 1898 numbered 742, and the 

 emigrants 478; the Polynesian immigrants num- 

 bered 1,182, and the emigrants 731. 



The population estimated for- South Australia 

 on Dec. 31, 1898, consisted of 187,251 males and 

 175,646 females. In the northern territory there 

 were 4,903 inhabitants, of whom only 409 were 

 females, the bulk being Chinese coolies. Adelaide, 

 the colonial capital, had a population of 147,616. 



The population of Western Australia comprised 

 111,354 males and 57,126 females. In 1891 there 

 were 49,782 persons in the colony, and then the 

 increase had been 68 per cent, in ten years. Perth, 

 the capital, had an estimated population of 39,600 

 in the beginning of 1899. 



The white population of New Zealand at the 

 census of April 12, 1896, was 703,360, consisting 

 of 371,415 males and 331,945 females. Of this 

 total 690,003 were British-born, and of these 

 441.061 were born in New Zealand and 215,161 

 were born in the United Kingdom. 116.541 of the 

 latter in Kii-hmd, 2,148 in Wales, 50,435 in Scot- 

 land, and 46,037 in Ireland. Of the total popula- 

 tion, 15.13 per cent, were agricultural, pastoral, 

 mineral, or other primary producers, 7.18 per cent. 

 \\cre employed in coiiiineree, 4.11 per cent, were 

 domestics, 2.74 per cent, were engaged in the pro- 

 fessions, 8.93 per cent, were of undefined occupa- 

 tions, and 58.25 per cent, were dependents. The 

 population as estimated at the end of 1S99 in- 

 cludes .39.854 Maoris and 3,711 Chinese. Of the 

 Maoris, the number including 3,503 half-castes 



and 229 Maori wives of white men, 21,673 were 

 males and 18,181 females. The capital of New- 

 Zealand is Wellington, which had at the last cen- 

 sus 41,758 inhabitants, with its suburbs, while 

 Auckland had 57,616, Christchurch 51,330, and 

 Dunedin 47,280. Of the total population of the 

 colony, 307,294 lived in boroughs, 391,735 in the 

 rural districts, 950 on adjacent islands, and 3,381 

 on ships. 



The population of Fiji, as estimated for Dec. 31. 

 1898, comprised 67,245 males and 54,493 females. 

 The European population was 3,927, of whom 

 2,444 were males and 1,483 females; Indians num- 

 bered 12,320, of whom 8,293 were males and 4.027 

 females; Fijians, 98,954, comprising 52,656 males 

 and 46,298 females; Polynesians, Rotumans, half- 

 castes, and others, 6,537, comprising 3,852 males 

 and 2,685 females. Among the natives in 1S9S 

 there were 4,300 deaths to 3,481 births. 



The movement of population in the several col- 

 onies for 1898 was as follows: 



* Net emigration. 



t Excess of deaths. 



Finances. The revenue and expenditure of 

 the several colonies for 1898 and the state of their 

 debts at the end of the fiscal year ending June 30, 

 1899, in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland. 

 South Australia, and Western Australia, on 

 March 31, 1899, in New Zealand; on March 31, 

 1898, in Tasmania; and on Dec. 31, 1898, in Fiji, 

 are shown in the following table : 



Of the revenue of New South Wales, 2,511,298 

 came from taxation, 1,976,816 from lands. 

 4,610,546 from services, and 205,593 from 

 miscellaneous sources. The net revenue for the 

 year ending June 30, 1899, was 9,572,912. The 

 revenue from services consists chiefly of the net 

 receipts from railways, tramways, posts, and tele- 

 graphs. The revenue from taxation in 1S!M> 

 amounted to 2,558.958, of Avhich 1.621,062 

 came from import and excise duties and the re- 

 maining 937,896 from stamps, land tax, income 

 tax, and licenses. The net expenditure for 1899 

 was 9,553,144. Of the expenditure of 1898 rail- 

 ways and tramways took 1.S12.039, posts and 

 telegraphs <>94.S<i2. interest on the public debt ' 

 2,548,794, immigration 186, instruction 

 747,468, and other public works and services 

 3,754,019. Of the public debt, 80 per cent, was 

 expended for railways, tramways, telegraphs, 

 water supply, and sewerage, and these public 

 services paid a net return of 3.46 per cent, on the 

 total amount expended, which, exclusive of redemp- 

 tions, up to June 30, 1899, amounted to 62.- 

 154,540, the expenditure from loans on railways 



