62 



AUSTRALASIA. 



post office, telegraphs, and stamps, 1,370,572 

 from railroads, 267,286 from the land tax, and 

 115,210 from the income tax. Sales of land 

 brought in 109,521. The chief expenditures were 

 1,741,413 for the public debt, 849,928 for rail- 

 ways, 466,925 for education, 362,993 for posts 

 and telegraphs, and 195,602 for constabulary 

 and defense. The land tax is not assessed on im- 

 provements, and the mortgagee pays the tax for 

 the value of his mortgage. The rate for 1897 was 

 Id. in the pound, besides which a graduated tax 

 is collected on large properties ranging from rf. 

 on values between 5;000 and 10,000 up to 2d. 

 on values exceeding 210,000. The income tax 

 is collected on incomes above 300, Qd. in the 

 pound on the first 1,000 and Is. on every addi- 

 tional 1,000 of income. 



Of the revenue of Fiji 32,994 came from cus- 

 toms, 4,254 from navigation dues, 7,298 from 

 licenses and internal revenue, 6,847 from law 

 courts, 2,686 from postal and revenue stamps, 

 and 19,217 from native taxes, the last being 

 paid in native produce delivered by the natives 

 and sold by the Government by annual contract. 

 Of the expenditures, 37,726 were paid in salaries 

 and 35,506 for other expenses. 



Commerce. The value of the foreign trade 

 of the several colonies in 1897 is given in the fol- 

 lowing table: 



The trade of New South Wales with other Aus- 

 tralasian colonies amounted to 9,602,277 of 

 imports and 8,174,666 of exports. The over- 

 land trade was 3,931,292 for imports and 

 4,498,619 for exports. Other British posses- 

 sions furnished 856,576 of imports and took 

 602,449 of exports. The imports from Great 

 Britain were 7,557,069, and the exports to Great 

 Britain 8,728,828. Imports from the United 

 States amounted to 1,887,877, and exports to 

 the United States were 2,462,319 in value. 

 With all other foreign countries the import trade 

 was 1,840,551 and the export trade 3,782,810. 

 Of the total exports, 17,057,543 were products 

 of the colony. The export of wool was 285,797,- 

 725 pounds, valued at 8,920,285. The export of 

 tallow was valued at 504,227; frozen and pre- 

 served meat, 545,133; hides and skins, 772,- 

 584; leather, 304,179; coal, 952,054; gold 

 coin, 4,346,647. The coal output for 1898 was 

 4,736,000 tons, valued at 1,304,000. 



The imports of Victoria comprised wool for 

 1,964,731, woolen goods for 604,895, cotton 

 goods for 919,661, sugar for 785,717, tea for 

 273,338, live stock for 528,787, timber for 

 251,451, iron and steel manufactures for 535,- 

 666, coal for 228,647, and other articles of the 

 value of 9,361,589. The export of wool was 

 123,572,693 pounds, valued at 3,999,813, nearly 

 half of it being the ' produce of other colonies. 

 The export of gold, mostly specie, was 6,472,- 

 318; export of live stock, 329,860; wheat ex- 

 ported, 225,957; other breadstuff s, 51,509; re- 

 export of tea, 155,896; export of sugar, mostly 

 refined in the colony, 160,554; export of leather 

 and leather manufactures, 370,495; export of 

 clothing, 164,285; export of tallow, 162,585; 



all other exports, 4,646,398. Of the total value 

 of imports, 6,004,798 came from Great Britain, 

 to which 9,559,249 of exports were sent; Aus- 

 tralasian colonies produced 6,813,772 of the 

 imports and took 4,969,120 of the exports; 

 India furnished 282,090 of imports and re- 

 ceived 325,261 of exports; Ceylon furnished 

 143,030 and received 59,812; Canada fur- 

 nished 11,682, but took only 424; and other 

 British possessions furnished 335,341 and re- 

 ceived 162,583; making the total value im- 

 ported from British countries 13,590,713 and 

 the total exports to them 15,076,449. The im- 

 ports from non-British countries were 1,863,769, 

 of which 590,744 came from the United States, 

 546,589 from Germany, 157,615 from Java 

 and the Philippine Islands, 142,924 from 

 France, 142,915 from Belgium, 104,761 from 

 Sweden and Norway, 48,446 from China, and 

 129,775 from other countries; exports to for- 

 eign countries amounted to 1,663,221, of which 

 the value of 740,638 went to France, 480,840 

 to Germany, 198,525 to Belgium, 185,344 to 

 the United States, 12,949 to Java and the 

 Philippines, and 44,925 to other countries. 



The largest imports of Queensland were textile 

 goods and clothing for 1,030,296 and metals 

 and metal manufactures for 680,606. The chief 

 exports were gold for 2,568,702, wool for 

 2,509,342, sugar for 681,038, frozen meat for 

 662,994, hides and skins for 437,658, preserved 

 and salted meat for 274,698, tallow for 272,- 

 528, pearl shell for 126,492, meat extract for 

 92,255, fruit for 87,450, silver for 62,801, 

 and tin for 36,670. Of the total imports, 

 2,501,952 came from Great Britain, 2,323,035 

 from Australasian colonies, 265,766 from the 

 United States, 157,342 from British possessions, 

 and 181,096 from other countries. Of the ex- 

 ports, 3,322,703 went to Great Britain, 5,645,- 

 626 to Australasian colonies, 79,615 to various 

 British possessions, 1,765 to the United States, 

 and 41,848 to other countries. The yield of sugar 

 in 1899 was 164,000 tons from 82,000 acres, com- 

 pared with 98,000 tons from 65,000 acres in 1898. 

 The total value of imports in 1898 was 5,880,- 

 000; exports, 10,079,000, showing large in- 

 creases in sugar, wool, gold, and meat. 



The South Australian exports of wool in 1897 

 were valued at 995,393; of wheat flour, 225,- 

 387; of wheat, 2,473; of copper, 238,277. The 

 quantity of breadstuff s was 18,119 tons. Of the 

 total imports, 2,054,267 came from Great 

 Britain, 3,846,508 from Australasian colonies, 

 304,666 from the United States, 240,513 from 

 various British possessions, and 677,431 from 

 other countries. Of the exports, the value of 

 2,182,946 went to Great Britain, 2,961,212 to 

 Australasian colonies, 909,553 to other British 

 possessions, 1,900 to the United States, and 

 872,804 to other countries. 



The gold exported from Western Australia in 

 1897 was 674,989 ounces, 2,564,977 in value. 

 Other exports were wool of the value of 295,- 

 646; timber, 192,451; sandalwood, '49,480; 

 pearl shell, 40,253; skins, 28,021; pearls, 

 20,000. Of the total value of the imports, 

 2,624,086 came from Great Britain, 3,277,300 

 from Australasian colonies, 210,100 from other 

 British possessions, 160,055 from the United 

 States, and 147,024 from other countries. Of 

 the total for exports, 1.736,205 went to the 

 United Kingdom, 1,980,218 to Australasian col- 

 onies, 158,457 to other British possessions, 

 120 to the United States, and 65,098 to other 

 countries. In 1898 the gold export was 1,050,183 

 ounces, valued at 3,991,000. 



