52 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



accommodation at sucli minor ports as Wollongong, tlie Riclimond 

 and Clarence Rivers^ Twofold Bay, and elsewhere, are also subjects 

 wliicla miglit Le enlarged upon, as New Soutli Wales possesses many 

 harbours wliicli will in the course of years come into greater pro- 

 minence. The developments now in progress at Lake Illawarra 

 are also of considerable importance. But to enter into these matters 

 would extend these remarks to an inordinate length. 



The Sliippincj Returns-. 



According to the published returns of the different Australasian 

 colonies, the shipping tonnage entered and cleared during the year 

 1894 were as under : — 



But bald figures such as these need a great deal of qualification. 

 For instance, a P. and O. or Orient liner reaching Sydney as its final 

 port is entered and cleared only once, and Sydney is admittedly the 

 most important port which it enters in Australian waters. Yet on 

 its outward voyage it calls at Albany (Western Australia), Adelaide, 

 and Melbourne, and is entered and cleared, and the same process is 

 repeated on its homeward voyage, and upon this weekly mail service 

 alone these duplications add something like 300,000 tons per annum 

 to the apparent tonnage entering and clearing Victorian, South Aus- 

 tralian, and Western Australian ports. In New South Wales, too, 

 a vessel proceeding from Sydney to Newcastle for coal is not included 

 as tonnage entering the second port, but only the first port of entry 

 and the port of final departure are returned, and purely coasting- 

 services are excluded. Thus the above comparison does not adequately 

 indicate the relative magnitude of the shipping returns of New 

 South Wales. If however, we take the average value of the exports 

 per registered ton cleared in 1894 at £7 3s. in New South Wales, at 

 £6 12s. in Victoria, at £5 3s. in South Australia, and at £1 18s. in 

 Western Australia, we obtain a clearer insight into the relative 

 significance of these shipping services to the different colonies, 



A quarter of a century back the shipping returns of Victoria 

 exceeded those of New Soutli Wales materially, and even as late as 

 1881 the shipping cleared from the ports of this Colony showed, 

 apparently an excess of only 1 37,000 tons. Last ycai', however, the 

 excess was as much as 750,000 tons, and as has been shown, the 

 utilisation of that tonnage here was relatively greater. 



