54 



NFJV SOUTH WALES. 



mucli of siicli mercliandise is apparently shipped from ports of tlie 

 United Kingdom ; and tlie imports from Germany especially, shown 

 in our Customs returns at £917,310 in 1894, should probably be 

 nearly doubled. 



Sydney and Neiccastle. 



Any comparison of the trade of Sydney and Newcastle is also diffi- 

 cult, owing to the fact that vessels are entered only at their first port 

 in the Colony and cleared from the last port of departure. The follow- 

 ing figures are, however, available : — ■ 



The most important export of Newcastle is coal, and there are 

 facilities for the shipment of upAvards of 23,000 tons of coal daily from 

 the Newcastle wharfs. 



These are big figures. It is strange, even absurd, to peruse the 

 writings of certain organs of public opinion at home in England 

 decrying the progress and stability of Australia when the evidences of 

 that progress are so great, the magnitude of its productions already 

 so enormous, and, to those who study the position, the power of further 

 expansion so evident. There are only three ports in the whole of the 

 United Kingdom which carry on a more important export trade than 

 Sydney, in spite of all the recent unprecedented fall in the market 

 value of New South Wales products. The expansion, too, in the trade 

 of the Colony has been very rapid. In 1871 only 794,500 tons repre- 

 sented the shipping cleared from all ports of the Colony; in 1881 the 

 total was swelled to 1,330,300 tons, while in 1894 it had increased to 

 2,878,600 tons, and in the years to come the total will be far more 

 considerable. The coast line is free from obstructions and easily 

 navigated ; living- is exceptionally cheap to the labouring* population ; 

 and the most material hindrances to progress in times past, which have 

 been found in recurring labour troubles and in the distance from 

 European markets, are certainly less prominent than they were. For 

 labour disputes, measured by the number and importance of strikes, 

 have been fewer during the past two years, and the improvements in 

 modern shipping tend steadily towards the annihilation of distances 

 and to the cheapening of freights. Freights have never been so low 

 from this Colony as they are at the time of writing' these remarks. 

 The Australian people are themselves growing steadily in numbers, 

 and in New South Wales they number four-fold what they did a quarter 

 of a century ago. This is a land in which we are accustomed to look 

 forward ; and in another cjuarter of a century how small and pioneer 

 in character all the facts and figures Iierein quoted will necessarily 



appear 



