300 NEW SOUTH WALES. 



altliougli vre suffered from the consequences of the depression, than 

 in any other country in the world. Outside Australia the inhabitants 

 of the United Kingdom headed the list at a little over £14 sterling 

 per annum per head, while France showed a little over £12^ Germany 

 nearly £11, and Italy not much more than £6. In New South Wales 

 the rate stood at £10 (5s. per year, or 10'7d. per day. Something has 

 to be said, of course, for the difference in prices of provisions here and 

 in the older countries ; but if some articles are dearer, others^ like 

 meat, are cheaper, and in this way the discrepancy has a tendency to 

 adjust itself. If the expenditure on mere luxuries can be taken as an 

 index to the comfortable conditions under which our population lives, 

 it may be mentioned that about one-fifth of the whole expenditure on 

 food is paid away for wines, spirits, or beer ; but even these figures 

 do not represent the standard of expenditure before the wave of 

 depression passed over the colony. Three years ago the daily outlay, 

 for instance, was returned as nearly one-sixth more, or over 12d. per 

 day per head ; but even as things are to-day it is something to be 

 able to point to the fact that a population of a little over 1,000,000 

 souls spends upwards of £20,000,000 sterling annually on food and 

 drink alone. To the working-classes of Europe meat and tea are 

 luxuries, and often unattainable. In New South Wales more meat 

 is used than in any other part of the world, and twice as much 

 tea, except as regards Eussia. Our people spend more money on 

 tobacco per head than any other country except the United States, 

 Turkey, Holland, and Brazil, and more on intoxicants than any other 

 country. On clothing we spend at the rate per individual of 3id. per 

 day, which is a faii'ly high average when it is recollected that only 40 

 per cent, of the population are to be reckoned as adult males. Last 

 year the total cost of living for the population of the colony amounted 

 to something under £47,000,000 sterling. This sum includes not only 

 cost of food and clothing*, but rent, furniture, miscellaneous household 

 expenses, religion, amusements, literature, medical and personal attend- 

 ance, and so on. The average expenditure per head was, therefore, 

 £37 14s. Id. per year, representing, of course, not the cost of living for 

 each adult male, but the outlay equally divided among all the units in 

 the community. What this means will be understood Avhen it is com- 

 pared with the average outlay in other countries. In the United King- 

 dom, for example, where the conditions of life are so prosperous as 

 compared with other European countries, the average, according to 

 ]\[ulliall, is as low as £29 14s. 9d. For France the rate is about £24, 

 Germany £20, and the United States £32. While the Englishman has 

 to work 127 days in the year to earn the cost of the food he consumes, 

 the Frenchman 132, the German 148, and the Italian 153, the worker 

 in New South Wales has met that portion of his responsibility after 

 working only 119 days. And this is not because he eats less than the 

 others. Quite the contrary is the case. The average Briton makes it 

 his boast that he can challenge the average unit of any other country 

 in respect of a generous food supply ; but the figures show that the 

 In-awn-and-muscle fed in New South Wales absorbs nourishment 

 sufficient to produce more than one-third more working energy than 

 the average dietary scale in the United Kingdom. Thus, where the 

 one consumes 278 "lb. of meat in the year, the other is content with 



