334 ^-^^^ SOUTH WALES. 



ao-o-regatecl population more readily furnishing tlie workers, while 

 there is a plentiful and near supply of coal, with easy facilities of com- 

 munication from that centre. ' In its possession of coal the Colony 

 holds the greatest natural aid to manufacture, while our motals, wool, 

 timber, and other products offer abundant material. The great 

 obstacle is found in the high rate of wages obtainable by the workers 

 in other pursuits, and while these continue to absorb the bulk of the 

 available industrial population it will be always a difficult matter to 

 set our manufactures going on a scale adequate to our resources. 



The industry offering the greatest amount of population to the 

 people in 189i was that devoted to the manufacture of clothing and the 

 working-up of textile fabrics. In this direction it might be thought 

 that the staple industry of the country would insure the growth of a 

 flourishing and permanent industry. The conditions of pasturage on 

 a large portion of the country, especially in the salt-bush districts, 

 make it more satisfactory to raise clothing wool than the combing 

 variety, and as a matter of fact, the colonies supply the manufacturing- 

 nations elsewhere with more than half of what they use in their local 

 factories. And yet the factories established here from time to time 

 do not seem to have depended entirely on cloth-making for their con- 

 tinuance, and the industry has not been a success. This is partly 

 accounted for by the circumstance that in no woollen mill is the 

 machinery of the best and most effective kind. Two years ago we 

 had in these mills plant worth £23,200, and machinery of 145 horse- 

 power, the clothing factories employing plant worth £4,473. The 

 forty-four boot and shoe factories in the Colony employ more than half 

 the total number of hands occupied in this general branch of industry, 

 the section next in number handling clothing, and the rest including 

 furriers, hat and cap manufacturers, and oilskin, woollen cloth, shirt, and 

 underclothing makers. The leather used in the boot trade is largely a 

 local product, and the plant employed is worth £36,500, with machinery 

 of 217 horse-power. 1894 saw an output of over 2,500,000 pairs of 

 boots, and 461,000 yards of woollen cloth and tweed. The workers in 

 food products find occupation in the largest proportion in sugar mills 

 and refineries, which employ 1,614 persons, with a capital value of 

 working plant worth over £600,000. The flour-mills come next, 

 employing about 700 hands, Avith machinery and plant vv^orth £244,365, 

 while the Colony\s breweries employ 744 persons, and possess machinery 

 and plant to the value of £122,000, with an annual output of about 

 10,000,000 gallons. There is a growing industry in connection with 

 the making of butter and cheese, in which about 1,000 persons 

 are employed, while the factories have machinery and plant to the 

 value of over £50,000. Besides these there are other industries, but 

 they can hai'dly be treated for our present purpose under the heading 

 of this section. The manufacture of sugar is, as may be seen by the 

 figures quoted, an important industry, and its record shows it to be a 

 progressive one. The work is falling gradually, but surely, into the 

 hands of large establishments. In 1882 seventy mills worked by steam 

 and sixteen by cattle manufactured 270,000 cwt. of sugar and 560,000 

 gallons of molasses, while in 1800-1, the year showing the largest 

 yield, thirty-one steam and two cattle mills manufactured 530,660 cwt. 

 of sugar and 1,074,080 gallons of molasses, while the number of hands 



