1302 



A USTRALASIA ILL US TRA TED. 



is generously assisted by the mother-country, and upwards of half a million sterling annually 

 appears for New Caledonia in the budget of the French Minister of Marine and the 

 Colonies. For the year iSSi, by far the largest portion of this sum, two hundred and 

 twrnty-five thousand pounds, was absorbed by the convict establishment ; about sixty 

 thousand pounds were spent on naval and military expenses ; and upwards of one hun- 

 dred and thirty thousand pounds on postal and telegraphic services. 



The colony is in no sense self-supporting, and, considering the heavy cost of the 

 convict establishments and system there, it can scarcely expect to be so. In the year 

 for which figures have already been quoted, the principal items of local revenue were 

 derived from the tax upon wines and spirits, fourteen thousand six hundred pounds ; the 

 sale of lands, eighteen thousand three hundred and sixty pounds ; and the tax on land, 

 two thousand two hundred and fifty pounds. The local budget provides for an expendi- 

 ture of seventy-six thousand six hundred pounds. The commercial statistics of the colony 

 continue to stand at a low figure, and the returns for the years 1880 and 1881 showed 

 a decrease from three hundred and sixteen thousand one hundred and seventy-seven 

 pounds to two hundred and eighty-four thousand five hundred and sixty-four pounds on 

 imports, and from one hundred and ten thousand two hundred and eighty-six pounds to 

 sixty-one thousand three hundred and sixty-two pounds on exports ; of the imports in 

 that year it ma}- be mentioned that the cost of the rations for the supply of the total 

 of ten thousand prisoners, at that time distributed over the Island, amounted to a 

 sum of eighty thousand pounds. The public works of the colony are, of course, largely 

 carried out by convict labour, as already described ; but this is supplemented by an 

 annual municipal vote by the council of Noumea of ten thousand pounds. The principal 

 industrial operations of the Island are confined to these public works, mining and planting. 



Since 1880, the mineral prospects of the colony have attracted marked attention from 

 Australian colonists, many of whom have embarked both capital and labour in their 

 working. Companies have been formed, some of them influentially represented and 

 commanding considerable capital. Copper has been found in thirty-six localities, the most 

 promising being those of Balade and Bomamoula, where workings have been in opera- 

 tion for some years. Up to the end of 1883, the Balade Mine had exported forty-three 

 thousand tons of metal, the pure copper averaging seventeen per cent. These mining 

 operations afforded at that time employment to over four hundred workmen, three-fourths 

 of whom were convicts released on tickets-of-leave. The nickel mines have also been 

 very active. The head-quarters of these operations are at Thio-Canalo and Houailon, 

 and the annual exports have reached one hundred thousand pounds in value. The draw- 

 back to the industry lies in the impossibility of thoroughly treating the ore locally, and 

 the expense of shipping it to France has proved a damaging item against the complete 

 success of these nickel mines. Iron has also been worked with some success, the most 

 promising mine for a long while being that known as the " Lucky Hit," held by some 

 Australian miners. What has been done up to the present in the shape of industrial 

 development has been merely sporadic, and the preponderance of a convict population 

 over free settlement has, so far, stood in the way of anything like distinct advance 

 along the whole line. The encouragement of free immigration is spoken of as the 

 panacea for the politic ills from which New Caledonia suffers, and it must be confessed 



