34 



AUSTRALIA AND POLYNESIA. 



to Austria, Germany, and Russia, who entered 

 upon the office Aug. 4, 1879. The ministry is 

 composed as follows: Colonial Secretary and 

 Premier, Hon. Alexander Stuart ; Treasurer, 

 Don. George Dibbs ; Minister of Justice, Hon. 

 Henry Cohen ; Minister of Public Instruction, 

 Hon. George H. Reed ; Attorney-General, Hon. 

 W. Bede Dalley; Minister of Public Works, 

 Hon. Henry Copeland ; Postmaster - General, 

 Hon. F. A. Wright, Minister of Mines, Hon. 

 Robert P. Abbott; Secretary for Lands, Hon. 

 James Squire Farnell; Vice-President of the 

 Council, Hon. Sir Patrick Jennings. 



The area is 323,437 square miles. The popu- 

 lation in 1881 was 751,468, of whom 411,149 

 were males and 340,319 females. The immi- 

 gration in the seven years ending with 1880 

 averaged 10,000. The birth-rate is high. The 

 population of Sydney, the capita], in 1881, was 

 220,427, having increased 66-25 per cent, in ten 

 years. 



There entered the port of Sydney, in 1881, 

 2,254 vessels, of the aggregate tonnage 1,456,- 

 289 tons. The tonnage of the port of Newcas- 

 tle was almost as large. 



The total exports of New South Wales in 

 1881 amounted to 16,049,503, the imports 

 to 17,409,326, both larger than in any previ- 

 ous year. Over one third of the trade is with 

 Great Britain; the rest is mainly with the 

 other colonies. The leading export article is 

 wool, of which 87,739,914 pounds, valued at 

 5,304,576, were shipped to England in 1881. 

 The chief exports next in order are tin, copper, 

 tallow, and preserved meat. 



In March, 1882, the colony had 33,062,854 

 sheep, 2,180,896 cattle, 316,931 horses, and 

 213,916 swine. The total area under cultiva- 

 tion was 645,068 acres, about one half of which 

 was under wheat and maize. New South 

 Wales is richer than the other colonies in coal, 

 of which 1,775,224 tons were raised in 1881. 

 The gold production in 1881 was 550,111, 

 about the average of the last five years, having 

 suddenly fallen off from 2,097,740 in 1875, 

 and 1,589,854 in 1876. 



In 1881 there were 995 miles of railroad in 

 operation, and 487 miles under construction. 

 Sydney has 11 miles of steam tramways, a 

 system which is to be extended to some of the 

 neighboring towns. The Colonial Treasurer 

 that though the railroads of New South 

 Wales were laid out and are rapidly extended 

 for the purpose of developing the country, and 

 hhougfa the Government fixes the tariff lower 

 than in the other colonies for that object, yet 

 they return a higher rate of profit on the capi- 

 tal invested than any other railroads in the 

 world. 



The telegraph lines completed at the end of 

 1881 were 14,278 miles, constructed at a cost 

 of 492,211. 



The public revenue of New South Wales in 

 1881 amounted to 6,707,963, the expendi- 

 ture to 5,890.579. The estimated revenue 

 for 1882 was 6,240,000, the expenditure 5,- 



960,000. The actual revenue was 7,062,873, 

 and showed a surplus of 1,846,000. The reve- 

 nue for 1883 was estimated at 6,819,200, the 

 expenditure at 6,483,000. 



The public debt, increased by an issue of 

 2,000,000, in 1882, was at the end of that year 

 18,924,019. In 1882-'83 loans to the amount 

 of 3,000,000 were placed in London. The 

 sums expended by the colony on railroad and 

 telegraph construction amounted at the end of 

 September, 1882, to 17,078,654. The revenue 

 from these public works exceeds the interest 

 on the public debt. The railroad system could 

 be sold out to capitalists, according to the cal- 

 culation of Mr. Dibbs, for 25,000,000. Be- 

 sides the railroads and the public lands, the as- 

 sets of the colony include 12,000,000 owing 

 to it from conditional purchasers of land. 



The financial policy of the new Cabinet, which 

 came into office in January, 1883, is to restrict 

 sales of land as much as possible pending the 

 new land legislation, thus reducing the surplus 

 revenue. A revision of the tariff is in pros- 

 pect after the land question is settled. 



The Parliament of New South Wales was 

 suddenly and unexpectedly dissolved in Novem- 

 ber, 1882. The Government had placed before 

 Parliament a land bill, which was, with slight 

 amendments, a consolidation of the various 

 land laws embodying the system first intro- 

 duced by Sir John Robertson in 1861. The 

 Robertson policy was hailed at the time it was 

 adopted as a triumph of democratic principles. 

 It allows the free selection of lands by actual 

 settlers anywhere upon the tracts occupied on 

 pastoral leases 'as sheep-runs by " squatters," 

 or Government leaseholders. This provision 

 has not prevented the building up of huge pas- 

 toral estates in accordance with the natural 

 and economical conditions which prevail in 

 Australia, nor promoted to any extent the im- 

 migration of settlers and the agricultural de- 

 velopment of the country. But it depreciated 

 the value of the public lands and prevented the 

 Government from obtaining the best value on 

 leases or sales. It has also brought about eco- 

 nomical conditions which are regarded with 

 grave apprehensions by the younger statesmen. 

 The squatters have been impelled by reason of 

 the insecurity of their tenure to strain their 

 credit in order to obtain the freehold of their 

 runs. The portions which they can not borrow 

 the means to buy at auction they endeavor to 

 keep out of the hands of actual settlers by in- 

 ducing dependents and dummies to free-select 

 the desirable sections. Illegal and violent 

 means are often resorted to for the purpose of 

 fighting away interloping settlers. The conse- 

 quence of this state of things is, the creation 

 of a class of large landholders more rapidly 

 than if the Robertson law did not exist, and 

 of landholders whose property is deeply mort- 

 gaged at heavy interest to absentee capitalists. 

 Sir Henry Parkes, the Premier, agreed to a 

 dissolution, although the Parliament had but 

 one year to run, and the adoption of the tri- 



