i6o Rents, Wages, and Profits in Agriculture 



population located in the old colonies of 

 New South Wales and Victoria, where the 

 urban population is half as great again as 

 the rural, and is a much greater proportion 

 than is the case in such old countries as 

 France and Germany. 



Taking the total of Australasia, including 

 New Zealand, in 1901, the urban population 

 exceeded the rural. 



It seems, then, to be the case that under 

 present conditions, both in old and in new 

 countries, in those with already a dense 

 population, and in those with a relatively 

 sparse population, the urban population is 

 increasing very greatly in proportion to the 

 rural, and in many cases there is an absolute 

 decline in the rural. 



When the movement is so widespread 

 and so marked, as already observed, it can 

 only be due to some very general cause, or 

 set of causes. Such a general cause, or 



