372 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 194 



value of £115,246 were imported. This does not 

 include magazines, newspapers, and books sent by 

 post. There are 173 newspapers published in the 

 colony, — 49 daily and 91 weekly, bi-weekly, and 

 tri-weekly, — or 1 to every 3,281 inhabitants. In 

 England and Wales the ratio of newspapers to 

 population is 1 to 13,828 ; in Ireland, 1 to 32,585 ; 

 in Scotland, 1 to 21,013 ; and in the United States, 

 1 to 4,656. 



New Zealand now enjoys dhect steam-commu- 

 nication with England by two lines, and there is 

 a fine mail-service running monthly to San Fran- 

 cisco. In 1884 the number of ships entered in- 

 wards was 852 vessels of 529,188 tons : of these, the 

 United States was represented by 23 vessels of 10,- 

 935 tons. The shipping outwards was 872 ves- 

 sels of 534,242 tons ; of these, 9 vessels of 4,086 tons 

 belonged to the United States. The value of the 

 exports was 7,091,667 pounds sterling, and that 

 of the imports 7,663,888 pounds sterling. 



The mining interests will probably increase as 

 new capital flows in to enable the fields — other 

 than the shallow alluvial deposits — to be worked. 

 The value of the gold product since the opening 

 of the mines has been £42,368,192 ; the amount 

 exported in 1884 was £988,953. The fall in copper 

 has had an injurious effect upon the copper-mines, 

 and then- production has been very large. The 

 main development of the past twenty years in 

 mining has been the production of coal. In almost 

 every province of the colony are to be found ex- 

 tensive brown coal deposits. In 1884 the number 

 of tons produced was 480,831. There is a strong- 

 probability that early attention will be paid to 

 silver, shale, tin, and the other mineral develop- 

 ments of the colony. 



In 1864 New Zealand exported 16,691,666 pounds 

 of wool : in 1884 this had increased to 81,139,018 

 pounds. In the same time the number of sheep 

 had increased from 4,937,373 to 14,056,266; the 

 number of cattle, from 249,760 to 700,000; 

 of horses, from 49,409 to 170,000 ; of pigs, from 

 61,276 to over 200,000. In connection both 

 with pastoral and agricultural pursuits, there 

 has grown up the exporting of frozen meats, and 

 this has encouraged the rearing of sheep on lands 

 formerly used for grain-raising. 



The area of land ahenated from the crown was, 

 in 1864, only 7,759,954 acres : in 1884 it amounted 

 to 17,692,511 acres. In 1884 no fewer than 6,391,- 

 075 acres were under crop and sown grasses. In 

 1864, as was stated above. New Zealand not only 

 exported almost no agricultural products, but 

 drew its food-supplies largely from abroad. But 

 in 1884 the exports included, wheat, 2,706,775 

 bushels, valued at £436,738 ; barley, 128,450 bushels, 

 worth £25,138 ; malt, 51,311 bushels, worth £14,- 



665 ; and oats, 2,474,613 bushels, worth £367,286. 

 The exports also included £33,334 worth of flour, 

 £53,536 worth of potatoes, and 254,069 hundred- 

 weight of frozen meat, valued at £345,090. 



Agriculture is now seeking other outlets : or- 

 chards are being planted, tobacco is raised, and lin- 

 seed is now produced. The area of forest-lands is 

 20,000,000 acres, and of this area 9,000,000 acres 

 contain useful timber-trees. 



The manufacturing establishments are of so 

 recent a date that statistics have not been obtained 

 concerning them ; but during this year it is pro- 

 posed to determine accurately their number, the 

 amount and value of the goods produced, and the 

 number of workmen employed. For manufac- 

 turing purposes. New Zealand has the unusual 

 advantages of a moderate climate, a large coal- 

 deposit, and ample water-supply in almost any 

 part of the colony. 



The wealth and material prosperity of the colony 

 are rapidly increasing. In 1881 there were, in all, 

 103,335 houses, of which 87,646 were wooden. In 

 1884 the savings banks had on deposit £1,926,005, 

 and the ordinary banks £9,372,004. One person in 

 every seven holds a life-assurance policy, — a larger 

 percentage, probably, than obtains in any other 

 country. The value of the personal property that 

 is taxed is 40,000,000 pounds sterling, and the value 

 of the real property held by the colonists is 75,- 

 000,000 pounds sterhng. 1,527 miles of railway are 

 in operation, and 10,474 miles of telegraph-wires ; 

 and 1,961 telephones are in use. The number of 

 letters carried in 1884 was 16,611,959, and the num- 

 ber of telegrams sent 1,654,305. Gas is used in 27 

 incorjDorated towns. The colony's revenue in 1884 

 was £3,955,188, and its expenditure £4,101,318. 

 The large expenditure was due to the fact that 

 large sums were borrowed for the prosecution of 

 public works. The total public debt is £30,649,099, 

 but of this a large proportion has been spent on 

 public works which are now returning a good 

 interest. 



Sir Robert Stout predicts that this si)lendid 

 progress will be maintained, and that population 

 will rapidly increase. AgTiculture will become 

 more varied and be diligently prosecuted, dairy 

 farming will come into prominence, and mining 

 will increase. He thinks, too, that the record of 

 the next twenty years will show an advance rather 

 greater than less than that which his valuable 

 paper describes. 



DISTRIBUTION OF POWER BY COM- 

 PRESSED AIR. 



Air at a pressure of forty-five pounds to the 

 square inch will, in the near future, displace steam 

 as a motive power in many of the smaller manu- 



