16 Ohservatiotis on Tasnianian Statistics. 



vessels, having a tonnage of 12,503 engaged in whaling; 

 in 1851 the number was 26 colonial, and 14 foreign, of 

 11,225 tons ; in 1852, the colonial vessels were 18, and the 

 foreign 18, of 10,299 tons ; and in 1853 the former were 

 reduced to 7, and the latter to 2, with a tonnage of 2607 

 only, — brought down to the lowest ebb known in the history 

 of the fishery since its first establishment. 



It would thus seem that whaling has suffered more than 

 almost any other branch of industry ; a result indeed which 

 might be naturally expected, seeing that the same enter- 

 prising disposition which would lead a man to cast his for- 

 tune upon the chance of acquisitions from the depths of the 

 ocean, would be likely to induce him to be one of the very 

 first to join in the rush to the gold-fields even upon a similar 

 uncertainty of acquiring wealth from the bowels of the earth. 



Table 10 shows the total value of the timber imported 

 and e:xported during the same decennial period. The growth 

 of the timber trade is remarkable, as being almost the sole 

 branch of colonial industry which has thriven amidst the 

 general declension ; and which must be ascribed to the 

 extraordinary stimulus communicated to the pursuit by the 

 golden prices realized in Melbourne for sawn stuff, yielding 

 extremely handsome returns even after paying the most 

 exorbitant wages to the sawyers. 



In 1844 the value of timber exported was £3577; in 

 1847 it had reached £16,4.14. ; in 1850, £55,869 ; in 1851, 

 £32,726; in 1852, £89,507; while in 1853 it rose to 

 nearly half a million sterling. 



In 1851, during the first year of the gold discoveries, it 

 will be noticed that the timber trade suffered in common 

 with other branches of our staple industry, and the export 

 was actually lower than it had been for the two preceding 

 years. In 1852, when a large amount of capital had been 



