118 STATISTICAL EEYIEW — NEW SOUTH "WALES. 



trade, "but in the trade with, the Mother Country ; for whilst the 

 colonial trade sustains a slightly increased average- — that is, from. 

 £3,777,341 to £3,806,792, the average imports from Great 

 Britain fell from £4,182,809 to £2,972,300, or a decrease of 

 29 per cent. We may I think trace here the effect of the low 

 value at Home of our staple product, Wool, and perhaps to some 

 extent the languishing state of the Gold-mining interest during 

 the latter period. And may we not also attribute the decrease to 

 , a forced economy in the use of luxuries, which our comparatively 

 straightened circumstances taught us to observe. 



Let us now see how the matter stands as to " Exports." The 

 total value for the first five years was £38,860,002, equal to an 

 annual average of £7,772,000 ; and for the second five years 

 £35,288,874, or an average of £7,057,775, an annual decrease 

 of not much short of three-quarters of a million. JSTow here the 

 picture is reversed ; the decrease is not in the exports to Great 

 Britain, but in the Colonial trade ; for whilst the annual average 

 to Great Britain increased from £2,694,495 in the first period, to 

 £3,347,201, or 24 per cent., in the second period, the value of the 

 intercolonial exports decreased from an average of £4,860,199 to 

 £3,433,344, or 30 per cent. This falling off is apparent in the 

 figures which represent the value of the exports to each of the 

 Australian Colonies, bat aj^pears more particularly manifest in 

 the trade with Queensland, which dropped from the annual average 

 of £1,173,558 during the first five years, to £798,668, or 32 per 

 cent, during the last. And this is a very natural result, not only 

 of the increased facilities for direct trade with the Mother Country, 

 but also perhaps of her people having freed themselves from the 

 galHng yoke of their former pecuniary dependence upon the 

 mercantile and banking institutions of the parent Colony. 



There is still the overland traflicmth the adjoining Colonies to 

 be noticed. I do not intend to enter into an elaborate analysis of 

 the figures presented under this head. The time at my disposal will 

 not admit of it, and I do not wish to trespass on your attention at 

 greater length than I can help. I will take the statistics of two 

 years only, namely, 1861 and 1871, and compare them, that you 

 may see the vast increase of the overland trade in the ten years. 



I find that the value of the imports across the Border and up 

 the Darling, in 1861, was under £200,000, and the exports under 

 £900.000, whilst in 1871 we imported from 



Yictoria to the value of £491,632 



South Austi*alia to the value of ... ... 135,098 



Total £626,730 



And we exported to 



Victoria to the value of £3,027,714 



South Australia to the value of ... ... 424,732 



Total £3,452,446 



