66 T. H. HOUGHTON. 



and they have expended large sums on buildings and 

 machinery, notably on the foundry, and they can now cast 

 bronze propellers up to ten tons in weight. 



What has been the economic result of this large expendi- 

 ture that has been incurred ? One need only look around 

 the city and evidence of its great prosperity meets one's 

 view everywhere. Whether that prosperity was caused by 

 the increase in the public utilities to which I have referred, 

 or whether the extension and creation of new works was 

 the result of the demand caused by the growing prosperity 

 I cannot say: a consideration of what has resulted will, 

 however, be interesting. In 1891 the population of the 

 State was 1,132,234, at the end of 1916 it had grown to 

 1,846,736; the population of Sydney has grown at an 

 even greater rate, having increased from 387,434 in 1891 

 to 764,600 at the end of 1916. Unfortunately the rate of 

 increase in the country towns has not kept pace with the 

 city, with the exception of Newcastle. 



Largely owing to the extension of railway lines, the area 

 cultivated for wheat has grown from 333,233 acres in 1891 

 to 4,235,074 acres in 1915; wheat growing now being one 

 of the important industries of the State. 



The railways, which have within the time been nearly 

 doubled in length, and more than doubled in capacity, 

 carried 19,037,760 passengers in 1891, as against 92,850,838 

 in 1916, and the goods, mineral, and live stock traffic 

 increased proportionately: — 



Coal, coke, and shale, tons 



Firewood, tons ... 



Grain and flour, tons 



Wool, tons 



Hay, straw, and chaff, tons 



Live stock ... 



General merchandise, tons 



Total 4,362,233 ...11,614,026 



1891 



1916 



2,673,378 ... 



. 6,109,029 



176,790 .. 



187,135 



198,491 ., 



852,019 



111,797 .. 



111,083 



64,967 ., 



429,047 



128,211 .. 



797,065 



1,008,599 ., 



,. 3,128,648 



