The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-04-01
Australasia.
NJ. W. II.

4 M w. n.
The latest addition to Tho Story Of the
| Nations" series. now In course OF publication
| By the Putnams. Ia devoted to Australasia.
The author. Mr.. GREvrLLE TREoARTHEN. Ia ap-
| parently . native or resident OF New South
Wales and he has evidently been at m UGH pains
to obtain Information regarding the seven
colonies with which the book deals. Tho obiec-
tion to the narrative is that IL IL not brought
quito UP to date. The interesting statistics
furnished In an appendix 60 no further than
the middle OF 1891. and we seek In vain for an
| account OF the recent violent struggle be-
tween employers and the trade unions at Mel
bourne. or OF the trem ndous financial crisis
which laid low many Of the principal banking
institutions In Victoria and New South Wales.
and crippled moro or less severely tho other
Australian colonies. These deductions made.
we hasten to acknowledge that We know Of
no work which presents In an equally compact
form so many useful data regarding the his
tory. present situation. and possibilities Of the
Australasian common wealths.
We must pass over the story OF the success
sive discoveries Of various parts OF the coast
OF New Holland. OF Van Dieman's Land and OF
New Zealand. in which French. Portuguese.
Dutch. and English navigators either were or
claim to have been concerned. We must also
refer the reader to the book itself for the
record Of the evolution Of the colonies from
the irst convict settlement at Botany Bay In
1888 through all the stages OF progress up to
the recent establishment OF woman suffrage
In New Zealand. which. however. 10 not men
TONED In this volume. We confne ourselves
to q comparison Of the resources of the sew
eral provinces at the latest date for which fg-
urss are given By Mr.. Tregarthen. and to an
outline OF his views OF the actual condition
and immediate prospects Of the countries OF
which he treats.
Let us glance first at the fundamental ques-
lions Of population aud OF tho area OF land I'M
der occupation. promising that the statistics
By which We profit are those for the fiscal year
1S00-0l. At the date mentioned New South
Wales had ]. les. 800 Inhabitants; Victoria.
1857. 804; New Zealand. 634. O5S; Queens
land. 410.3+5; South Australia. 1928. 76o: Tas-
mania. 1b2.e19 and West Australia 53. 2s5.
Altogether. Australasia now contains about
million more inhabitants than were comprised
In the thirteen American colonies at the time
Of their separation from Great Britain. We
come now to area. which In tha case OF West
Australia comprehends 67S, 400. 900 acres: in
that OF South Australia. 57S. 36l. 600: in that
OF Queensland. 427. 1893. $50: New South Wales.
19S.S4So0O; New Zealand. 81. ITO. 800; Vie
toria. 90 PAS. 100. and Tasmania. 10.778 0OO. or
their whole areas West Australia has. unoccu-
pied. By which We mean land neither allen
ated nor In process Of alienation nor leased,
the enormous quantity OF 56S 1913 07o: South
Australia comes next with 800. 473.o32: then
figures Queensland with 124. 3l4.4lS acres;
New Zealand. which still has s3.lO2. 77S
acres: Victoria with Il. 296o $50; Tasmania
with 11.4l6.7S5 and New South Wales,
which has but 5.D67.655 acres entire
ly unoccupied. Turning to the exports
and imports OF the colonies We find
that their aggregate was valued for New
South Wales at S223 SOC. 600; for Victoria at
SlSl 100000: for South Australia at nearly
S8o 500. 900; for New Zealand at $50. $50. 600:
for Queensland at so6 l00. 600; for Tasmanis
ut 81. l5O 900. and for West Australia at about
s.. 100000 The total inward and outward
trade Of Australasia at the date named was
upward OF S684. 100000 We pass to certain
products Of these colonies. beginning with
the observation that south Australia. Victoria.
and New Zealand. In the order given. are the
chief growers OF esreAls- The area under crop
was for South Australia. 2.oe3.5 SIS acres; for
Victoria. 2.03l. 955. and for New Zealand.
l.63o,179 acres. Then follows New South
Wales with but $50. 7O4 acres. New South
Wales. on the other hand. is By far the largest
l99O-9l. Next among sheep raissrs IL
New Zealand. with 177,lS0; close to
IL is Queensland. and then. at some
distance. Victoria New South Wales also has
most horses. the number returned being 444.-
1853. but Victoria 10 Just behind with 436. Asa.
In the whole OF Australasia there we're llo.-
O4l. TOT sheep and 1872. CPS horses. or more
than thirty sheep per head OF population, and
nearly one horse to every two inhAbitsntA In
horned cattle Queensland takes the lead,
having 1858, 264; then follow New South
Wales with .OO9. 00o. Victoria with !. 7S2, o7S.
and New Zealand with S3l 1871. The respeo-
tive amounts OF gold produced In the several
colonies were: In Queensland. 0lU. 5S7 ounces;
in Victoria. 5Se. $50; In New Zealand. 1873. 1913.
and In New South Wales. 127.70l ounces, to-
gether with quantities relatively small In thu
provinces unnamed. There are no statistics
furnished as 10 the production Of other met
ais. but We hnd In the text some facts as to
the output OF silver and copper. Thus We
learn that in the Barrier ItsnEe district OF New
South Wales. near the border OF South !
Australia. silver deposits extend over about |
=. 500 square miles. Those worked BIZ the |
Broken Hill Proprietary Company are phs- |
nomsnAlly rich, rivalling even the best mines |
Of Nevada. From the beginning OF operations !
In 1885 up to Aay 81. 1892. the com pany treat |
cd silver aud lead ores which Yielded 35.5l2.-
AS ounces Of silver and Isl. 946 tons Of lead.
the whole valued 10 London at more than SAL
which has been worked ct KapandA station
has Yielded enormous returns to its owners.
and attn richer deposits 81 thiS ere have Slass