The age-herald., 1898-02-16
SOME AUSTRALIAN:
 SOCIAL CONDITIONS

SOCIAL CONDITIONS 1 The decided preference for town life shown l by Australians Is one of the first facts to arrest the attention of visitor. The char acteristie is common to most countries. but to residents in the .'old country and else I where. it becomes the more noticeable by reason of the popular impression that life in the colonies is passed chiefly in the bush. l on the sheep run, or on the gold field. In New South Wales the great mass of pop ulation is found residing in the metropolis and the cities and larger townships. To this result the prosperous conditions of 1 life In the colony and the rapid advance in l the command and the comforts and arts of life have largely contributed. When the l country was new and just beginning to show it's possibilities, there was a tendency | to take up vast tracts of country for the breeding of sheep, or to enter upon the &C., 1 tive work of alluvial mining.
 Those who went out to open the country risked their lives at first in flood and | drought, or at the hands of aboriginees; | but that stage passed away. the social con- ditions solidifled themselves and people set 1 tied down to enjoy the fruits of their pros | perity Taste began to assert itself; the university, schools of art and public libra ries came into being; the desires and aspir- | ations of leisure began to make themselves l felt; and the increasing wants of the pop | ulation aided in creating employment. l Wages, the attractions of towns, the facll- l fties for the education of children and nu- | merous other inducements soon drew the people away from the country and caused | them to settle in the larger centers of pop | ulation. Under normal conditions the life I lived in New South Wales, surrounded by | such circumstances, commands a high de- I gree of comfort. The average of personal l expenditure food and drink alone is | higher than in any other country in the | world. More meat is consumed and twice | as much tea, except, perhaps, in Russia. The colonists spend more money on to- | bacco per head than any other country except the United States, Turkey, Holland | and Brazil. On clothing they spend at the | rate per individual of S12d. per day, which | Is high average, when 1t is recoected | that only 40 per cent. of the population are | to be reckoned as adult males. In 1895 the | total cost of living for the population of | the colony amounted to something under 900 sterling. This sum included not | only cost of food and clothing, but rent | furniture, miscellaneous household ex- l penses, religion, amusements, literature medical and personal attendance, and so on.
 The average expenditure per head was, l therefore, S7 pounds, 14s. Id. per year, rep | resenting, of course, not the cost of living for each adult male but the outlay equally | divided among all the units in the com munity. What this means will be under stood when 1t is compared with the aver
 age outlay in other countries. In the l United Kingdom, for example, where the | conditions of life are so prosperous conn l pared with other European countries, the average according to MulhaI, is as low as % pourlls 14s. 9d. For France the rate is about N pounds Germany 20 pounds, and the United States 32 pounds. While | the Englishman has to work 1N days in the year to earn the cost of the food he consumes, the Frenchman 132, the German | 14S, and the Ibalian 153, the worker in New South Wales has met that portion of his responsibility after working only 119 days
 And this Is not because he eats less than others. Quite the contrary is the case
 The average Brfton makes it his boast that he can challenge the average unit of any other country in respect of gen. erous food supply; but the figures show that the brawn-and- muscle fed in New South Wales absorbs nourishment sufficient to produce more than one-third more work ing energy than the average dietary scale in the United Kingdom.
 Thus, where the one consumes PTS pounds | Of in tho tha other ic with 1O9 pounds; where the Briton Is con- tent with 19 pounds of butter and cheese, his blood relation in New South Wakes expects and receives "A pounds; IS ounces of tea are entrusted with 143 ounces 75 pounds of sugar with 91 pounds; while the consumption of grain foods is about equal, standing at 378 pounds and 3SO pounds, re- spectively Even in the United States
 where the conditions of life are said to be so easy, the meat consumption is only 150 pounds; grain foods, 370 pounds; pota- toes, 170 pounds, as against 205 pounds in New South Wales; sugar, 53 pounds, and
 butter and cheese, 20 pounds; while the annual consumption of meat per head in France Is only 77 pounds; in Germany, 64 pounds and in Italy, 26 pounds These figures convey a fair approximate idea of the material conditions under which the people of New South Wales live, as com pared with those of other countries. They eat and drink and spend more, work less for the necessaries of existence, have a larger share of food luxuries, and in a general way get more out of life than the masses of any other nation.
 ABOUT wHALEBoNE.
 Whaaebone Is scarcer now than it has
 been for some time. It was hard to get last season and this years supply is still smaller. There are eight vessels stuck in the ice up north today and if they do not n1It fhA ma rlxet will he decidadIu short