The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-04-12
AUSTRALIA OF TODAY.
ert, Yet Its Productiveness
is Enormous.

Turn to the picture of Australia rs
she is today. The land which these men
opened, in size is nearly fve-sixths the
area Of the United States, containing g.
$4,000 square miles against the 1902.
600 square miles of our country. But
while in extent Australia stands as 20
is to 36, in population she is only as 70
7G. OF her 100000 inhabitants, only
100000 are aborigines. whose number
has been steadily declining, not because
Of hostility on the part of the settlers,
but as if by inherent degeneracy in the
there are 1000 Cinnamon and half caste
Chinese; and in recent years restrictive
measures have been adopted to prevent
the ingress Of Hindoos and other Asiatic
immigrants. The bulk of her people, of
course, are colonists from England.
'Two-thirds Of the Australian CONT
nent is a desert, and yet her productive
over 1OO,0OO,00O sheep. between 3O,00O,-
900 and 35,OOO0OO head of cattle ana
the world over f4O0,0OO,O0O in gold, cop
per, coal and tin. The two provinces Of
Ballarat and Bondigo alone have pro-
more has come from The great Tamba-
roora and Landing Flat in New South
Wales. It sends to- England annually
over f4O, 900, 900 worth Of metals, grains,
wool, beef, tallow, hides and mutton.
Consider the sheep alone. Forty years
ago the output Of wool amounted to s.
100000 pounds. Now. with record of
one-fourth Of the worlds wool, and Of
such quality as to make it one-third Of
the total value. 1t is recorded that the
early colonists used to kill their sheep
simply for the fleece and tallow, leaving
the meat for the dogs. Later they began
to export canned mutton to the home
country: but when cold storage was in
troduced Australia began her shipments
of frozen mutton. which have grown
amazingly, until in 1900 these exports
amounted to 225,OO0,O0O pounds. Mean
while her shipments of timed meats
steadily advanced, reaching last year 49,
/ 100000 pounds.
"Look for a moment over her mineral
wealth for year: Because of the war
in the Transvaal and an immense mining
development in West Australia, the new
Federation in 1899. with $60,O00,OO0 out
put, led the world in product of gold.
BY constant gains her silver product has
come to equal one-ninth Of the world S
supply. For the past year her total min
eral output amounted to nearly $780,
100000, or $25 to every inhabitant. Her
mineral possibilities in copper, tin, lead,
antimony, iron, quicksilver and coal can
not be overestimated.
GAS result of her astonishing fertili-
ty. Australian shipping has reached the
total of 2O,OOO.O0O tons. Her first rail
way-that from Sydney to Parramatta-
was opened in 1866. It was only four
teen miles in length. Today she owns
10000 miles of railways. A curious
light on her prosperity is the fact that
she has million items in her daily mail,
in proportion to her population the high
est average in the world.
'What is more remarkable is that this
colossal national wealth has been built up
by only 100000 people. AS a conse-
quence, average individual wealth in Aus
tralia is the highest in the world For
instance, let us compare the child with
the parent-Australia with England.
Australia's revenue for this year will
probably exceed $3.50, 100000, which sum
is nearly one-third that Of England's.
But with only one-tenth Of England's
population. Australia is, therefore, indi-
yidually, three and third times richer
than the mother country. Then there
are the savings banks, with $70O,OOO,OOO
in deposit. This gives $3.50 per head to
the people of Australia. again the highest
average in the world."-G. Sheridan
DOWeu in AinSlee'S