Evening star., 1901-04-15
Size of the Country.

come a factor in the decision of world
problems.
Size of the Country.
Turn to the picture of Australia as she
is today The land which these men open
ed in size is nearly five-siXths the area of
the United States, containing 2,9i3,OUo
square miles. against the 3,GO2Ooo square
miles of our country. But while in extent
Australia stands as 30 is to 81 in population
she is only as to I6 OF her 40G0,009 in
habitants only 300 900 are abOrigines whose
number has been steadily declining, not
because OF hostility on the part of the
settlers. but as if by inherent deSenerdcy
in the face of the new conditions More
over, there are 1000 Chtuamen and half
caste Chinese. and in recent years restrict
i've measures have been adopted to prevent
the inSreSS of HIndoOS and other ASlatlc
immigrants. The bulk of her people, of
course. are cOlonists from England.
TwO-thirds of the Australian continent Is
a desert, and yet her productiveness is
enormous. This land contains over one
hundred million sheep, between thirty and
thirty-five million head of cattle and horses.
! 1t has given to the commerce Of the world
over f40D 900 900 in gold, copper, coal and tin.
J The two provinces of Ballarat and Bondigo
| alone have produced t10O,UD,O0O of gold,
and much more has come from the great
| TambaroOra and Lambing Flat in New
/ South Wales. 1t sends TO England annual
| ly over t40,Og0,U00 worth of metals, grains,
| wool beef, tallow, hides and mutton.
Consider the sheep alone: Forty years go
/ the output of wool amounted to S,3o,ee0
! pounds. Now, with a record of aW.ooO,OOO
! pounds, Australia furnishes one-fourth of
| the worlds wool and of such a 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
( tal1ow, leaving the meat for the Gogs.
! Later they began to export canned mutton
/ to the home country; but when cold stor-
| age was introduced Australia began her
] ShiOr1pntS frozen mutton which lave
| grown amazingly, until in 1900 these eX-
| ports amounted to 22J,OOO.OOO pounds. Mean
| while her shipments of timed meats steadi-
! ly advanced, reaching last year 45,0OOOOO
| pounds
| Look for a moment over her u1ineral
| wealth for a year: Because of the war in
| the Transvaal and an immense mining de-
, veloprnent in West Australia, the new ted
/ Grafton in 1899, with S60. .000. 900 output. led
| the world in product of gold. BY constant
i gains. her silver product has come to equal
! one-ninth of the worlds supply. For the
| past year her total mineral output amount
| ed to nearly S100OOO,OOO. SO to every
| inhabitant. Her mineral possibilities in
| copper. tin, lead. antimony, iron, quicksil-
| YER and coal cannot be Overestimated.
Fertile and wealthy,
As result of her astonishing fertility,
Australian shipping has reached the total
OF 20.O00.O00 tons Her first railway-that
from Sydney to Parramatta-was opened in
1853 1t was only fourteen miles in length.
Today she owns $1,000 miles of railways.
A curious light on her prosperity Is the
fact that she has million items i'll her
daily, mail, in proportion to her Dopal ttion
| the highest average in the world.
| What is more remarkable is that this CO.
| lossal national wealth has been built up by
only four million people. As consequence
| average individual wealth in Australia Is
| the highest in the world. For instance, let
| us compare the child with the parent
! Australia with England. Australia's reve-
| nue. for this year will probably exceed
| S150. 600 600 which sum is nearly one-third
| that of Engiand'S. But with only one-teNtf
| of Englands population. Australia is
, ! therefore, individually three and thirG
. | times richer than the mother country
| Then there are the savings banks, Titf
SI00 100000 in deposit. This gives $50 pei
head to the people of Australia, again thu
. highest average in the world.