Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-06-25
What Ais Australia?

- What Ais Australia?
A writer in the New York Tribune
points out that much serious comment
has of late been made in England upon
the lack Of progress in Australia, or IN
some of the Australian states. 1t is
pointed out that there Is little increase
in population, while there is rapid In
crease in public Indebtedness; con-
junction of conditions most ominous to
the welfare of any country. Victoria,
one of the most important of the states,
is the worst of all in these respects. AT
the present time it's population Is
actually decreasing, the excess OF
births over deaths and the number Of
immigrants being more than counter
balanced by the emigration, so that IN
1902 there was a net loss In population
of 1892; ALSO the state debt is now
s9125O a head, or considerably more
than that of any other country in the
world.
The Tribune shows that the debt
statement may be dismissed with little
concern, because the whole truth is not
disclosed in the mere statement of the
size of the debt. The fact is that more
than four-fifths of the Victorian debt
represents profitable investments in
state railroads and other public works.
These enterprises are paying in profits
somewhat more than the interest on
their share of the debt, so that to that
extent the debt is not burden upon
the people, but rather source OF
revenue. But the population question
is a serious matter. 1t is no new thing,
either. For years the rate of increase
has been discouragingly small. in
each Of the four years 1S97-19OO the sea
borne emigration from the state con-
siderably exceeded the immigration
into it. In the decade ending in 1861
the yearly rate of increase was 7.SS per
cent; In 1871, 3.07 per cent; in 1881,
1.s5 per cent; in 1891, 2.S3 per cent. and
in that ending in 1901 only GAS per cent.
These are disheartening figures, and
they are made to appear no better by
the statement that the loss of popula-
ton is rural. while the only gain is
urban, so that now the one city of Mel
bourne contains more than Al per cent.
of the total population of the state.
Victoria is, Of course, the smallest in
area of the Australian states, and is
the most densely populated-or least
about IA to the square mile. But how
far 1t is from being Overcrowded may
be reckoned from the fact that there
are very few states in this Union, apart
from those in the mountain region, that
are not much more thickly settled
New York state is more than ten times
as densely populated as Victoria, and
Illinois more than five times. Maine
averages seven more people to the
square mile than does Victoria. More
over, Victoria has the most temperate
climate on the whole continent, and the
best watercd soil, and it is far better
opened up with railroads than any
other state. Its undeveloped resources
are enormous. Judged by ordinary
rules, it seems to be just the country
to which colonists should be fiocking
by myriads. Yet it's growth in popula-
ton is practically at a standstilI, and
seems likely to remain SO, if not
actually to decline. Something ails the
state, and, indeed, to some extent the
whole Australian commonwealth, the
discovery and correction of which Is a
task that may well engage the best at
tention of colonial and imperial states
men.