- <. I ''. r '* f ith numerous bays, mostlv narrow at the entrance, some of them leading to noble rivers impeded with sand-bars but capable of being easily cleared, and affording ports and harbours of refuge in stress of weather. The capital of the Colony, Sydney, stands at the head of Port Jackson, a harbour of romantic beauty and surpassing loveliness, wooded to the water's edge, ljut broken at intervals with frowning cliffs that rise to the height of 300 feet, and stretching inland in a hundred linely-roundedbays, presenting every variety of form, and fringed with wreaths of white foam all along the lines of glittering sand. Here laud-locked and perfectly secure, all the mercantile and armed fleets of all nations may ride at anchor at one time, and leave space enough, for the increase of hundreds of years. NEW SOUTH WALES. .J I'ivo uiiles from the main entrance to this magnificent natural Jock the city is built, vrith its long streets, handsome buildings, tall masts adorned with flags of all nations, long lines of shipping and crowded warehouses, the emporium of an immense and wealthy Country, the centre of a trade with England, China, India, America, and all the Southern Isles, fast growing into colossal proportions, and proud of her title " The Queen of the Pacific." Here, on the 2Gth January, 1788, the first Governor, Captain Phillip, landed with his rough colonist band of 1,030 people, and his scanty supply of 431 head of cattle, poultry and other live stock all told. In 1851 the southern portion was formed into the separate Colony of Victoria, taking 68,335 of the population, and 6,026,237 head of sheep and cattle. In 1859 the northern por- tion was separated to form the Colony of Queensland, taking 125,000 of the population and 2,419,091 sheep ; yet, on the 2nd of April, 1S71, the population of New South Wales was 503,981, equal to one-fortieth of the population of England. The number of cattle was 2,014,888, and of sheep 16,278,697, equal to three- fourths of the whole stock of cattle and sheep in England. A capital has been built, with a population, including its suburbs, of over 140,000 ; not less than 023 post towns have been founded, some of them approaching the magnitude of cities, and one at a distance of 944 miles from Sydney ; 6,114 miles of telegraph have been opened, 10.000 miles of roads have been made, 400 miles of railway have been constructed, and 300 miles more are being surveyed ; one line ascending the Blue Mountains to a height of nearly 4,000 feet, and descending by means of works the most massive and ingenious ; immense mines have been opened for the precious metals, and for copper, coal, tin, and other minerals. Her ports have been furnished with commodious docks and wharf's, and possess 75,224 tons of shipping, while the gross revenue of the Colony for 1872 was 4,775,540. The total export and import trade of the Colony for 1871 (the latest yearibr which Customs Returns have been compiled) was 20,854,540. The progress indicated \>y these facts is all the more valuable because it has been gradual not the result of any sudden and extraordinary influx of population arising from exceptional circumstances. The mineral resources of the Colony, valuable as they have proved, are only just beginning to be developed ; the production of gold for last year surpass anything that has been known since 1862 ; the deposits of copper and tin are enormous ; the latter, a perfectly 4 NEW 80TTTH WALES. new industry, capable of development to any extent by the judi-- cious application of labour and capital ; while the Coal Fields are being rapidly opened for the supply of all the Australian Colonies and foreign ports, and furnish the motive power for manufacturing enterprise in future ages as extensive as that of the Mother Country. Already there are nearly 7,000 factories and workshops in full operation, including seven woollen, cloth, and tweed fac- tories; and with the power of producing wool, cotton, silk, coal, and iron, to any extent within her borders, New South "Wales is clearly marked out as the future emporium of the trade and com- merce of the Pacific. The climate of the Colony is most genial, and highly favourable to health ; every variety of temperature is to be found within so vast an area,, and with such varied physical features. On the tablelands, frost, snow, and hail are common ; on the inland plains the thermometer is over 100 in the shade for the greater part of the summer ; and there are occa- sional droughts at the very time that part of the coast districts may be flooded ; but in Sydney, which is central, the mean temperature is only 62' 4, similar to that of Lisbon, the extreme range in the shade being 106 in summer and 30 in winter, while in London the range is from 97 to 5. On the whole there s,re few parts of the Colony where the heat is more trying than the hot summer months of England ; while nowhere, except at a few places on the summit of the mountain ranges, is there anything of the rigorous English winter. The air is clear and bracing, the light gorgeous, the sky, for an average of 200 days in the year, cloudless, the nights most enjoyable, with bright constellations of stars well defined, spread over the whole heavens, and the moon, when full, giving light enough to read by, and revealing the whole landscape beneath. Small-pox and many ailments of children and infectious diseases as native to the Country A are quite unknown, and some that have been imported quickly die out. Even with the unsettled life incident to a new Country, its vital statistics compare favourably with those of almost any other part of the AVorld, and give a far higher average of life than those of the United Kingdom. In no part of the British Empire are life and property more secure. Even in the mining districts, where a rush of 10,000 persons occasionally takes place in a few weeks, there is less crime and disorder than in most English towns of the same number of inhabitants. The whole Country is divided into Police Districts, and iu the far interior whatever crime may be 2HSW SOUTH WALES. 5 committed seldom escapes detection and punishment. The aborigines, a harmless and well-disposed race, have unfortunately almost entirely disappeared. No coloured labour is imported or employed in New South Wales. There are a few thousand Chinese in the Colony, but they are good citizens and most frugal industrious workmen. More than half the population is native- born, of the true English type, more so probably than in any other Colony. National animosities, such as cause so much disorder in the United States, scarcely exist here. Secure in the enjoyment of political and religious equality, all classes are order- loving and law-abiding ; political and religious differences never lead to a breach of the peace, not even during the most excited Parliamentary and Municipal elections. Public schools are established in every part of the Colony, built partly by local subscription and partly by Parliamentary grant, and supported and controlled by the State ; and these schools are highly efScient, and available for all classes of the community. Three- fourths of the population are settled in cities and towns, where all the comforts and luxuries of English life are common to every home, and few of the pastoral population are beyond a day's ride from some centre where supplies of all kinds may be obtained at reasonable prices. Wages are high, and work plentiful, and in the present revival of mining, labour is becoming still dearer and "more scarce ; and though in the capital there are always a few loafers lounging about the streets seeking to live by their wits at the expense of the credulous, yet no man or woman who is willing and able to work need ever be out of employment ; and it has been stated in evidence before a Parliamentary Com- mission, that the Colony can easily absorb in all its various industries from 30,000 to 50,000 immigrants every year. Such are some of the resources which New South Wales offers to all the industrious and enterprising of other lands, whose necessities or inclinations may induce them to seek a home beyond the seas. She has 207,000,000 acres of laud, of which, at the close of 1871, only 11,000,000 were alienated, 5,000,000 being disposed of to agriculturists, and 3,000,000 leased for agricultural purposes, while 140,000,000 acres are occupied as pastoral leases, feeding 18,000,000 sheep, thus showing the value of these lauds; and the whole of the area, together with the remaining 60,000,000 acres at present unoccupied, is open for the settler to select from where he chooses, on the easiest and most (J TfEW SOrTH WALES. accommodating terms. "Why should the labourer, the artisan, the small capitalist, toil through a weary life in the overcrowded labour markets of the World, in dread of pauperism and want all their days, when under the same Crown, the same laws-, and among a people of the same race and language, they may find a ready welcome, full employment, liberal wages, large profits, and every facility for acquiring land and possessing homes of their own ? Every immigrant is wealth to the Colony and wealth to _ England too, for her trade with her 2,000,000 Australian children ranks next in value to her trade with the 200,000,000 of India. "We promise to no one immunity from toil. The la/.y, the improvident, the drunkard, the loafer, such as abound in all large cities and are a burden upon the community where they dwell, these can find a Paradise nowhere, and least of all in a young Country ; but honest labour of all kinds, and capital in large or small sums, seeking investment, these may come with a certainty of a comfortable livelihood, a competence for life by- a few years industry and prudence, and in many cases moderai > fortune too. To all such we submit the following pages, which may be relied upon as giving a truthful account of New South "Wales in its present condition, and as a field for the immigrant of every land. II.-POLITICAL CONSTITUTION. IT is of great importance for emigrants to know the nature of the Government and political condition of the Country where they intend to settle. A despotic Government and a servile people never can prosper, and it is perhaps for these reasons that the greatest part of the magnificent lands of South America remain unoccupied. Where taxes can be arbitrarily imposed by those who govern, and where exactions can be made upon the cultivators of the soil for any amount of the produce of their labour by simple edict of the rulers, production is sure to be small and industrial progress is impossible, for no one cares to produce simply to enrich others without benefit to himself. Secure and equitable Constitutional Government, therefore, is one of the first conditions of material advancement. In this respect New South Wales offers all the advantages of the Mother Country, with all the additional benefit of freedom from the relics of the feudal NEW SOUTH WALES. 7 system which still linger in the European States and impede the progress of the people. Until the year 1856 New South Wales was in the condition of a Crown Colony, but in that year the present Constitution Act came into force, and ever since the people have governed themselves, by representative institutions based on the model of the English Parliament. The Queen is the head of the State, and in her name all legal business is transacted. Every Act of the Local Parliament, to be valid, must receive her assent, through her Representative the Governor, and in certain- cases affecting Imperial interests Bills are reserved for the Eoyal assent. It is rarely, however, that this power of veto reserved to the Sovereign is exercised, and the assent of the Governor in> nearly all cases of legislation is sufficient. The Parliament con- sists of two Houses : the Legislative Assembly of seventy-two Members, elected by the people and holding their seats for five years, and a Legislative' Council of thirty-one Members nominated for life by the Governor in Council. A Bill for the reform of the Upper House is now before the Parliament, the purport of which is to base the Council on popular representation. The Governor is assisted by an Executive Council of seven Members, always con- sisting of the Ministers who hold the higher offices of State for the time-being, and no Ministry can long exist without a Parliamentary majority. The Legislative Assembly, like the British House of Commons, is the actual governing body, and this House is open to all citizens without religious or property distinction of any kind, and the poorest and lowest in social rank may win by ability and good character the highest offices of State. The terms of the Elec- toral Act defining the qualifications of Members are these : Every male subject of Her Majesty of the full age of twenty-one years, and absolutely free, being natural born, or who being a naturalized subject, shall have resided in this Colony for five years, shall be qualified to be elected a Member of the Assembly for any Electoral District unless disqualified by section 17 or 18 of the Constitution Act or unless under section 11 or 12 of this Act he would be dis- qualified or incapacitated as an elector. The following is the qualification of electors : " Every male subject of Her Majesty of the full age of twenty-one years, being natural born, or who,, being a naturalized subject, shall have resiled in this Colon? for ' three years, thill, if qualified as in this section is proviled, and 8 >T:W SOUTH WALES. entered on the roll of electors, and not disqualified or incapacitated for some cause hereinafter specified, be entitled to vote at auy election for the Electoral District in respect of which he shall be so qualified." The qualification required in the section is six months residence in the Electorate, or a freehold estate of the annual value of 10. The persons disqualified are criminals, paupers, the insane, soldiers, and police. There is an annual revision of the Electoral Roll made by Government, by means of the police. One of the greatest boons to the Country for securing quietness and fairness of election is vote by ballot. However excited the populace may be, and whatever question may be pending, election riots are quite unknown ; and though a few instances of personation occur, they are extremely rare, and bribery is all but impossible. In no part of the World have the people greater political equality, and nowhere can they exercise their rights and privileges with greater freedom, independence, and security. To examine critically the whole of legislation since the passing of the Constitution Act is not the scope of these pages ; but, as instances of the practical wisdom of govern- ment, we may cite the Public Schools Act, the Acts alienating the Public Lands, the Municipalities Act, and others adapted to the wants and calculated to advance the moral condition and various industries of the Country. The defects of government, if we may legitimately refer to them, arise necessarily from the smallness of the community and the vastness of the area for which measures have to be provided. Every increase of popula- tion will lessen the difficulty of government, and increase the power of the Colony for useful and progressive legislation. New South Wales offers to all intelligent, sensible, and* industrious immigrants a fair field and no favour, politically and socially ; and it is absolutely certain that many able men who are buried in obscurity in the old Countries, and can never rise out of their social encumbrances so as to make themselves heard, mav become here men of mark and power, and leave their names written out in the aunals of their Country as the leaders and benefactors of their race. All who cherish so worthy an ambition may confer a greater boon on their Country by casting in their lot with the Colonies, than by remaining in obscurity and indigence in their Dative land. JfEW SOUTH WALES. 9 111,-AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT. How TO GET LAND. THE great diversity of our climate, and the richness of the soil over large tracts of country, afford the most tempting induce- ments to agricultural settlement in New South Wales. The profitable* character of other pursuits, however, and the almost exclusive occupation of the country for grazing purposes, have caused farming to be very much neglected ; and it is only within a very recent period that the colonists have been able to form any adequate idea of the productive character and varied capabilities of the laud in districts more remote from the Capital. In 1861 . the Parliament passed an Act for regulating the Alienation of Crown Lands. That Act is still law, and it offers very great facilities for the acquirement of land by men of small means. Anybody is at liberty to take up any quantity of the best land he can discover, between 40 acres and 320 acres, at 1 an acre; and, on payment of one-fourth of the purchase money he obtains undisturbed possession. He is not dependent upon the caprice of any official ; and he need not wait to have his land surveyed, although, as a matter of fact, the surveyor will speedily follow him, and definitely determine the boundaries of his estate. If the land conterminous to his own have not been alienated from the Crown, the conditional purchaser is entitled by law to depas- ture his stock over an area three times the size of his purchase. This " grazing right," as it is called, cannot, however, be relied on with any degree of certainty, for, in the progress of settlement, these grazing areas are speedily converted into freehold home- steads by successive conditional purchasers. As soon as the whole of the purchase money has been paid, the Government issues the title, which is indefeasible ; for it must be remembered that Torrens' Act is in force in this Colony, and titles to land once registered under it can never be called in question. The interest (5 per cent.) payable on the unpaid balance of three- fourths of the purchase money, is equivalent to a yearly rental of one shilling for every acre conditionally purchased. The following are the words of the Act which provide for the con- ditional sale of unimproved lands without competition : On and from the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty- two Crown Lands other than town lands or suburban lands and not being within a proclaimed Gold Field nor uuder lease for mining purposes to any 10 NEW SOUTH WALES. person other than the applicant for purchase and not being within areas bounded by lines bearing north east south and west and distant ten miles from the outside boundary of any city or town containing according to the then last census ten thousand inhabitants or five miles to the outside boundary of any town containing according to the then last census five thousand inhabitants or three miles from the outside boundary of any town containing according to the then last census onethousand inhabitants ortwo miles from theoutside boundary of any town or village containing according to the then last census one hundred inhabitants and not reserved for the site of any town or village or for the supply of water or from sale for any public purpose and not ontaining improvements and not excepted from sale under section seven of this Act shall be open for conditional sale by selection in the manner following (that is to say) Any person may upon any Land Office day tender to the Land Agent for the district a written application for the conditional purchase of any such lands not less than forty acres nor more than three hundred and twenty acres at the price of twenty shillings per acre and may pay to such Land Agent a deposit of twenty-five per centum of the purchase money thereof And if no other like application and deposit for the same land be tendered at the same time such person shall be declared the conditional purchaser thereof at the price aforesaid Provided that if more than one such application and deposit for the same land or any part thereof shall be tendered at the same time to such Land Agent he shall unless all such applications but one be immediately withdrawn forthwith proceed to determine by lot in such manner as may be prescribed by Regulations made under this Act which of the applicants shall become the purchaser. It will be seen that the only restrictions upon choice are those which are absolutely necessary for the protection of the public interests. In consideration, however, of the liberal terms upon which land may thus be obtained, other sections of the Act require that the conditiocal purchaser shall reside upon his land" for a period of three years, and during that time make improve- ments to the value of 1 an acre conditions implying no prac- tical hardship upon the land fide settler, and which are fully satisfied by the exercise of his own labour. The Act came into operation on the 1st of January, 1802, and from that date to the 31st December, 1871, 2,849,391 acres were conditionally pur- chased by 37,216 applicants and that is probably the best proof that could be adduced of the beneficial operation of the law. Much of the land thus alienated has been brought under the dominion of the plough. PIONEER WORK. Twenty -five pounds thus enable a man to acquire a homestead of 100 acres. The cost of agricultural implements is a trifle greater in this Colony than in England ; but it is necessary that NEW SOUTH WALES. 11 the farmer should have money enough to provide himself with rations until such time as he can reap a harvest from his laud ; and, if he have cash enough to buy a horse and cart (or a boat, if his land be upon the banks of a river), and to provide himself with a cow, a few pigs, sheep, and poultry, he is practically independent of all the world, for he has resources within his own domain which will enable him to more than supply all his legiti- mate wants, and to convey his surplus produce to a market. Nothing is more common in this genial climate than to see carriers and drovers sleeping out, with the heavens as their only canopy. Upon all the roads, lodging-houses and hotels occur at convenient intervals ; and yet, such is the force of habit and the fascination of the camp fire, that teamsters prefer this rough freedom, and find the shelter of their drays sufficient. What is of consequence is, that "camping out" does not seem to have any injurious effect upon the health of those who thus expose them- selves to the night air ; so that shelter from the rain, wliich can be provided in a few hours, is all that is absolutely needed in the way of lodging in the first instance. The man, however, whose ambition it is to make a horn* for his family and to acquire influence as a citizen, is not content with bare shelter ; and his first care, therefore, is to build himself a snug house, and to enclose his ground. His land supplies him with timber for both purposes, and all the trouble he is put to is the labour of felling and shaping it. Bark for the roof is obtainable in any length, from' several descriptions of forest trees which grow in every part of the Colony, and it makes a capital covering impervious to the rain, warm, and durable. Should the settler have to resort to hired labour,' a substantial and comfortable structure of four rooms will probably cost him about 20. His dwelling will have no pretensions to architectural embellishment, but will be quite as presentable as many of those which are thought good enough for the occupation of farm labourers in the Mother Country, and being suited to the climate, will be far more healthy. In only few parts of New South Wales, and those of very limited area, does winter visit us with the rigour which involves the poor of Britain and Northern Europe in so much privation and distress. In the Coast Districts, and in many other parts of the Colony, the farmer does not need to spend a farthing on the erection of sheds for the shelter of his stock ; and the operations of the husbandman are never suspended by frost or snow. Over a large extent of country, 12 NEW SOUTH WALES. crops are produced in succession from January to December ; and some descriptions of produce French beans, for example may be had fresh from the garden nine months out of the twelve. THE SETTLER'S HOME. The character of the settler's home depends entirely upon him- self, for neither scarcity of materials nor cost of labour offer any insuperable obstacle to its being made as comfortable as heart could wish. Many are content to live in rude habitations, and disregard external appearances ; but every year brings with it improvement. Passion-vines, loaded every six months with globes of luscious fruit, clothe the outbuildings of many a humble tenement with foliage, glossy and green through summer and winter. The grape-vine, with its massive clusters of yellow and purple fruit trailing over the verandahs, gives a grateful shade during summer and autumn to many a country home ; while the settler who is less utilitarian in his ideas may, it' he prefers it, inhale the fragrance of the honeysuckle or the rose, or embower his habitation in the glowing hues of the Bignonia, the Bougain- villea, or other gorgeous climbers which elsewhere unfold their floral magnificence only under the costly nurture of the conser- vatory. "With the increase of family life comes an increase of refinement, and the multiplication of comforts. Flower gardens and orchards are the produce of a few hours leisure, and nothing is more pleasing in the spring of the year than to see the agri- cultural homesteads which are dotted over the face of the country enveloped in the pink and white blossoms of the peach, the plum, the apiicot, the nectarine, the apple, and the pear, which rest like a cloud upon the landscape, flushing it with warmth and beauty. Such is the exuberance of all descriptions of fruit-trees in this country that a very small patch of ground gives abundance for summer use, and more than enough for the consumption of the year, if it be thought worth while to dry, bottle, or preserve it. THE FARMER'S PROSPECTS. The state of farming in New South "Wales c.innot be compared with that of the Mother Country, where agriculture has become a science, and where the farmer has commonly the advantages of large capital and easy access to unlimited markets. There are few large farmers in the Colony, and the steam plough has not KEW SOUTH WALES. 13 yet been seen in more than one district. There is, however, plenty of level land well adapted to steam cultivation, and there is no reason why farming on a large scale should not be highly remunerative, now that the three principal lines of Railway have almost reached the rich wheat-growing districts in the west, north, and south'. A very large proportion of the cultivators of the soil in this Colony began life with little capital and less ex- perience, under conditions which in any other calling or Country would have rendered failure inevitable ; and that they have not failed is the best proof of the favourable conditions under which agriculture may be carried on. Instances might be mentioned of men who have acquired fortunes. A gentleman, who was for many years a Minister of the Crown, stated before a Parliamentary Committee: " I know instances of men in the Hunter District who have made thousands and tens of thousands by agriculture. I believe the people of the Western Districts obtained their wealth iu the first instance by agriculture. Their stock increased in numbers and value until the owners became enormously wealthy, independent of their agriculture, and then they gave up the cultivation of the land, as far as they were personally concerned." The Clarence is one of the latest districts taken up for farming purposes, and the settlers there have generally been very successful. Mr. B. began with a capital of 100 upon a freehold farm of 50 acres in 18o7. He is now the owner of several valuable farms, a number of superior well-bred cattle, and has 3,000 and upwards invested in various securities. Another farmer, A. D., bought land from the Government in the same year. In two years his farm repaid him the amount of the purchase money, and the cost of labour in clearing and cultivating. He is now the owner of some of the best land in the district, and is thoroughly independent. Two single men, having a joint capital of 0, took up a farm of dense brash land, 70 acres in extent, on a clearing lease for five years. At the end of the period they had each earned upwards of 400. In New South Wales, however, as probably in every other part of the World, agriculture is a slower, but at the same time, a surer road to competence than most other pursuits. In England, the agri- cultural labourer is too often poorly paid and badly fed. He spends his years in one perpetual conflict with poverty, if not with starvation ; and when at last he can no longer keep the wolf from the door, his heritage is a dispensation of parish pay. In 14 IfEW SOUTH WALES. New South. "Wales, two or three years of industry and frugality will put the farm labourer in possession of money enough to ensure a fair start in life as a proprietor and cultivator of the soil ; and a few more years of intelligent, well-directed toil will enable him to establish a home for himself and his family, and that, too, while he is in the constant enjoyment of all the comforts of life, and while his children are receiving an education in the Public Schools of the Country which may qualify them to occupy the highest positions of influence and power in the community. It cannot for a moment be pretended that the farmer in New ISouth Wales is exempt from the common lot of labour. If any man will not work, neither should he eat. The vicissitudes of climate, and the prevalence of insect life which preys upon his crops, have to be encountered here as elsewhere, but they are not more formidable. Patience, industry, and skill conquer all obstacles, and the man is physically, intellectually, and morally the better for the conflict. As he sows, so he reaps. He is never out of employment ; his anxieties are " the ordinary vicissitudes of more or less ; his cares are, that he takes his fair share of the business of life, that he is a free human being, and not perpetually a child. He is no longer a being of a different order from the middle classes. He has pursuits like those which occupy them, and give to their intellects the greatest part of such cultivation as they receive." A reference to the Agricultural Map, which is bound up with this pamphlet, will enable the reader to see at a glance the localities in which the leading crops of the Colony have been successfully cul- tivated. Hitherto the farmers have commonly confined their atten- tion to one particular crop, but it is not likely that they will long be dependent upon any one cereal production. As experience is gained, a better system of cultivation obtains, and in some parts of the Colony the value of a rotation of crops, and the necessity for manuring soils long cultivated, are beginning to be understood and acted upon. Many of those who began with small holdings of forty acres have now obtained the maximum limit obtainable under conditional purchase (320 acres), and have added grazing to the ordinary occupations of the farm. WHEAT. In the early days of the Colony wheat was grown extensively in the valleys of the Hunter and the llawkcsbury, in the vicinity of Carnpbelltown and Camden ; but in those localities wheat has 1TEW SOUTH WALES. 15 now been very largely superseded by other crops. It is on the table lands that the best wheat-growing districts occur. The country lying to the north of Murrurundi is admirably adapted for its growth, and in the neighbourhood of Tamworth, Armidale, and Inverell, there is a large acreage under this crop. In the Western District, Orange may be taken as the centre of a very large extent of wheat-growing country ; and similarly, Young in the south-west, and Tumut, which lies still further to the southward. These districts are from 2,000 to 4,000 feet above sea-level, and they contain an extent of rich agricultural land which is cajpable of producing all the wheat needed for the support of a population of many millions. Rust, which often proves fatal to the wheat crops on the coast, is unknown in fhe Southern District, of which Turnut may be taken as a centre, or in the "West, with Orange as its principal market. Crops of fifty-two bushels to the acre have been obtained near Inverell ; but while the soil in that neighbourhood is exceptionally rich, the climate is more variable. The average yield of last year's crop, according to the Returns furnished by the police, was from 11 to 15 bushels to the acre ; but from the cultivation of the wheat lands in the south and the west an average of 25 bushels may be counted on, even with the comparatively unskilled farming which is still prevalent. The local news- paper states that the wheat crop in the Monaro District this season (1S72-3) has been garnered, and has averaged from 40 to 60 bushels per acre on some of the richest lands. We should say here, once for all, that the agricultural statistics of the Country are collected by the Police ; but it is a fact known to the head of that Department that the produce of the crops are almost invariably understated, by the settlers. Nothing is more common than for a farmer to tell the constable who asks him for informa- tion about his crop, that his wheat, for instance, has averaged 10 bushels per acre, when, in point of fact, he has taken 20 or 25 bushels per acre to the mill-owner. The value of accurate statistics, and the purpose for which they are asked, are often not understood by persons of this class, and they are apt to regard the questions put them as an impertinent inquisition into their private affairs. Then, too, the cultivation is often slovenly in the extreme ; and, as the stumps of the forest trees are left standing above the ground, a large portion of every^acre never comes under cultivation at all, and more particularly is this the case where the 16 NEW SOUTH WALES. roots of the trees branch out on the surface of the soil. Deep ploughing and rotation of crops are as yet by no means general. It is estimated that a very large proportion of this year's crop will yield from 30 to 35 bushels an acre. One of the oldest residents in the Western Districts (Mr. ~W. H. Suttor), speaking before a Committee of the Legislative Assembly, two years ago, of the wheat crop iu the Orange District, said : " I never knew a failure of the wheat crop there." Similar testimony might be adduced respecting other districts. The following statement is clipped from the Bathurst Free Press of January, 1873, and refers to the harvest of the present year : Several reports have reached us to the effect that if they had been able to save the crop, some of the farmers would have been able to house from 30 to 60 bushels to the acre. Mr. James Cock, miller, of this city, informs us that Le has purchased from Mr. Plummer, of Alloway Bank, 568 bushels of new wheat, the produce of his ground, being at the rate of 29 bushels to the acre. Mr. James Seage, of O'Connell Plains, about Christmas time, stripped some of his crop, which yielded 25 bushels to the acre ; but the ground has been rendered so soft by the late rains that stripping machines could not be taken on to the ground, or a larger amount of grain would no doubt have been gathered into the barn during the fine weather. For many years the consumption of wheat and flour in the interior was chiefly supplied by grain imported from South Australia and America ; but all the inland markets are now supplied by local production, and there is a considerable export of New South Wales flour across the Border into Southern Queensland, and from the Albury District into Victoria. In the course of a year or two it is expected that the whole of our markets will be supplied with wheat grown in the Colony, and that we shall have a considerable surplus for export. At present our foreign supplies are chiefly drawn from South Australia, where, however, the average crop for the last ten years has been less than ten bushels to the acre. Last year's imports from the sister Colony were to the value of 260,346. The value of the imports of wheat and flour, deducting exports, has averaged 472,560 ; and if grain of all kinds used for food be added, the excess of imports over exports has been at the rate of 538,000 for each of the last ten years. No scientific analysis of the wheat grown in different parts of the Colony has been made ; but there is no reason to suppose that the wheat grown in New South Wales is at all inferior to that produced elsewhere. NEW SOUTH WALES. 17 A sample of wheat grown near Bathurst gained the prize medal in the Great Exhibition of 1862. It weighed 69 Ibs. per bushel ; the average weight of wheat grown in the district being 64 or 65 Ibs. The average price of wheat in Sydney was 5s. Id. for 187l~ MAIZE AND MAIZENA. One of the most extensive and prolific crops grown in the- Colony is that of Maize, or Indian Corn. In America tin's com- modity enters largely into consumption as an article of human; food ; but in this Colony it is principally used as horse food. The manufactured article, maizena, or corn flour, has established itself in the colonial markets, and there is a considerable demand for it, at a retail price of 6d. or 7d. a pound. Maize is cultivated as far south as Moruya, in latitude 36 S., and it is grown all through the Coast Districts to the northern boundary of the Colony. Last year, the average reported yield of the whole crop of the Colony was 34 bushels to the acre. On the rich scrub- lands of the Clarence Eiver the. first crops (after the timber has been burnt off) average from 100 to 120 bushels to the acre; and with reasonably good farming the average of subsequent. crops has been 65 bushels to the acre in that district. There i& a steady demand for maize in the neighbouring Colonies. Last year Victoria took 87,519 bushels, and New Zealand 14,386 bushels ; onr total export of maize being 732,657 bushels and bags, the estimated value of which was 109,412. Nothing can be more simple than the cultivation of maize, and it is a crop which matures quickly. Thus, in the County of Camden, for example, maize sown in October is ready for harvesting from February to April ; and some varieties sown in November are ready for harvesting early in February. It appears to be free from the attacks of insects and fungi. A failure of the crop is never known, and on the alluvial banks of some of our rivers it has been grown year after year for a quarter of a century and upwards. The average price of maize in the Sydney market ia 2s. 6d. a bushel. SUGAB : GEOWTH AND MANUFACTUEE. For many years it has been known to a few persons that the Sugar-cane would grow well over a large area of the Colony ; but its cultivation was a thing SQ foreign to the experience of farmers, that it was not until five years ago that attention was fairly c 18 NEW SOUTH WALES. directed to the profitable character of this industry. In 1867 the land under sugar cultivation was 116 acres, and the produce of it was 17,780 Ibs. In 1871 the breadth of land under sugar was 4,391 acres, and the portion of the crop ready for crushing (1,995 acres) gave a return of 2,780,288 Ibs. ; but this quantity is exclusive of 748 acres of cane grown in the Clarence District, the produce of which was not ascertained. Taking the popula- tion of the Colony at 527,682 souls, and the average consump- tion of sugar at 60 Ibs. per head (which is a low average), the quantity of sugar required for our own consumption at the present time is 31,660,920 Ibs. ; so that, rapid as have been the strides which this industry has made in New South "Wales, there is still ample scope for expansion, and we require a considerable augmentation of farm labour for this industry alone before we shall be in a position to compete in the markets of the World. The cultivation of the sugar-cane is easy ; and the experience of the last few years justifies the most sanguine expectations for the future. The cost of cultivation for the first crop, which will be ready for cutting in twenty-three months, is about 11 an acre, and of subsequent crops, which take thirteen mouths to mature, about 5. On good level land the yield should be from 40 to 55 tons per acre. ' The large manufactories have only been at work three seasons, so that experience does not go beyond three crops, but in some few places on the Clarence there are small patches of cane which have been cut five or six times, and show no signs of giving out. The average yield per acre for two-year-old cane crushed at the large mills on the Clarence has been aboiit 32 tons ; but in parts of the district the cultivation has been so miserable until lately that this average does not give a fair idea of what can be done by the most ordinary farming. It is estimated that by merely keeping the weeds down and the cane well trashed, an average of forty tons could easily be reached for two-year-old cane, and 24 and 22 tons for first and second ratoons (or third and fourth crops) respectively. By draining the soil and applying lime, much higher results would be obtained. The heaviest crops cut have averaged 58^- tons of cane to the acre. The manufacturers pay the grower 15s. a ton for his cane delivered at the mills, or 10s. per ton if the mill owners cut and cart it away themselves. A gentleman having some experience as a manufacturer and grower writes : " The average yield will be about 35 tons per acre, although there are some favourable spots SEW SOUTH WALKS. 1!) along the banks of the Clarence which will yield from CO to 70 tons per acre. An acre of two-year-old caue well cared for from planting to maturity will yield about 2* tons of sugar, at 35 tons of cane per acre ; but if the best appliances for manufacture be used, higher results would be obtained." Other growers state the yield to be at 60 tons for first crop, and 40 tons for the second ; but results no doubt mainly depend upon quality of soil and character of cultivation. Mr. Angus Mackay, in his work entitled " The Sugar-cane in Australia," writes : " The cost of making sugar varies much according to the condition of the canes and the system on which the business is conducted. Grey rations, on a large scale (worth fully 34 per ton) have been made during this last season at about 3 per ton. That is the total cost from the time the canes were cut in the field. The whole cost of growing and making was about 12 10s. per ton." Good yellow counter sugar is sold wholesale in the Sydney market at from 30 to 36 a ton. The Sugar-cane thrives in many parts of the Colony, but its cultivation and the manufacture of sugar are at present prin- cipally carried on between the 32ud parallel of latitude and the northern boundary of the Colony. The banks of the Manning, 1 ".:(.- ALicleriy, the Clarence, the Richmond, and the Tweed, are the chief seats of the sugar industry ; but the growth of the cane has also been commenced in the Murrumbidgee District, and is ik-si ined to assume vast proportions. The Colonial Sugar Company have built three large mills, at the cost of many thousand pounds for each ; there are also a large number of small mills, owned by growers who prefer to crush their own cane. In 1871, there were 52 mills in the Colony, which manufactured 35,836 cwt. of sugar, and 113,151 cwt. of molasses. In the last four years the value of the sugar produced from cane grown in the Colony exceeded 150,000. But the Colony need not be dependent on the cane alone, for experiments have shown that Sorghum or Imphee is capable of producing a large yield of sugar. This plant is easily cultivated, and thrives well in many parts of the Colony, where the Sugar- cane would be cut off by frost. The manufacture was commenced about a year ago on a email scale in the Hunter Kiver District ; but as the manufacturer had not the means to purchase crops from the farmers they ceased to grow them. Mr. Leonard Wray 20 NE\V SOUTH WALES. describes the advantages of sorghum for the production of sugar in the following terms : " 1. It takes from three to four and a half months, according to the kind planted, from the time of sowing the seed until it arrives at maturity ; and it will ratoon twice or three times afterwards, at intervals of three months between each cutting, provided of course that the warm weather permits their continued ratooning. 2. It is much more juicy than the generality of sugar-canes, and contains far less woody fibre, which does not materially increase in the ratoons. 3. Fine average imphee juice contains 15 per cent, of sugar. 4. A good average crop of imphee stalks or canes will weigh 25 tons per acre. 5. Imphee is produced from the seed, therefore no deterioration can occur. 6. It will yield a crop of ratoons six to seven months from the time of the seed being first sown, being therefore two crops in that space of time, and will continue ratooning if the seasons are favourable." In New South Wales imphee is almost exclusively grown as food for cattle, for which purpose it is highly esteemed. Beet-root also grows well in many districts of the Colony, more particularly in the South-eastern coast, but at present is only grown for feeding stock. THE VINE: WIXE-JIAKIXG. New South Wales contains millions of acres of soil admirably adapted for the growth of the grape, of which nearly every European variety is rooted in the Colony, and the produce of her vineyards may vie with those of the most favoured countries of Southern Europe. If there is one fruit which luxuriates in this sunny clime more than another, it is the grape. The wines of the Albury District, on the Murray, are famous throughout Australia, and the produce of the Hunter River and New England country has been awarded many medals at the great International Exhibi- tions of London and Paris. All through the Coast Districts the grape flourishes, and generously rewards the grower. It is to be found in nearly every garden, and as an article of diet it is within the reach of the poorest in the laud. The consumption of Colonial wine increases year by year, and it is thought that the wines of New South Wales would compete successfully with the light wines of Prance in the Engb'sh market, were they admitted at the same rate of duty. Last year our NEW SOUTH WALES. 21 rignerons manufactured 413,321 gallons of wine, and 1,766 gallons of brandy. The quantity of grapes produced for table use from vineyards exceeding one acre in extent was 508 tons. "Wine-growing is a very profitable branch of agriculture in the Colony, and may reasonably be expected, with the growth of population, to be more so. It does not confine its rewards to the large capitalist, but will amply remunerate the man of small means who has the requisite skill and industry to enter upon it. One man can attend to eight or ten acres of vineyard, by obtaining occasional assistance ; and if he have any mechanical ability, he can, as many of the small growers, who are chiefly Germans, now do, make most of his plant himself. Should he have to buy the plant, he will need a capital of from 50 to 100. A handy man who could do his own coopering would require less. A small grower could not reckon on more than from 300 to 500 gallons of wine per acre. The largest manufacturer in the Hunter District has, in favourable seasons, and from certain kinds of grapes, obtained a thousand gallons per acre, but his average yield would not be more than from 600 to 700 gallons. Much depends upon the soil and the variety of grape. Five hundred gallons must be considered a good average yield. A well-known author, writing on the culture of the vine in New South Wales, says : " At 400 gallons to the acre, and 2s. per gallon for his wine-juice, the vigneron would get 40 per acre, and 100 acres of vineyard would yield 4,000 a year, leaving ample margin for causalties. The labour in a vineyard may be reduced to a small percentage on the produce, by planting in such a manner that it can be ploughed in various directions, and by using suitable implements." TOBACCO : G-BOWTH AND MANTJFACTUEE. Tobacco is grown chiefly on the Paterson, the "Williams, and their tributaries, in the Hunter Eiver District, and there are also small areas under cultivation in the Clarence and the Murrumbidgee. The crop is more precarious than any other in the Hunter Valley, where it has been chiefly tried, and the price also fluctuates con- siderably. Frost and wet are sometimes fatal to it. One man can cultivate three acres, from which the average return would be twelve cwt., and the price which he would get for his leaf would be 5d. and 6d. per Ib. Formerly, Colonial tobacco was exclusively used as a sheep-wash ; but, with improved cultivation and manu- 22 NEW SOUTH WALES. facture, it is finding its way into the favour of smokers, and a steady demand for it has now grown up. It is still, however, much inferior to the Virginian leaf, which is imported in large quantities and made up in the Colony. There are about three hundred men and boys employed in the Sydney factories alone ; and one of the largest manufacturers of tobacco in the World, the proprietor of the Raven brand, is now fitting up a very large factory in Sydney ; and we have the prospect of a considerable export trade in this commodity. The tobacco grown in the Colony in 1871 amounted to 4,476 cwt., and the quantity manufactured was 6,367 cwt. CEREAL AND OTHER CROPS. Barley, oats, rye, and other cereal crops, grow as well in New South "Wales, on the table-lands, as in England, and the acreage has considerably increased of late years. They are. however, largely grown for fodder, and the requirements of the Colony for grain of this description are not nearly met. According to the official returns for 1872 the barley crop covered 3,461 acres, the produce of which were 55,284 bushels. The breadth of land under oats was 13,795 acres, and the produce 280,887 bushels ; rye, 1,342 acres, and the produce 17,339 bushels ; millet, 254 acres, and the produce 4,346 bushels. We draw large supplies of potatoes from the southern Colonies. Our own cultivation is chiefly on the south-east coast. The 14,770 acres under this crop last year gave 44,758 tons, or an average of over 3 tons to the acre. There are many parts of the interior where the potato produces heavy crops, but up to the present time the cost of carriage has prevented inland growers from taking advantage of the Sydney market. Potato disease is unknown in New South Wales. A great deal of hay (oats, wheat, barley, and lucerne) is grown in the colony. Last year's crop covered 51,805 acres, and gave 77,459 tons. Lucerne hay is mostly grown on the H.iwkes- bury and the Hunter ; and so admirably adapted is this plant to our soil and climate, that on the alluvial banks of the Hunter it may be cut six times in the year in ordinary seasons. Pumpkins are another prolific crop, and, in the more thickly settled districts, are coming into use as food for cattle. Mangold-wurzcl, and, to NEW SOUTH WALES. 23 a very limited extent, turnips, are grown, for the same purpose. It is very rarely the case that farmers take the trouble to feed any but the choicest cattle, the ordinary herds of the Colony being left to fatten on the natural grasses. SEMI-TBOPICAL PEODTJCTIONS. Some attention is being paid to the growth of arrowroot, and last year's crop of twenty-six acres produced 26,454 Ibs. The soil of our northern rivers is especially well adapted for its growth, and indeed for the growth of many other semi-tropical productions. On this point the opinion of one of our foremost colonists (the Uev. J. D. Lang, D.D.), may be read with advantage, for it is the deduction of one who has travelled far and seen much. He says : " It would be difficult indeed to find a more eligible countr}- for the settlement of a numerous agricultural population than the banks of the Clarence, the Richmond, and the Tweed, in New South Wales. Whether for the small farmer, who would purchase and cultivate with his own hands a farm of from twenty to eighty acres, or for families of superior standing in society who could aftbrd to purchase for their own settlement in the country one or two square miles (640 or 1,280 acres) of land, and to employ hired labourers all of which could be done with a very moderate amount of capital or for capitalists intending to embark largely in the cultivation of cotton, or other tropical productions suited to the soil and climate, I am persuaded there is no place in the World which at this moment presents a more eligible field or a more favourable prospect." DBIED FRUITS. There are other departments of agricultural industry for which the soil and climate of New South Wales are eminently fitted, but to which little attention has as yet been paid. Sir William Macarthur has demonstrated the fact that the olive and the caper grow well at Camden, and from the former has manufactured very pure samples of oil. He has also prepared raisins, currants, prunes, and many descriptions of dried fruits, from his estate, and these commodities have been quite equal to the best imported articles. His efforts, however, in these directions have been the recreations of a country gentleman far advanced in years ; and nothing has yet been done to make fruits grown and dried in 24 NEW SOTJTH WALES. the Colony a marketable commodity. New South Wales still offers a fine field for the industries of Southern Europe ; and those who have the requisite skill to turn the bountiful gifts of Providence to practical account may well inquire whether they can obtain so large a reward for their labour as that which this Colony ensures. VEGETABLE FIBEES, &c. Nothing whatever has yet been done to develop the resources of the Colony in regard to vegetable products suitable for the manufacture of dyes, fibres, and paper. The New Zealand flax (JPhormium tenax) is grown in all the gardens of the Colony, and so also is the grass-cloth plant (Bcehmeria nived), and these, to say nothing of many other fibre plants, ought to become important sources of wealth to this Country. The growth of the Acacia for tanning purposes has been often recommended as a profit- able industry. This handsome tree, in almost all its varieties, is indigenous to New South Wales, but whole forests have been well nigh exterminated for their bark, and the tanneries of the Colony, which are the basis of a very large industry here, are now largely dependent upon imported bark. Our population, however, is so small compared with the magnitude of our resources, that these branches of agriculture will probably have to remain for some time longer in the category of postponed industries. SEEICIJLTrRE. The Colony possesses special advantages for sericulture. The Italian, French, Egyptian, and other varieties of silkworm, have been produced without any trace of diseases which prove so destructive in Southern Europe; and we have all the descriptions of regetable food they can require. Mr. Charles Brady, in a letter addressed to the Colonial Secretary, dated Sydney, 17th March, 1870, says: "My own personal knowledge and experience in the treatment of silkworms in New South Wales and Queensland for several years, justify me in expressing my conviction that this part of Australia, at any rate, is peculiarly well adapted for the production of cocoons. I began the study of the subject in 1862, and" have since devoted myself exclusively to this pursuit, in all its relations, particularly to experiments and efforts to take advantage of our brilliant atmosphere, and of NEW SOUTH WALES. 25 various food grown in this climate, to introduce and breed superior races of silkworms, and especially to free them from the dire disease which now for so many years has all but destroyed an industry yielding annually more than thirty millions of pounds sterling to the present cultivators of Southern Europe. My experiences have been most conclusive and satisfactory, and it is proved that the importance of our proceedings here is not unap- preciated in England by persons capable of forming an estimate of their value. I am well aware that the public mind is pre- possessed with the idea that the growth of silk in Australia must prove unremunerative on account of the high relative price of labour in the Colonies ; but I have never met with even one person who had investigated the subject, or qualified himself in any way to form an opinion, who held this idea in fact, there not only is nothing to prevent silk being raised as cheaply in Australia as in France or Italy, but there is very good reason to believe that, favoured as we are by climate and cheap land, we may be in a position to undersell any Country in Europe." Mr. Brady has orders for all the grain he can produce and he has just started in the industry on the Tweed Eiver where, it is hoped, his glowing anticipations may be fully realized. FBUITS, &c. The lines of ocean steamships which run daily along our northern and southern coasts, and the Railways which connect the metropolis with the cool table-lands to the west, pour into the markets of Sydney all the fruits of temperate and semi- tropical climes. In the immediate neighbourhood of the capital there are orange groves as magnificent as any which 'have ever gladdened the eyes of tourists in Spain or Portugal ; and there are few pictures of greater beauty than the vine-clad hills and extensive orange plantations around Parramatta, fourteen miles by railway from Sydney, or than the miniature forests of orange trees which crown the ridges all along the winding course of the river, and which, in some places, slope down to the margin of the stream. The Parramatta River is in fact an arm of the sea, and is one of the many inlets of Port Jackson, forming pictures of enchanting loveliness, and which only lack the historical associa- tions and rugged peaks of the Rhine to make them far more famous. A fleet of steamers ply hourly between Sydney and 2G NEW SOUTH WALKS. Parramatta, calling at numerous picturesque villages, the residence of merchants and professional men, and where the soil is devoted almost exclusively to the growth of the orange, strawberries, and stone fruits, for the Sydney market. The orange and other mem- bers of the citron family also flourish luxuriantly in the valleys of the Hunter and the Clarence, and indeed all through the coast dis- tricts, over a belt of country about three hundred miles from north to south. Many proprietors of orangeries have reaped a fortune ; and although the price of the fruit is very low, its growth is still remunerative. Every year we export between 40,000 and 50,000 worth of oranges alone to Victoria and the other Colonies, where the cultivation of this fruit does not appear to be attended with much success. Some of the trees at Parramatta, forty years old, have attained a height of 35 feet, and their branches a circumference of nearly 100 feet ; and in the year 1855) as many as 12.000 oranges were obtained from individual trees. The produce, of course, varies with the age, size, and variety of the tree : but the crops are prolific, almost incredibly so to any one who has not seen this handsome tree in perfection. The Mandarin has borne 4,200 fruits in the year, and from the St. Michael (a larger variety) 1,200 oranges have been gathered in the twelve mouths. Apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums, almonds, grapes, passion-vyies, bananas, Chinese date plums (Diospyros kaki), cherries, quinces, loquats, strawberries, and all kinds of edible nuts the ground nut (Arachis liypogea) among the number grow well here. In the more temperate latitudes of the south we have gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, and every other description of what are here popularly called " English " fruits while on the rivers in the northern part of the Colony, the banana, pineapple, custard apple (Cherimoyer) &c.. thrive best. The pineapple requires some slight protection from frosts, but the banana bears its fruit most abundantly all the year round. The other kinds of fruit named all yield exuberantly in New South Wales. We might add to the list of semi-tropical productions ; for a large orchard devoted exclusively to this class of fruits has been planted on the Tweed River. As to garden produce little rieed be said, for such has been the enthusiasm of some of our colonists in the direction of acclima- tization that they have enriched the Country with all the valuable NEW SOL'TH WALES. 27 products of the Globe (excepting only the tropics) and there is no vegetable or fruit which conduces to the sustenance or pleasure of the human race which has not been introduced into New South Wales. OCCUPATION OF THE SOIL. According to the last Census, there were 43,805 persons engaged in agricultural pursuits, 17,835 in pastoral; 2,98-4 in horticultural ; 2-16 in wine-growing ; and 59 in sugar-growing. The total extent of freehold and leased land under occupation for agriculture was 7,855,067 acres, of which 417,851 were under cultivation, 3,921,505 acres Avere enclosed but not cultivated, and the remainder (3,515,711 acres) were not enclosed. WASTE LANDS. In the foregoing remarks we have enumerated most of the principal products of the soil which it has been proved can be cultivated with profit, but the catalogue must not be regarded as by any means complete. There are good grounds for believing that the Chincona-tree might be made the foundation of a con- siderable export trade to the Colony, and the same may be said of the Tea-tree, which has flourished in our midst for mere than a generation. As yet, however, they have not been in any way practically tested. And, on the other hand, it must not be sup- posed that the whole Colony of New South -Wales is a garden. The gifts of Nature have indeed been lavishly bestowed upon this fair Austral land ; but there are large areas of country which are not suited for agriculture, and upon some regions the ban of sterility will probably rest for many years. Nevertheless, it is worthy of notice that of that long stretch of country falling .from the table-land westward, little is known save that it is pastured by millions of sheep, and that the salt bush which covers it makes it the best fattening country we have. Of territory such as this, now worthless for agricultural settlement, the eminent botanist, Dr. F. Von Mueller, C.M.G-., says : " Let us trans- locate ourselves now for a moment to our desert tracts, changed, as they will likely be, many years hence, when the waters of the Murray River, in their unceasing flow from snowy sources, will be thrown over the back plains, and no longer run entirely into the ocean unutilized for husbandry. The lagoons may then be 28 NEW SOUTH WALES. lined and the fertile depressions studded with the date palm ; fig-trees, like in Egypt, planted by the hundreds of thousands, to increase and to retain the rain will then also have ameliorated here the climate ; or the white mulberry-tree will be extensively extant then instead of the malle scrub ; not to speak of the vine in endless variety, nor to allude to the copious culture of cotton in those regions." AGEICULTUEAL PEODUCE : SUPPLY AND DEMAND. The following table shows that the agricultural production of the Colony has not yet overtaken the requirements of the inhabi- tants. It would be of interest if it simply indicated the extent to which the skill and labour of the husbandman may find profitable employment in supplying the demand for home con- sumption ; but it is proper to point out that, as cheap and rapid Bailway transit is being established with the richest agricultural lands of the interior, the growers of grain, wine, and other food- commodities, have opened to them the markets of the World in which to dispose of their surplus production. BALANCE OF IMPOSTS OVEE EXPOBTS 1871. Arrowroot, Starch, &c.... 9,565 Bran 3,236 Confections & Preserves* 35,066 Flax and Hemp 10,521 Flour and Bread 194,019 Fruit (dried and bottled) 44,571 Ditto (green)* 24,731 Wheat 278,540 Oats 3,145 Barley ... 655 Hay 2,002 Hops 10,862 Malt 17,542 Oatmeal, Groats, &c. ... 8,501 Onions 2,246 Pease 1,158 Pickles, Sauces, &c. ... 18,935 Potatoes 37,642 Hams, Bacon, &c 3,500 Sugar 407,406 Tea 211,645 Tobacco and Cigars ... 47,857 Vinegar 5,207 Vegetables (green) ... 3,800 Wine 39,680 Chiefly from Tasmania. IV.-PASTORAL OCCUPATION. CHABACTEE AND EXTENT. "WITHIN the duration of an ordinary life the flocks and herds of the early settlers of New South Wales have overspread nearly the whole of the vast Continent of Australia, until now they give a yearly income to this Colony alone of nearly 9,000,000, and NEW SOUTH WALES. 29 represent a capital of about 30,000,000. In 1871 our live stock was equal to four head of cattle and thirty -two head of sheep for every man, woman, and child, in the community. At the present time (January, 1873), the returns of the Chief Inspector of Stock show that our sheep number about 18,000,000. But, multitudinous as our flocks and herds have become, nothing like justice has yet been done to the grazing capabilities of the Colony ; for, out of about 3,000,000 spent on pastoral improvements, less than half a million sterling has been spent in the storage of water and the laying down of pasturage. When our vast territory shall have been redeemed from the state of nature in which it now lies, what limits shall be put to the production of wool and preserved meat ! Markets for our wool have been established on the Continent of Europe, and in the Eastern and Western States of the American Union, as well as in the Mother Country ; and the orders which have been sent for preserved meats have already outstripped our present ability to supply. There is still, therefore, anple room and verge enough in New South Wales for the profitable employment of capital and labour in this solid and prosperous industry. The total area leased for pastoral purposes in 187 1 was 138,409,520 acres, the great bulk of which is held on one and five years' leases respectively, and is open to the conditional purchaser to select from, under the terms stated in the last chapter. The pastoral holdings, or " squatting runs," as they are called in tho Colony, range from 16,000 to 1,000,000 acres, and graze from 4,000 to 180,000 sheep. Many of the squatters have obtained enormous wealth as the reward of their enterprise in the pioneer settlement of the country. There are to-day a score of men who began life in this Colony as shepherds who are now worth from 30,000 to 50,000, and the wealth of some derived exclusively from pastoral pursuits exceeds a million pounds sterling. The yearly increase of the live stock owned by one gentleman in New South AVales is 12,000 calves and 50,000 lambs. The rent paid to the Govern- ment for the use of the land is from 30 to 800 per annum ; the average of the total rent for 1871 being less than a halfpenny per acre over the whole Colony. The only condition which the Government requires from a person who takes up new country is practically this that he shall put stock upon it, and turn it to beneficial use. 30 NEW SOUTH WALKS. SUEEP. The fine-woolled sheep of the Colony came originally from the choicest flocks of France, Spain, and Saxony. The process of acclimatization has modified the original type of the Spanish merino. There has been a very decided gain in the softness of the wool, and an improvement in its elasticity. The wool has in- creased in length, but diminished in density, so that the weight of the fleece remains about the same. The average of last year's clip gave 4 Ibs. 12 ozs. of greasy wool, or 2 Ibs. 14 ozs. of washed wool, to the fleece. So admirably adapted is the climate of New South AVales for the production of fine wool, that experience has shown we have nothing to gain by the importation of stud sheep from Europe. The coarse-woolled sheep are chiefly depastured in the Coast District, where they thrive better than the merino. A flock of full-grown pure bred Leicesters will shear from 5 Ibs. to 7 Ibs. of washed wool per head, and lambs from three to four months old will cut from 3 Ibs. to 4 Ibs. of washed wool. Three- year-old wethers will weigh when killed from 160 to 200 Ibs. each. It is in the country to the west of the main Dividing Range that the fine-woolled sheep are mostly depastured. Great success has attended the efforts made within the last few years to improve our flocks, so that the clip is not only better got up, but there is, on many stations, a younger, stronger, bettcr-woolled, and rv doubly valuable class of sheep, to that which existed five or six years ago. In some districts more than ninety per cent, of the lambs are saved. The average for the whole Colony in 1870 was 78^ per cent., and that result was obtained under a system as rough and negligent as could well exist. HOBITED CATTLE. The breeding and fattening of cattle is also largely carried on, and in 1S71 there were 2,014,888 head of horned cattle in the Colony. Short-horns and Hcrefords predominate. We have only one herd of Devons. Great attention has been paid to breeding, and our pedigree stock now numbers more than five thousand. The middling to first-class stock may be put down at 1,455,000, and the balance is inferior. Agricultural Societies now hold yearly exhibitions of stock and produce in every part of the Colony ; and visitors from Europe tell us that the cattle at our leading shows would compare favourably with those shown at the NEW SOUTH WALES. 31 Provincial Exhibitions of the Royal Agricultural Society in England. The Intercolonial Exhibition held in Sydney in 1870 was attended by more than 184,000 persons. It is by no means uncommon to see pens of oxen, fattened on the natural grasses, weighing 1,500 Ibs. each and occasionally animals appear whose weight exceeds 2000 Ibs. Ordinarily well bred bullocks, however, will leave a good run at from 3i- to 4 years old, weighing from 700 Ibs. to 800 Ibs., and cows, 150 Ibs. less. Their meat is generally excellent when killed, on or at a short distance from the station on which they are fed. It is comparatively fine in the grain, well flavoured, and fairly marbled. Foot and mouth disease, rinderpest, and other malignant diseases of cattle, are unknown in New South "Wales. / HORSES, PIGS, AND GOATS. In 1871 our horse stock numbered 304,100, and pigs 213,193. All the best breeds exist in the Colony ; but, in regard to horses, we have not yet recovered the deterioration which resulted from cross breeding and the dispersion of the best studs in the year of the gold discovery. An extensive trade for cavalry remount was at one time carried on with India ; but it has now fallen into the hands of speculators, and is of a very uncertain character. There is still, however, a large demand for a really good description of horses, which this Colony is in an especial manner capable of supplying. The llama and alpaca have been naturalized in the Colony ; and in the Hunter District we have a flock of 1,200 Angora goats, a fleece from which, forwarded to England, sold for 2s. 6d. a pound- The clip from each goat weighs between 4 Ibs. and 6 Ibs. There are several smaller flocks in the hands of farmers in other parts of the Colony, and some attention is now being directed to their increase and management. PBESEEYED MEATS. In 1SG2 Xew South Wales exported 20 packages of preserved meats ; in 1871 she exported 57,830 packages, of the total value of 152,950. 35,309 worth of this, however, was the produce of other Countries, so that the actual dimensions of our owe manufacture are 47,870 packages, and the value 133,260. The 32 NEW SOUTH WALES. first meat-preserving establishment in Australia commenced operations on the Clarence River in 1866, and its manufactures entered largely into consumption during the Franco-German war. It employs 150 men, and "works up" 1,000 head of cattle per month. Another large establishment belongs to the Sydney Company. It has been erected at a cost of 12,500, and is capable of producing 18,000 Ibs. of preserved meat a day. There are nineteen salting and meat-preserving establishments in the Colony, and at nearly all the large factories Appert's and Liebig's processes are used. The following is a copy of the Sydney Com- pany's printed list of prices for tinned meats, and the tins, of course, contain no bones : Boiled beef, per lb., 5d. ; ditto, corned, 5|d. ; roasted beef, fresh, 5|d. ; spiced ditto, 5|d. ; tripe, plain, 6d. ; ditto, with onions, 6d. ; ox palates, 2 lb. tins, 7-|d. ; ox tongues, 41b. tins, 2s. 6d. ; boiled mutton, 5d. ; roasted mutton, 6d. ; haricot mutton, 6d. ; sheep's tongues, 7id. ; Liebig's extract of meat, lb. tins, 7s. 6d. PASTORAL PBOGKESS. Although great wealth has been amassed by the pastoral tenants of the Crown, yet, owing to the unimproved state of the country, the squatters are exposed to special risks ; and in periods oi drought they are sometimes overtaken by disastrous losses. If, however, a balance were struck, the profit would exceed the loss. The stability and expansiveness of this industry is proved by its steady and uniformly progressive development ; and this is a fact fully attested by a review of the pastoral industry of the Colony during the last ten years. The Auditor- General of the Colony, in a paper read before the Royal Society in December, 1872, The statistics show that we commenced the decennial period with the following lire stock, namely : Horses. Cattle.' Sheep. 273,389 2,620,383 6,145,651 and that we close the decennary with 304,100 2,014,888 16,278,697 that is to say, we have increased our horse stock by over 30,000 ; we aro poorer in homed cattle by over 600,000, and we have increased our sheep by over 10,000,000. This is a striking result, and one which can hardly ha\s been anticipated, viz., that, whilsi we have increased our flocks in the ten years 165 per cent., we have lost 23 per cent, of our herds. NEW SOUTH WALES. 35 Between 1862 and 1871 omitting the two years 1867 and 1868, in which no statistics of the " overland" traffic were taken the exports and imports of cattle and sheep across the border to Victoria stood thus, viz. : Cattle. Sheep. Exports ... 551,464 3,440,790 Imports ... 33,834 195,213 Net exports in the 8 years... 517,630 3,245,577 The tables of the Registrar General, which exhibit the export of wool the produce of the Colony furnish the following information : They show us that in the year 1862 our flocks produced 20,988,393 Ibs. of wool, of the esti- mated -alue of 1,801,186, which gives an average of over 3 lbs>. G ozs. per sheep, and an estimated value of nearly one shilling and ninepence per pound. In 1866 the production had increased- to 36,980,685 Ibs. of wool, with an estimated value of 2,830,348, or a little over one shilling and six-pence per pound ; thus exhibiting an increase in the production to the extent of 76 per cent. Whilst in the last five years of the series that is, in the year 1871 the exports reached the highest figures ever sent away, namely, 65,611,953 Ibs. of wool, and the estimated value of 4,748,160, or a little over one shilling and fivepence per pound. Not far short of five millions sterling, and equal to an increase of production of 212 per cent, in ten years, and nearly 80 per cent, in the last five years. The clip of 1871 gave an average yield of four pounds per sheep, that is, ten ounces over the clip of 18G2, owing probably in great measure to the larger proportion of wool going home in grease. We have no means of ascertaining the actual return proceeds of the clip of last year ; indeed it cannot yet have been all realized. I shall not be accused of overstating the case, however, if I put down the surplus return to the Colony, over and above the value before stated, at a million and a half sterling, thus bringing up the value of the clip to six millions and a quarter sterling. We have no means of ascertaining the value of the home consumption ; we must therefore be corutent to estimate the production by the value of the exports as expressed in the returns before us. I find, then, that we exported seaward last year, the produce of own flocks and herds, to the value of Livestock 11^' 1 Salt and preserved meats 133.226 Hides and skins 4S,'2S3 Tallow 245,727 Totr.1 -108,560 Thus bringing up the value of our pastoral produce to a sum cpproaching eeven millions sterling. D 34) NEW SOUTH WALES. But these figures include the value of the live stock, wool and tallow, exported " overland." I must therefore, Jo make the comparison complete, look up the valuu of the pastoral produce so exported last year. I find it is as follows, viz. : * Livestock 914,893 Tallow, skins, &c 23,594 Wool 2,443,380 Total 3,381,867 If we add this to the amount previously estimated, we shall arrive'at an aggregate sum exceeding eight millions and a half sterling as the total esti- mated value of our pastoral exports for the year 1871, viz. : "Wool, seaward 4,748,160 Tallow, &c., ditto 468,606 Wool, live stock, tallow, &c., overland... 3,381,867 Grand Total 8,598,633 V.-MINERAL WEALTH. Late discoveries have shown that much of the granite soil of the country, long regarded as worthless for agriculture, is rich in tin and gold, so that there is now hardly any portion of tho territory which cannot be made tributary to the wealth or sustenance of the people. The Mineral Map which accompanies this pamphlet is designed to show the metalliferous deposits of the- Country ; and, with the addition of the other principal minerals, namely coal, kerosene, and precious stones, gives a catalogue of all that is at present known respecting the depo- sitions of gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, diamonds, and other gems. "W hat is known of the vast extent, variety, and richness of our mineral lands is the more remarkable, seeing that all search in this department has been left to private enterprise and that investi- gation by the .Government has yet to begin. In the smaller Colonies of the group geological surveys have been completed ; and when it becomes practicable to perform a similar service for Key/' South Wales, it is by no means improbable that much larger arcr.3 rind more valuable mines than any yet discovered will be made known. GOLD DISCOTERY. Gold in Australia was first discovered in New South Wales, and tho actual search for the precious metal was commenced, in 1851, in the "Western Districts of the Colony. Seven years before SOUTH WALES. 35 that, however, Sir E. I. Murchison, without ever having been in Australia, predicted that gold would be found in the mountain chains which run from north to south of the Colony ; and he went so far as to recommend the unemployed miners of Cornwall to come out here and dig for it. Similar prognostications were made about the same time by the Eev. TV. B. Clarke, the eminent geologist, who has resided in Sydney for many years. The discovery made at Ophir led to the finding of gold in the soil and rocks of the Colony over tracts many miles in extent. It was quickly ascertained that the country drained by the Macquarie, the Turon, the Abercrombie, and the Meroo, and more recently that watered by the Lachlan, the Darling, the Murrumbidgee, the Cudgegong, the Shoalhaven, and the Clarence, was all auriferous. It is thought that mineral discovery in New South "Wales, notwithstanding that so much has been accomplished during the last twenty years, is still in its infancy. The proclaimed Gold Fields, extending with short intervals the entire length of the Country, and westward about 200 miles from the coast, comprise an area of about 13,656 square miles, and number more than eighty distinct fields. The richest of these are on the western side of the Great Dividing Kange. They are shown on the map by a yellow tint, and auriferous lands unproclaimed as far as yet known by yellow dots. It will be seen that there is hardly a district in the Colony that has not been invaded by the digger and made to contribute to the gold currency of the "World. Gold has been found in the gizzards of fowls, and picked up in the streets of Bathurst. It has been brought up from the bottom of the sea, off Port Mac- quarie, by the sounding line of H.M.S. "Herald" ; it is distributed amongst the sands of the Shoalhaven shore, and it glitters among the pebbles which are strewn along the beach at the Richmond,, so that gold may be said to gild our whole Pacific coast ; and it is the opinion of men best informed on the subject that there are vast treasures of the precious metal in the alluvial lands along the remote western boundary of the Colony yet untouched. GOLD i^" THE SOIL. The " Alluvial" Gold Fields, as they are termed, commonly occur along the beds of rivers, where the gold washed down from the hills has been deposited. The auriferous soil in many places is found on the surface, more particularly in the bends or beds of a watercourse, where, from its specific gravity, the gold has settled ; 36 NEW SOUTH WALES. and where the deposits are deep, the soil has paid for washing from a depth of one to thirty feet. At Gulgong, the miners have sunk through a thick belt of basaltic rock, and have come upon an ancient watercourse, where the underlying wash-dirt has richly rewarded their long and patient toil. Similar deposits of gold have been found at many other places. Alluvial mining, however, has not generally been carried on with much system or steady application. The diggers, inflamed by reports of enormous yields, have too often abandoned payable fields for others not more remunerative, and they have thus squan- dered much of their energy and earnings upon toilsome journeys in pursuit of dazzling fortunes. But a portion of the digging population has displayed great industry, perseverance, and intelli- gence in mining operations. The diggers have cut working races for miles in length, round the hills, and bringing the water on to fields by methods most ingenious ; and, by association, have often gained all the advantages of capital. In periods of dry weather, the beds of rivers and creeks have yielded much treasure, and, in times of heavy rain, when the watercourses have become swollen, the miners have had to betake themselves to the high grounds, which the increased supply of water has brought under profitable work. Large sluicing Companies have, within the last few years, been formed, and operations on the high lands are now likely to be more systematically carried on. At Araluen, the surface soil is stripped down to the wash-dirt, a depth of about twenty feet, and the stripping carted away to some other spot. The under- lying auriferous soil is then' carefully collected and washed down to the bed rock. The claims are generally worked by ten or a dozen men, and pumping- engines are employed to keep them clear of water. It is not within the scope of this paper to relate instances of individual success ; for a catalogue which should include all the large finds of lucky diggers in New South "Wales would be more bulky than this pamphlet itself. If space permitted, it would not be difficult to shew that the Alluvial Gold Fields of New South Wales have been, and still are, as rich as any in the World. GOLD IN THE EOCK. Systematic mining for gold in the rock is comparatively new in New South Wales. It marks an era in the Colouy's progress, and the last two years' work has produced results which are ITEW SOUTH WALES. 37 without a parallel in the history of this or any other gold producing country. The existence of gold in our mountain ranges has long been known to miners, and yet, strange as it must appear, nearly every discovery has been the result of accident. Thus, for instance, an aboriginal, in the year of the gold discovery, saw a glittering mass on the side of a mountain on the Meroo. He told his master, Dr. Kerr, who knocked off two or three hundred- weight of rock, from which was extracted a hundredweight of gold. The site of the rich mines on Hawkins' Hill had attention drawn to them in a similar way. A miner, named Adams, weary in his search after horses, sat down to rest, and by mere accident knocked off a piece of rock, the glittering specks in which revealed the presence of hidden treasure. That rugged hill, rising to a height of nearly two thousand feet above the waters of the Turon, which flows past its- foot, has now been found to be reticulated with auriferous quartz veins, and well deserves the name of the Golden Mountain. It is the centre of a region of gold-bearing quartz reefs, wliich run for many miles to the north and the south of it, and around its summit a population of several thousand souls has permanently settled. From two of the mines on that Hill, during the last six months of 1872, gold to the value of 162,850, after paying escort fees and Mint charges, was obtained. Let one more illustration from a different part of the Colony, suffice. AVe take it from the report of the Royal Commission : O'Brien's Keef, at Grenfdl, woe, to all appearance on the surface, some five years ago, much the same as the dozens of reefs that are to be passed over in a day's rido in moet of the Southern and Western Districts. No indications of its auriferous cliaracter appeared to exist to the eye of the ordinary traveller, or even to tho practical miner. A sl>ephcrd, in the employ of a squatter in the neighbourhood, in an idle moment broke some pieces of the stone, and saw a small epeck of gold in them. lie and some four or five ininers opened up the reef in the latter end of I860, taking up as a claim six men's ground, or 180 feet. From that time to the present, the claimholders have raised and crushed 14,673 tons of stone, wliich have yielded 16,481 ounces of gokl, or at the rate of 1 oz. 3 dwts. to the ton. The cost of raising and crushing the stone, including all expenses, is estimated by the shareholders at about 20s. per ton. The value of the gold produced would be about 60,000, and thus the profits on this one small claim in five years would be, in round numbers, 45,000. But this was not all that resulted from the accidental circumstance of the discovery of a small speck of gold in a by no means very promising looking reef, by the shepherd. Other roofs were tested ncljoinintj the one we have spoken of, and indeed the discovery and working of the Emu Creek 'Gold Field took place. From October, 1SCG, the time of 38 NEW SOUTH WALES. the discovery, to the 30th September, 1871, that Field has sent to Sydney, by escort, the large quantity of 182,061 ounces of gold, of the value of 723,612. Quartz reefs have, within the last two years, been found side by side with the alluvial diggings in every part of the Colony, and a large amount of capital has now been attracted to them. Last year 5,350 acres of quartz reefs were taken up under lease in the Northern District ; 21,363 acres in the "Western District ; and 3,155 acres in the Southern District the total for the whole Colony taken up during 1872 being just upon 30,000 acres. Sufficient time has not elapsed to enable many of the mines which have lately been started to become productive, for sometimes the miner has to sink through two or three Imndred feet of hard rock before he strikes th reef at a depth which he thinks will pay him to raise stone for crushing. There is one reef in the Colony about eight feet wide, but the average width of the gold-bearing stone would not be more than from one to three feet. Some of the richest mines have obtained much of their gold from veins less than a foot in width. At present it is difficult to speak with accuracy of the produc- tive character or otherwise of the quartz reefs of the Colony, for there is no Department for Mines where results are collected and compared. There can be little doubt, however, that the auriferous rocks of New South Wales are much richer than any which have yet been discovered in other Countries ; and it is the generally received opinion of practical miners that longer experience will still more clearly demonstrate the fact. In the neighbouring Colony of Victoria, Companies are, in many instances, working reefs which only give such small returns as from 4 to 5 dwts. to the ton. Mining and engineering skill, and large and powerful machinery are brought to bear on such reefs, and, as a rule, the dividends and yields give a handsome return for the investment of the capital. The Press of this Colony contains many statements, showing the rate per ton of quartz crushed, the average of some being little short of 1,000 ozs. to the ton. But many of these state- ments may emanate from interested speculators, and it is prudent to regard them with caution. The only satisfactory test of the value of a quartz- reef is to be found in the result, not of trial crushings, but of practical work extending over a period of months. NEW SOUTH WALES. 30 The following returns of the work done at three of the quartz crushing machines in the Tambaroora district, taken from a local paper, are, however, definite, and no doubt trustworthy : The quantities of stone crushed at Pullefl and Rawthorne's battery, and the yield per ton were as below : Scandinarian, 85 tons, 1 oz. 3 dwts. ; ditto, 79 tons, 1 oz. 4 dwts. ; ditto, 89 tons, I7i dwts. ; Rawsthorne's, 304 tons, 4 ozs. 10 dwts. ; ditto, 306 tons, 4 ozs. 12 dwts. ; ditto, 302 tons, 1 oz. 1 dwt. ; Beyers and Holterman, 108 tons, 13 ozs. ; ditto, 148 tons, 5 ozs. 8 dwts. ; ditto, 2Glt tons, 8 ozs. j ditto, 9 tons, 1,500 ozs. ; Paxton and Co., 399 tons, 4 ozs. ; ditto, 366 tons, not reported ; All Nations, 21 tons, 5 ozs. ; Henry Hotston, 1 ton, 1 oz. 3 dwts. ; Oion and Co., 4 tons, 5 dwts. ; Frenchman's, 30 tons, 1 oz. 17 dwts. ; Creighton and Beard's, 187 tons, 3 ozs. 14^ dwts. ; ditto, 198 tons, 5 ozs. 10 dwts. ; Herman's, 57i tons, 3 ozs. 8 dwts. ; Black Watch, Or. Gully, 27 tons, 7 dwts. The undermentioned claims crushed at Vickery's battery : French- man's, Rampant Lion, Fischer and Beard's, All Nations, Beard and Tallentire's, Cosmopolitan, and Paxton and Co. The quantity crushed for them was 3,263 tons, which ran from 8 dwts. to 17 ozs. of gold to the ton. Chappell's battery has crushed 4,000 tons of quartz, which yielded 40,000 ozs. of gold from the following claims : Krohmann's (which contributed the largest portion), Car- roll and Beard'i, Marshall's, Brown's, Cock, Atwood, and Dwyer's, Star of Peace, Frenchman's, and Canton Lead ; total arerage 10 ozs. to the ton. The richest mines yet opened are those known as Krohmann's and Beyers and Holterman's. "We have long been accustomed to speak of potatoes, sugar, flour, and other commodities by the cwt., but it is comparatively a new thing to regard gold in that whole- sale light. Now, however, on five or six occasions gold has been blasted out of the rock by the hundredweight at a time, and we are becoming more familiar with the idea. The following state- ments of. results of less than a year's work in Krohmann's and Beyers and Holterman's mines have been furnished to the com- piler of this pamphlet by the Manager' of those Companies : BiTlttS AMD IIOLTERMAX'S CO. Stone. Produce of gold. KEOHMAHN'S Co. Stone. Produce of gold, ozs. Weight not taken 5,981- 2ewt - 812-28 15tona7 ,98913 165 ... 835-48 71 47905 185 8,982-36 436 9 , 24,079 ozs. 8 dwte. Net proceeds s per Mint returns 93,616 lls. 9d. ozs. 142 tons 768-82 273 15,510-81 415 16.2J9-630ZS. Net proceeds M per Mint returns 63,2C4 12s. From each of those mines gold to the value of many thousand pounds was taken before they passed into the hands of joint stock Companies, which was about the middle of 1872. 40 KEW SOUTH "WALES. Since these facts were obtained, other stupendous yields have been reported. The Empire's telegram from Hill End, dated February 1, 1873, says : " Beyers and Holterman have raised one hundredweight gold in, two hundredweight of stuff, to-day. Expect to shoot out monster specimen, with at least two hundred- weight of gold, on Monday." It is not a matter of wonder that mining industry in the Colony should be greatly stimulated by results so marvellous. In respect of one of the yields included in the foregoing statement, the mining correspondent of the Sydney Morniny Herald sends the following information : " On Friday night last, the largest and richest specimen this colony has produced, I suppose, was taken from the claim of Beyers and Holterman. It is really a wonderful one a slab of gold. Its weight is about 6| cwt. ; and I believe I am within the mark in saying that there are 2 cwt. of gold in it. I went, together with nearly the whole town, to look at it. The' claim was like a fair, and a regular stream of people threaded the steep packing tracks leading down to it. It was hung up for exhibition, and during the day hundreds, including many of the fair sex, went down to see it. At the same time that I went to look at this, Mr. Bullock, the manager, kindly revealed the treasures of the iron box, in which are specimens, not so large certainly, but prettier to look upon.. The monster is not alone in his glory ; he has fellows bigger and richer below, I am told. He appears to form part of a lode rather than a vein, as no quartz seems to be showing nothing but rnundic and a slate casing." In a subsequent com- munication he again wrote respecting this claim : " The all- absorbing topic of conversation is the result of Beyers and Holterman's crushing. The amount of amalgam hard squeezed, and probably nearly two-thirds gold, is about 8 cwt., irrespective of the monster specimen and those raised since its appearance. About 6 cwt. of amalgam is being 'retorted, leaving 2 cwt. to be operated on. The nugget goes through to-morrow, and a consi- derable quantity of stone, together with specimens, remains to go through. On Wednesday I went over the claim to see princi- pally what was to come, as there was talk of another monster bigger than the first, and certainly there was every reason to expect one ; over seven feet of Avhat looked like a bar of gold lay glittering along the stope. On Friday this was taken down, but broke in the operation : so that, although extremely rich, it effect which this important industry has had upon the trade and prosperity of Newcastle in the lasfc few years has been very remarkable. I believe it is only fifty years since a gentleman, now residing amongst you, and whoso son, I am told, is present here to-day, embarked in what must have been then considered an undertaking of a very epccnlativo character, in asking permission from the Government to build a etoop of fifty tons to trado with the " Coal River." Seven years after that, in 1829, 1 find the item of coal mentioned for the first time amongst the- productions of this Colony. In 1829, I think it was, 800 tons of coal, valued at 400, were raised in tho district of Newcastle. At that time, also, if I am informed correctly, the only means of communication between Newcastle and Sydney was a single cutter, called the "Lord Liverpool," of eighty tons burden, which frequently occupied two or ttree weeks on the passage. But how different is the picture which wo see around us this day. Why, last year that is in 1871 790,143 tons of ccal were raised from the Northern Coal-fields, of the value of 274,000. Of ttia 565,000 tons of coal, valued at over a quarter of a million sterling, was exported from the port of Newcastle to twenty-seven Foreign and Inter- colonial ports, in nearly 1,000 vessels. As regards the trade of tho port, it appears to me at present to rival that of the metropolitan port of Sydney, 03 52 XEW SOUTH WALES. I find that last year exclusive altogether of coasters, 1,040 vessels, of 376,000 tons burden, cleared from the Port of Newcastle for Foreign and Intercolonial ports, whilst the total number of vessels clearing from the whole of the Colony, including Newcastle, was only 2,123, whose tonnage was 794,000 tons. In short, Newcastle, which only a few years ago, within the recollection of gentlemen now sitting at this table, was an unimportant, isolated, and almost unknown village on the coast, communicating with Sydney by means of a single cutter of eighty tons burden, is now a large and thriving port, bustling with commercial life and activity, and brought by means of the steamers and the telegraph into intimate association with the outside world. I scarcely remember anything which can compare with the marvellous rapidity with which Newcastle has risen, except some of the incidents which we read of in the fortunes of Aladdin. And I think I may fairly say that your genius of the lamp is your coal. Nor do I think that Newcastle is going to remain stationary. Indeed, looking at what has been done during the last few years, and the vastness of your resources, it is difficult to set bounds to the imagina- tion when contemplating the future of Newcastle, which is destined, I believe, to become one of the greatest of commercial cities in these seas. The place is not only the natural port and outlet for one of the richest and largest agricultural districts in the Colony, with which it is connected by a railway of over 124 miles in length ; but, as I have said, it possesses coal deposits of superior quality, capable of being economically worked, conveniently situated for export, and in extent sufficient to supply the world. KEKOSENE. The Colony is rich in deposits of brown cannel oil coals and oil shales. They exist in many places at wide areas apart, and are so rich that in a very short period the exportation of kerosene shale and oil may be expected to assume great proportions. Preparations are being made for working the valuable seams near Murrurundi, in the Northern district, and for some few years the manufacture of oil has been carried on near "Wollongong and at Hartley, from the Hartley shale, which is brought down by railway. The company has invested 100,000 in the manufacture of oil, and their works are very extensive and complete. At the present time they manufacture 8,000 gallons of oil per week, and in about a month hence their manufacturing power will be increased to 12,000 gallons weekly. The price of American kerosene oil, wholesale, in Sydney, is 2s. 7d. per gallon, but the Shale and Oil Company produce an excellent article, which they sell wholesale at Is. 8d. per gallon, a price which enables them to pay a dividend of 12^ per cent, on their capital. If further proof were needed of the valuable properties of the colonial shale, it may be found in the fact that the company exports large quantities of it for gas- NEW SOUTH WALES. 53 making purposes to Melbourne and San Francisco. Under the present mode of retorting, the shale gives a return of 150 gallons of crude oil to the ton, and after treatment and distillation gives a return of 75 gallons of clear burning oil, besides 25 per cent, of other marketable commodities. A ton of the Hartley coal gives 18,000 feet of gas with an illuminating power equal to forty candles. With a practically unlimited extent of shale land, it is obvious that the manufacture and export of kerosene is likely to go on increasing, and that it will not be long before the manufacturers of this Colony obtain complete possession of the Australian markets. A visitor to the Company's mine at Hartley, in 1871, gives the following picture of a mining settlement in one of the wildest, most rugged, and, but for the railway, inaccessible parts of Australia : Perhaps one of the most pleasing features in this secluded valley is tine care which is taken of the social and moral condition of the miners. They have all comfortable residences, and although there is a small store on the ground there is no public-house. A Public School has been established for some time, and the names on tke roll number fifty-three, with an average attend- ance of forty. There are occasional visits from clergymen of the Church of England and the "Wesleyan denominations, scarcely a Sunday passing without one or other performing Divine Service in the valley. A medical man is engaged by the Company, and paid a small quarterly sum by the miners. In order to induce a settlement on the ground of a steady fixed population of miners, the Company are about to offer to men in their employ plots of ground sufficient for a house and garden. The freehold of these plots would be sold at a merely nominal price, the Company reserving to themselves the right to all minerals under the surface. IEON. Iron ores are widely disseminated throughout the Colony, the principal beds being hematite. Little or nothing, however, has yet been done to bring them into the market, although many inquiries are now being made with a view to commence smelting operations ; and it is not unlikely that in the course of the next few years we shall have extensive works at Hartley, near New- castle, and on the coast of Illawarra, where the richest ores exist side by side with the best bituminous coal and with lime, and in the case of the last named localities there is this further advantage, proximity to water carriage. The attempt to manufacture iron at Nattai on the southern line of railway was commenced some 51 NEW SOUTH WALES. years ago ; 4,000 tons were raised in 1865 of the stated value of 1,500. But the coal in the vicinity was not exactly suited to the purpose ; and in the absence of the railway, then in- complete, but which now passes through the ground, the carriage of lime and other heavy materials proved fatal to early attempts as, a commercial speculation. Want of the requisite skill probably operated as a still greater obstacle. It is expected that the works will soon be re-opened, now that railway carriage is available and the price of iron has advanced. The iron at Nattai is tough, close-grained, easily worked, and contains from sixty-five to seventy per cent, of ore. In a paper read before the Engineering Association at Sydney,, last year, Mr. Croll, a gentleman who has paid considerable attention to the subject, remarked : The iron ore which has been wrought has been found to be from 20 to 25 per cent, richer than the iron ore of Great Britain. We have only one iron- works in the Colony ; and, I am sorry to say that up to the present time it has been commercially unsuccessful. But although this company has been surrounded by a number of difficulties which are sure to beset a new enterprise in a young colony, they have done sufficient to show that our Colonial iron cannot be surpassed by any iron in the world. They produced iron which was sent home to England, and found to be of superior quality, and suitable for making into a superior kind of steel. About seven years ago I had an opportunity of assisting to test the cohesive strength of our wrought iron in comparison with other iron generally used. The testing was done by getting a number of pieces of the different kinds of iron made with a ring on each end, and a short part in the middle, made in thickness to a quarter of an inch gauge. It was then suspended, and weights were applied until it broke. And it was found that it stood from 50 to 100 Ibs. more than different iron used, such as BBH, and several others ; and it was only equalled by the Lowmore iron ; and if there was any difference the Fitzroy iron was the strongest. At the same time I also saw several experiments tried with the" cast-iron bars of about 2 feet long, li x f inch thick. These bars were suspended by each end, and weights applied to the middle until they broke ; and by a line being stretched from end to end it was found that it bent over an inch before it broke. This shows the toughness and flexibility of the Colonial cast iron. It is to be regretted that the only iron ore that has been tried has been the Fitzroy ore, although good samples have been found along the coast. A few months ago I was at Orange, and I got a piece of iron ore, the specific gravity of which shows that it is nearly all irou. Our workers in metals have proved by their industry, ingenuity, and enterprise that they have lost none of the-best characteristics of the race from which they hava sprung. Our iron beds are almost co-extensive with our coal measures ; and, considering the ITEW SOUTH WALES. 55- great and special advantages this Colony possesses for trade with .Foreign Countries, we may conclude that New South Wales is destined to emulate the industrial greatness of Britain, if not, in the lapse of years, to surpass it. " Every man of thought," says a well known writer on Geology, " must be more or less impressed with the conviction that much of Britain's supremacy in mechanical and manufacturing industry has arisen from the rich and readily accessible coal fields. They are the mainspring of her mechanical power and the stay of her commercial greatness. These two substances, coal and iron, have been the main factors in all recent progress ; and that which most broadly distinguishes the Britain of the present from the Britain of preceding centuries is the extended and extending use of these two substances, through the instrumentality of the steam erigine." These words will soon be as applicable to New South Wales in the southern hemisphere as they are to Great Britain in the northern belt of the Globe. COPPEE. Of the copper mines opened to the end of 1S71, seven were in the Western District, and two in the South, and the value of their production was 47,275 for that year. During 1872 several other mines have been opened, and are producing a much larger supply. Official statistics are not yet available. The richest copper mines opened are in the vicinity of Bathurst, Orange, and Bourke, in the West, and of Goulburn in the South. In the Orange district outcrops of copper carbonates have been found over an area of twenty miles square. The Monaro and Shoalhaven country is also known to be very rich in copper ores, and companies have within the last few months been formed to work them. K"ow ihat the country is being opened by railways and roads, this branch of industry is becoming daily more important and valuable ; and, although we are constantly drawing off bodies of miners from South Australia, one of the great wants of the Colony still is skilled miners ; and had we but mining engineers of un- doubted ability and experience the capitalists of Sydney would at once embark in many mining enterprises from which they are now compelled to stand aloof. The Ecv. W. B. Clarke says : " That copper and tin appear to be as abundant metals here as in Cornwall. Copper has been made- known in great abundance within the last year in the far western 5G NEW SOUTH WALES. interior, which was generally considered to be a flat uninteresting desert between the Lachlan, Bogan, and Darling. Coba, about 90 miles S.E. of Fort Bourke, is now a mining district ; and having examined them, I can speak favourably of the value of its ores. Some gold has been detected in another quarter nearer the Dar- ling, and iron, which also occurs at Coba, is found on the New Tear's Eange, S.E. of the junction of the Bogan. Copper is expected also from that Eange. The character of that then waste country given by Sir T. L. Mitchell " low, bare ridges, scanty vegetation, water very scarce, and vast level plains" will shortly deserve to be exchanged for one of a more valuable kind. Recently copper lodes have been taken up near the head of the Bogan, and I have been impressed with the great value of the whole area between Molong, Croker's Eange, and the head of the Bogan Eiver. Similarly we may notice the development of copper to the south of Bathurst, in the Great Cow Flat Mine. In Maneroo, too, there has been found eopper alloyed with antimony ; and I have a specimen from near Bathurst, in which no less than eighteen ores and other minerals are combined together." TIN. The discovery of the tin ores in the Northern Districts of the Colony in 1870 was scarcely less sudden or exciting than that of gold in 1851, although the existence of both of these metals was spoken of by the Eev. W. B. Clarke some years prior to the discovery of their marketable value by the public. The extent of tin-bearing land in the Colony cannot yet be even approximately stated, but the area is known to be very great, and not to be confined to the districts where the miners are now employed. The analogy between tin mining and mining for gold in the early stages is complete, for the process consists simply of washing the tin from the soil through which it is disseminated. The principal centres of this industry in the North are Inverell, Q-len Innes, and from Tenterfield right up to the Queensland border, and very important discoveries of this metal have, within the last few weeks, been reported from Albury and other parts of the South-western dis- trict. There are six distinct fields in the North. Mr. F. Gregory has reported to the Queensland Government that, having measured 170 miles of creeks and river beds in that part of Queensland which touches the northern boundary of New South Wales, he found on calculating the value on a fair assumption of the average NEW SOUTH WALES, 57 amount of stream tin (irrespective of vein or matrix tin) that it amounts to 13,000,000. No such investigation has been made on behalf of this Colony ; but, if Mr. Gregory's data be correct the value of the New South Wales portion of that one field (which is two-thirds of the whole) may be set down at 26,000,000. And our most northerly field is not richer than those which are situated farther south. The area of land taken up under mineral lease (mostly for tin) in 1872, was 377,515 acres, the deposits upon which amounted to 91,378. Numerous companies were formed in Sydney during the year, but in many instances the tin wealth of the land has been overvalued, so that much loss and disappointment will be the result. The average cost of washing out a ton of tin ore may be set down at 20, and the ore in the Sydney market is now sold at from 60 to 80 per ton according to assay ; so that after making every deduction for bags and carriage to market, there is still an ample profit upon any reasonable investment of capital. The latest advices received here by post at the time of writing this pamphlet are contained in Messrs. Mort & Co.'s London circular, dated November 28, 1872. They report : "The quality of the Australian ingot tin coming forward appears to be remarkably fine. A few tons were sold on the 26th inst. at 136 to 138, while the value of Straits on the same day was only 134 Should this standard be maintained we may look for the Australian production taking a very high rank in the market." London telegrams, dated Feb- ruary 1st, 1873, quote tin at 146 per ton. Tin appeared among the list of exports from New South Wales for the first time last year, and up to the 31st December, the quantity sent away was ingot tin, 91 tons 18 cwt., stated value, 12,623 ; and tin ore, 1,031 tons 12 cwt., stated value, 75,955. The total quantity received in Sydney during that year (1872) was 1730 tons 1 cwt., and the stated value, 123,274. Much of this was from the Queensland field, having been sent to Sydney for shipment. Several veins or lodes of tin have been discovered on all the fields in this colony ; but work is at present almost exclusively directed to washing the stream or drift tin. The following remarks on the occurrence of tin in New South Wales, from the pen of the 'Eev. W. B. Clarke, will probably be read with interest : The stream tin must, of course, be quarternary or recent in its present position. Tin stone has been found loose in the bed of the Shoalhavec, but 58 NEW SOUTH WALES. the actual lode lias never been discovered. In several other localities tin is known to me as having been found, either as stream tin, or wood tin, in the ordinary gold drifts with other loose minerals indications, as I consider such instances, of future discoveries in parts of the Colony not yet searched. The great granite masses in this Colony are not, probably, all so richly endowed as some particular spots which are now found so prolific; but, having seen the greater part of them, I am impressed with the opinion that for centuries to come the industry now commenced will continue to occupy a prominent position among the producers of Colonial wealth, just as the mines of Tenasseriin, Merghui, and Malacca have not decreased in value since the commencement of their working. In Malacca many of the lodes are horizontal. The average produce of the above-named mines is from 60 to 80 per cent., and its value is reckoned at nearly 4 millions per annum. The only geological examination which has yet been made is that by Mr. Surveyor "Wilkinson, Avho, during the last few months, has been investigating the geological character of the tin-bearing country on Cope's Creek, near Inverell. In a report to the Government, dated Gth December, 1872, he says : Hitherto miners have carefully confined their operations to working the recent alluvium in the beds of the creeks ; surfacing on the sides of the hills has been carried on to some extent, but the creek drifts have yielded the largest supply of tin ore. Narrow alluvial flats extend along the course of Cope's Creek ; in them the alluvium seldom obtains a greater thickness than 20 feet, the wash-dirt scarcely averaging 2 feet thick. In the bed of the creek but little stripping is required, and the wash in places averages 3 feet deep. The yield is from a few ounces up to 8 or 10 pounds weight (in some instances) of stream tin to the dish, and is generally the same in most claims, though some have larger rich patches than others. In Mr. Holme's claim, the " Victoria," between Captain Swinton's station and the Inverell Company's mine, eleven cwt. of stream tin in one day have been obtained by twelve men. I have collected statistics from twenty-seven mines, the yield of tin ore up to the present time, together with the number of men employed, &c. These statistics show that 810 were employed for an average period -of four months, and that the total yield of tin ore has been 319 tons ; of this, one mine, the " Britannia," has raised 50 tons in six months. In estimating from these data the average earnings per man., it must be remembered that, owing to the inclemency of the weather, floods, and the time required for the erection of necessary improvements and machinery, the miners were not actually employed in raising tin ore probably more than three-quarters of the average time above stated. When the weather becomes more settled, and the miners fully employed, the average returns from Cope's Creek will probably increase. The above-mentioned 319 tons of ore were from only twenty-seven mines. There are other mines in this district which I was unable to visit. However, I believe that the total yield of stream tin from Cope's Creek up to the present time will not much exceed 400 tons. With reference to the richness of the recent alluvial deposits in Cope's Creek, the statistics which I have NEW SOUTH TVALES. 59 given above will speak favourably. Some of the smaller claims cannot take long to be worked out, while many others will require several years to exhaust them of their riches, according to the number of men employed and the system of management. I cannot believe that in many cases astonishing rich yields will be revealed, but there can be no doubt that tin mining in this district will become a profitable industry for a numerous population during many years to come. Rich specimens of copper ore found in the district have been shown to me. Sapphires of various colours are of common occurrence with the stream tin in Cope's Creek. Two diamonds are said to have been found in Darby's Branch Creek, on the Britannia Mine. I am informed that as many as sixty diamonds, from one claim, and forty, from another, were obtained lately in the Bora or Maid's Creek, a few miles S.W. from the Buudarra, crossing Cope's Creek. The following paragraphs, clipped from the Sydney Morning Herald, December 2, 1872, may serve to give an idea of the value of the tin deposits of the Colony. They are a fair sample of many others which are published in the newspapers daily: Mount Mitchell Tin M. Co. The extract from manager's report of the 28th October : " I forwarded 6 tons 2 cwt. 3 quarters 16 Ibs. of tin ore yesterday, and the ground I am working is turning out well. I have been sluicing with only one set of boxes for nine days, for 35 bags tin ore, and expect to extract from 10 to 12 ozs. of gold from the ore. In this ground I expect to realize fully one half of the cost of working in gold alone." Sydney Tin Company. Telegram from mining manager, dated 2nd Nov- ember, states : " Tin ore obtained during the week, over 8 tons, proceeds of six boxes. Sixty men are employed ; am sending away 13 tons on 4th November. Have engaged teams for 6 tons more." Modern Briton Tin. The manager reports the arrival in Sydney of 476 ingots of tin, weight 6 tons 14 cwt., the produce of this company's mine, and smelted at the Stockton Works, Newcastle. Buby Creek Tin Co. The mining manager reports : " Work delayed this week by the rain. Yield about 3 tons ; water supply sufficient. The manager has received, through a mercantile firm of this city, a report from their London brokers on a small parcel of ore sent home per overland mail, the bulk having been shipped by the Narcissus. The brokers give the value, at that date (October 5), of the Euby Creek ore at 101 10s. per ton in Cornwall, and speak of it as splended metal." Eex Tin Co. The mining manager reports under date of the 5th instant : " We have struck another rich patch. The prospects of the lode are also good. I have consigned to you now 107 bags, and in a few days 50 bags more will follow." Big Euby Tin Co. The mining manager reports : " I have twenty-eight men at work, and the average since starting has been 9 tons per week. I have forwarded 697 bags tin ore, and we have another 6 tons ready to start." 60 NEW SOUTH WALES. Haslemire Tin M. Co. The manager reports under date the 6th instant, that the party on the island got 4 bags yesterday afternoon and 8 bags more to-day. He further says : " The seam of ore looks first rate ; it is from 12 to 15 inches thick and over 6 feet wide." Great Dividing Eange Tin Co. : Manager' reports : " Expect to send 2 tons a week during dry season, and 10 tons a week as soon as we get full supply of water. In cutting a trench across a largo flat we found that the tin was not confined to the creek, but extends across the entire flat. I obtained as much as 10 Ibs. to the dish, 170 feet back from the creek, and several pounds to the dish even from some post-holes I sunk. I believe that this flat alone contains over 1,000 tons of tin." The Inverell Courier of the 2nd November, in speaking of the mines at Cope's Creek, remarks : " Lady Emily : This company are in full work with ten men, and are averaging half a ton per day. Victoria Company commenced sluicing last Wednesday week, and obtained half a ton by Saturday, and 15 cwt. for the week ending last Thursday. This company have suffered severely by the heavy floods. Lyngarr Company have commenced washing, and obtained 13 cwt. for two days' work, with two men and a boy. Parker, Brothers, and Company, have ten men at work, and obtain about 9 cwt. a day with 2 boxes. 7 tons of ore were sent away on Tuesday last. The Rose Company, Flood and party : (First block) Four men are at work, and with 1 box the yield with 3 days' washing was 6 cwt. In the second block, north of the Creek, operations have just been commenced, and 5 cwt. was the result for two days' working, with one box, and they are now engaged stripping two paddocks, in which five men are employed Alabama Company have four men working, two sets of boxes, the yield being 14 cwt. for the week. Hackett'a Downfall have only two men at work, and for one day's washing 2 cwt. was the result. O'Eegan and Co. Morning Star Company have been prevented by the floods from opening up the ground ; there are six men employed, and the yield of the week has been 1 ton. The total yield has been 30 tons. Romley and party have two men at work, and they obtain 2 cwt. per day. Boggy Camp have eleven men employed with two boxes, and raise from half a ton to 12 cwt. per week. They have taken out about 8 tons up to date. The Inverell Courier of the 9th November, speaking of a piece of lode tin recently discovered in the neighbourhood of Cope's Creek, says : " The specimen, which was a thing to be admired, was in shape something like the half of a small flat cheese, and weighed, we should say, about 20 Ibs. It was a mass of tin crystals, encased in a thin layer of dry cement, almost as white as chalk. The sample waa taken from a seam or lode of the same con- sistence, at a depth of 35 feet from the surface, and we were told much finer specimens could be obtained, but that they will not hold together when the cement becomes dry." In speaking of the recent discoveries, a late issue of the Albury Banner says : " The late finds on the various tributaries of the Upper Murray, on the New South Wales side of the river, bid fair to excel in magnitude^and importance the best of the recent discoveries in the neighbourhood of Koetong. The nearest point at which tin in payable quantities is known to exist is NEW SOUTH WALES. 61 Basin Creek, on the Dorra Dorra run. Commencing from the lower end of the Creek and going upwards, a large block of ground, covering 600 acres, has been leased by Messrs. Fleming, Hayes, and Holman. Higher up, on the same creek, a still larger block has been taken up, 800 acres having been leased by Messrs. Hayes, Brothers, Holman, end Williams. In almost all parts of the claim a -prospect of a quarter of a pound of tin to the dish. The ground appears also to be peculiarly adapted for the carrying on of sluicing operations. At the end of the claim there is an abrupt descent of fully 20 feet, so that by cutting through a very small portion of rock a tail race with a capital fall could be easily excavated. A sample of the tin ore from this vicinity, on being assayed, gave a return of seventy-two per cent, of pure metal. Still proceeding up the river, the next tin country of any importance is the Jinjellic -Swamp, and here four tin lodes have been discovered. The first prospectors were Day and Co., who have applied for an 80-acre lease. During the past week the remaining three lodes were struck by Messrs. Williams and Holman, who have also applied for 80 acres adjoining, and parallel with, the claim of Messrs Day and Co. A large number of claims have been taken up ty Messrs. Wellington, Swift, and others, for streaming purposes ; these latter claims being of course on the lower ground. It is believed that the lodes will run down to the creek, as the tin washed is of a course heavy description. On Lanky's Creek the whole ground is taken up, and several parties are engaged in cutting tail races, in order to commence work in a systematic manner. The whole of the ground on the main Jinjellic Creek has also been leased, and will, no doubt, in a short time be in thorough working order. At the Horse Creek the tin lodes were first discovered by Holman and Williams, who have, in conjunction with Messrs. Hayes, Brothers, secured four 25-acre blocks. No less than four well-defined lodes run through this property, and pieces of pure ruby tin, from 1 to 10 ozs. in weight, are frequently met with. Tin has already been traced from Jinjellic to the Ten- mile Creek, and every day brings news of some fresh discovery." SILYEB, LEAD, CINNABAR, DIAMONDS, &,c. There are silver and lead mines near Tass, in the Southern Districts (the ore from which has been sent to England to be separated), and near Scone, on the Hunter. There are also deposits of silver ore at Broulee, near Moruya. Cinnabar is found in the Mudgee district, and antimony ores have been worked in the Clarence district. Some twenty years ago (says the Batliurst Free Press of February, 1873), Dr. Machattie purchased a portion of land in the neighbourhood of Brownlea, under the impression that a payable silver mine would be discovered thereon. A shaft was sunk on the land, and some prospecting ensued, with very pro- mising results ; but from some cause or other the work was not proceeded with. Since that time the land has become the property of Mr. J. M'Phillamy, and recently, operations on the mine have again been commenced. A shaft 62 NEW SOUTH WALES. lias been sunk, and at the depth of about 68 feet the lode was cut. A portion of the ore was raised and sent to Mr. Cawse, of the Icely Mines, for assay. A statement of the result of the assay has been received, and the report is con- sidered very satisfactory, the yield of silver being at the rate of nearly 48 ozs. to the ton of ore. The number of diamonds found in New South Wales up to the 31st December, 1872, was estimated at between 5,000 and 6,000, the largest having been one of 5f carats, and the smallest one- tenth of a grain. The average weight is about one grain. Opals, rubies, topaz, and other gems have been found in many parts of the Colony. The Sydney Morning Herald, February, 1873, reports : In the beginning of this year, also, there have been exhibited at the Bank of New South Wales, Sydney, a package of 375 diamonds, recently found at the Bingera diggings. Of the character of the stones there can be no doubt ; they are one and all true diamonds, but their commercial value is trifling. With one exception, they are of small size, the bulk " off coloured," and many of them little better than " cleavage." Amongst them aro a few octahedrons of good water. The largest stone is of irregular shape, fractured at one end, and flawed internally. They certainly prove that diamonds exist in the northern districts ; and where those were found, larger and finer stones may yet turn up. Queensland has not long retained the honor of being the only opal-pro- ducing Colony in Australia. We have not to go away from home to find a mine of that description. Any person who is dubious upon the point should pay a visit to Mr. Jones, jeweller, George-street, where there are now on exhibition a number of cut and uncut opals, and about twenty pieces of clay- porphyry, sparkling with these gems in the matrix. Amongst the polished stones are some of the harlequin class. These are of a lighter colour than the Queensland stones previously exhibited at the same establishment, which had the peculiar tinge which scientists attribute to the presence of oxide of iron, and is the rarest variety. The New South Wales mine is situated at Rocky Bridge Creek, New Abercroinbie Kiver, and is the property of Messrs. Emanuel and Magonnis. MINERAL LANDS: How OBTAINED. Under the Crown Lands Occupation Act, leases are granted to all who apply for them of land not exceeding 320 acres, nor less than 40 acres, for coal mining lots, and not exceeding 80 nor less than 20 acres for other mineral lots, for the purpose of mining for any mineral excepting gold, at a yearly rental of 5s. per acre, the leases not to exceed fourteen years, but to be renewable at the end of that time for fourteen 'years more. Lessees have to spend at the rate of 5 an acre during the first three years of NEW SOUTH WALE3. C3 their leases. They can throw up their leases at any time by giving three months' notice to the Minister for Lands ; or can convert them into mineral purchases on payment of 2 per acre, and making improvements to the value of 5 per acre. Mineral leases, other than gold, issued up to the 31st December, 1872, were, for coal, 34,720 acres ; other minerals (principally tin and copper), 396,228 acres. Total, 430,018 acres. >'.-< VI.-MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. The great mass of the working population has hitherto been employed in the production of raw materials rather than in their manufacture. "Within the last few years, however, great advances bave been made in mechanical development ; costly plants of all the most approved labour-saving appliances and steam-driven tools have been introduced, so that the mechanics of the Colony are now able to compete successfully with those of Europe in 'the supply of local requirements. They earn much higher wages than are paid in Europe ; but as a setroff against this, the locar manufacturer has the benefit of the greater cheapness of the raw material, the advantage afforded by freight of imported manu- factured articles, and of his own knowledge of local require- ments and ability to speedily supply them. "Workmen and tools were in the first instance needed to effect repairs ; and the skill required for that purpose, being equal to the work of construction, has gradually extended its operations, until now many nourishing factories have been established a the natural result of our circumstances, and without the fostering care of the State. The policy of the Parliament has uniformly been what is known as free -trade. The Colony at present offers little scope for those industries which require a minute subdi- vision of skilled labour, and which depend for their existence on a practically unlimited market; but at the same time there is ample scope here for many new industries, and it may well be doubted whether any other Colony offers a more promising field in this direction. IRON TBADES. In the foremost rank of artizans must be placed the workers in metal, who number more than four thousand. The largest engineering establishments in Australia are situated in Sydney. 64 NEW SOUTH WALES. One of them employs 750 bands, and two others each gives con- stant employment to between 300 and 400 hands. The works of the Australasian Steam Navigation Company are chiefly employed in repairing and enlarging their splendid fleet of ocean steam- ships, and the engineering establishment of Messrs. Mort and Co. is also largely engaged in marine work of that description. This establishment built an iron steamship of 500 tons for the Queens- land Government, a year or two ago ; and we now have the men and machinery in the port to construct steamships three times that size. Messrs. P. N. Russell and Co. have built large and powerful dredges for the Colonial Governments, a turret- ship for New Zealand, and other works implying the existence of high mechanical skill with large and varied resources. They have also a very extensive factory for making railway rolling stock. Several locomotives of great power have been built in the Colony, and are now running upon our railways. Messrs. Vale and Lacey and Messrs. Mort and Co. are engaged upon the construction of eighteen locomotive engines for the Colonial Government, in addition to those they have already made. The first and most powerful locomotive, for goods and passenger traffic, was made under the direction of the Engineer-in- Chief for the Government Railways, at the Redfern workshops. It was completed in June, 1870, and has been running on the Southern line ever since. The total weight of the engine under steam is 33 tons 14 cwt., and of the tender 22 tons 10 cwt. The iron lighthouses on the Southern coast, which are more than fifty feet high, and remark- able for elegance, symmetry, and strength, were made under the direction of the Engineer-in- Chief for Harbours and Rivers, at Mr. Mather's establishment, in Sydney; and there are several engineering firms both here and at Newcastle which are capable of executing very large works. Having regard to the extent of our mercantile marine, it must be obvious that there is constant work for a very large number of engineers and machinists upon repairing work alone, and when to this is added the large demand which has sprung up for iron work in connection with flour- mills, sugar-mills, quartz-crushing-mills, sheep washing and stone breaking apparatus, bridges (iron road and railway bridges, with the most massive cylindrical piers, having been constructed, varying in length from 150 to 500 feet), and machinery of all descriptions it is clear that this branch of industry, for which the Colony possesses special facilities, is destined to assume vast 1TEW SOUTH WALES. 65 proportions. Steam hammers, turning, boring, punching, cutting, bending, and riveting machines exist in all the large establish- ments. "We have appliances for turning and boring up to 14 feet, and for planing up to 25 feet 6 inches. Iron castings can be made in one piece up to 30 tons, and brass castings up to 10 tons. There are two graving docks in the port of Sydney, capable of taking in the largest ships which trade in the Pacific, and which can at any time be enlarged if the requirements of the port rendered that necessary ; and the Government propose to con- struct a third, which is to be of still greater dimensions. We have also two galvanized iron factories, which make up all the tubs, buckets, and articles of that description required in the Colony. SMELTING WOEZS. Smelting works for the reduction of tin and copper ores are now becoming an important branch of industry ; and it is even found profitable to send the poorest copper ores from South Australia to be smelted at Newcastle. The smelting works are chiefly in the neighbourhood of our Coal Fields, and the following facts, respecting the Governor's visit to one of them (Hunter River Company's, at Waratah), will show the character and magnitude of the operations carried on at several of these establishments : The works comprise twenty-one furnaces, seventeen of which were in full work, so that nearly all the processes of copper-smelting and refining were witnessed. Hia Excellency was shown the mode of reducing the ore, the roasting of the reguhw, and the tapping of the regulua and coarse copper. Several furnaces were tapped or raked out in the presence of the whole party. About 20,000 tons of what is termed third-class ore is smelted at these works every year. The stuff is brought up from Wallaroo, South Australia. The vessels engaged in transporting the ore take cargoes of coal from Newcastle to South Australia, for tb purpose of smelting the best of the ore at the mines, and on their return journey they bring up the poor ore, which it would be too expensive to smelt with imported coal at Wallaroo. Four new furnaces have been lately erected, and will soon be at work. The quantity of ore operated upon will then, it is expected, amount to about 25,000 or 30,000 tons every year. There are now about 120 men engaged at the works. The production of pure copper averages about 1,800 or 2,000 tons a year, and the consump- tion of coal in the furnaces about 26,000 tons. F 66 NEW SOUTII WALES. SHIP AND HorSE-BTJILDINGK Ship-building and other industries to which timber is indispen- sable may be said to be specially and magnificently endowed by Nature in New South "Wales, for the forests along her Pacific coast supply timbers of the most valuableand varied character, and would, but for the ruthless destruction which goes on in new lands taken up by settlers, whether in Australia or America, last for ages. Some years ago we imported many thousand pounds worth of timber yearly ; but now we scarcely import anything, and as may be seen from Statistics in the Appendix, our forests furnish a large and valuable export trade. Licenses to cut timber (1 a year for hardwood, and 3 for cedar) are granted to all who apply for them, so that the Government practically makes a gift of its forests to the timber-using industries of the Colony. Large reserves have, however, recently been made. There are several steam saw-mills in various parts of the Colony, some of them employing from 59 to 100 hands. The hardwood timbers of the Colony aro well adapted for ship, house, and carriage building, and many other purposes. Some descriptions of it, placed in wells and buried in the ground, have "been taken up after the lapse of fifty years and upwards, and found to be as sound as on the day they were immured or immersed. Our best timbers are near water carriage, and the rivers along the coast all offer superior facilities for shipbuilding, timber as sound and durable as any yet known being there ready to hand. Of the ten thousand forest trees which probably represent the timber-producing capabilities of the globe, seven or eight thousand would flourish in New South "Wales. The largest ship-building establishment in Sydney is that of Mr. John Cuthbert, who employs two hundred hands. The total number of men employed on wood is 6,300. The aggregate tonnage of vessels built in the Colony is 76,700 tons. Ironbark is well suited for keels, kelsons, stringers, and, in fact, any part of a ship requiring strength. For length, straightness of growth. and lasting quality it is probably without an equal. The gum is well adapted for planking, and the blackbut makes first-class treenails, while the non-shrinking qualities of the beech have marked it out for decks and other fittings. Timber for crooks can be obtained in any quantity, and of the best quality. For a ^ew pounds the shipbuilder can cut and cart away as much timber NEW SOUTH "WALES. O/ as will last him the whole of the year, and it is estimated that the proprietors of saw-mills take 100,000 feet of timber for every 1 they pay to Government for license to cut. Shipbuilding is carried on on the Richmond, Clarence, Manning, and the Clydo Rivers, at Brisbane "Water, Terrigal, Cape Hawke, and Jervis' Bay. Twenty years ago the average size of vessels built was from 15 to 50 tons, but the average now runs from 50 to 500 tons. Many fine faithfully -built vessels of about 300 tons have been completed in the ship-building yards along the coast, but ship-building for export sale has not yet been carried on to any great extent. Mr. Cuthbert is building four fine schooners, models of symmetry, for the Admiralty, intended for service in the South Sea Islands. Naval officers of the Imperial Groverument have spoken in terms of the highest praise, of the two which have already been launched. The timber in Colonial vessels is found to be perfectly sound after the lapse of thirty and forty years. All the wood-work used in house-building is fashioned with steam-driven tools, and for the requirements of the joiner the cedar and pine are admirably adapted. The former especially takes an excellent polish, and is richer and more handsome in appearance than mahogany ; it is very durable, and it has the great recommendation of being easily worked. It is largely used for skirting-boards, window-sashes, doors, furniture, and tho interior fittings of houses. The proprietor of a steam saw-mill and joinery factory, who employs eighty hands, writes, under date January 17th, 1872 : " I wish we could get more men at these rates [see Chapter XIV]. There are more demands on us for work now than we can execute." COACH A?TD CARRIAGE TRADES. The coach and carriage trade has grown rapidly during the last few years; and the best tribute to the skill of our workmen in this department of industry is to be found in the thousands of appointed equipages, which daily run along the thorough; of the capital. For buggy-work, which requires the combination of strength and lightness, American hicory has to be imported. For all other purposes, our own timbers are better adapted than anything we can buy. All the cabs, carriages, carts, d: omnibuses, and other vehicles required are made in the Colony. 68 NEW SOUTH WAXES. STONE AND EAETIT. The Colony is well off as regards building materials of all kinds. Freestone may be hewn out of the quarries around Sydney of any size. The key-stone of one of the arches in the new General Post Office, laid by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh, weighed nearly 30 tons. In the same building there are nearly 50 highly polished columns of grey granite, from the Moruya quarries. The supply of every description of skrae requisite for building houses, docks, &c., is unlimited and easily accessible. Marble quarries, limestone, and all sorts of clay, excepting kaolin, are found ; and the manufacture of bricks, encaustic tiles, drain-pipes, and other descriptions of pottery is carried on by the aid of steam-driven machinery. The workers iu stone and earth number 3,600. LEATHER, &c. The manufacture and working-up of leather gives employment to 5,200 men. Some of the boot and shoe factories of Sydney employ between three and four hundred hands, who are engaged chiefly in the manufacture of strong boots, for which there is a great demand in the Colony, and for export to New Zealand and Queensland. Women's and children's boots, and a good deal of light harness, are still imported. Our manufacturers of leather, boots, &c., have provided themselves with the best machinery from England ; and until the Customs duty was increased from ten to twenty per cent, ad valorem, in Victoria, they were exporting largely to that Colony. The export of hides, leather, boots, and shoes, the produce of the Colony, in 1871, was of the value of 177,262. 80,652 cwt. of soap, and 13,568 cwt. of tallow candles, were made in the Colony in 1871. Kerosene oil and stearine candles are, however, chiefly used. * WOOLLEN CLOTHS. The Colony possesses a special advantage for the production of fine wool ; and for some years past woollen cloths of a rough description have been made here. The more attractive patterns and finish of English textures, however, give them almost complete command of the market. But the produce of Colonial looms has greatly improved within the last few years by the imports- NEW SOUTH WALES. G9 tion of better machinery. Colonial tweeds being made of wool without any admixture of shoddy, are more durable than those we import, and are intrinsically superior. In 1871 we had seven factories, which produced 267,196 yards' of cloth and tweeds. MANUFACTUBES, &c., ra NEW SOUTH WALES. An attentive perusal of the subjoined list of manufactures, works, &c., in New South "Wales in 1871, taken from the Official Statistics, will give a fair view of existing manufacturing appli- ance, and will help to shew the workman what are his chances of obtaining employment in the Colony, and the capitalist what openings exist for new industries : Connected iiyith, or dependent upon Agriculture : Agricultural Implement, 22 ; Tobacco, 33 ; Bakeries (steam), 6 ; Reaping and Thrashing Machines, 657 ; Hay-cutting Machines (steam), 1 ; Hay-pressing Machines, 190 ; Chaff-cutters, 915 ; Bone-manure, 10; Wino-presees, 243; Sugar, 57 ; Mowing Machines, 211; Corn-crushers, 257; Corn-shellers, 1,871; Maizcna and Starch, 1 , Harrows (steam) , 1 ; Ploughs (steam), 1; Winnowing Machines; 604. Working on raw materials, the production of the Pastoral interest : Soap and Candles, 31 ; Woollen Cloths, 7 ; Tanneries, &c., 130 ; Fellmoagers, &c., 31 ; Salting and Meat-preserving Establishments, 19 ; Boiling-down Establishments, 44 ; Wool- washing establishments, 35 ; Wool-washing Machines (steam), 2 ; Wool-pressing Machines (steam), 27 ; Glue Manufactory, 1 ; Sheep-washing Machines, 43. JlTatrnfacttire of Food, of which the raw material is not the produce of Agriculture, and of articles of drink : Distilleries and Sugar Refineries, 57 ; Breweries, 24 ; Confectionery Manufac- tories, 26 ; Cpffee, Chocolate, and Spice Works, 6 ; Ginger-beer, Liqueurs, yErated Waters, Cordial, Vinegar, Ink, and Blacking Manufactories, 92 ; Jam Manufactories, 1 ; Building Materials and Plastic Manufactories, Brick-yards, 257 ; Drain-pipe, 1 ; Lime-kilns, 121 ; Potteries, &c., 12 ; Tile-works, 4 ; Saw-mills, &c., 112. Machine Mamtfactories, Brass, Lead, and Iron Works : Iron and Tin Works, 36 ; Iron, Brass, rind Copper Foundries, 31 ; Machinists, Engineers, &c., 79 ; Type Foundries, 2. 70 KEW SOUTH "WALES. Miscellaneous Works and Manufactories : Air - engine, for working Machiuery, 1 ; Account-books, &c., 7 ; Bark-cutting Machines, 54 ; Bark-pressing Machines, 7 ; Bone-charcoal Manufactory, 1 ; Boot Manufactories, 37 ; Brush Manufactories, 1 ; Cabinet Works (steam), 1 ; Chemical "Works, 2 ; Clothing Manufactories, 11 ; Coach and "Waggon Manufactories, 89 ; Dry Docks and Floating Docks, 3 ; Dye, 9 ; Firework Manufactory, 1 ; Fire Engines, 24 ; Gas Works, G ; Glass, 1 ; Hat, 9 ; Ice, 3 ; Kerosene Oil, 2 ; Mast and Block Manufactories, 3 ; Organ Builders, 1 ; Packing-case Manufactories, 4 ; Paper Mills, 2 ; Patent Slips, 5; Printing Establishments (steam), 9; Eope, 4; Railway Carriage Works, 3 ; Salt Works, 2 ; Ship and Boat Builders, 86 ; Shirt Manufactories, 4 ; Smelting Works Iron, Copper, and Tin, 10 ; Soap Powder Manufactory, 1 ; Steam Joinery, 1 ; Steam-vessels, 98 ; Steam -washing Machines, 3 ; Stone-crushing Machines, G ; Stone-dressing Machine, 1 ; Water- works, 4. Total, 6,827. Gold Mining Machinery ': Steam-engines employed in winding, pumping, &c., No. 101, aggregate horse power, 1193. (In alluvial mining) puddling machines, 245 ; whims and pulleys, 248 ; whips, 271 ; sluices and toms, 415 ; water-wheels, 98 ; hydraulic hoses, 22 ; pumps, 237 j sluice-boxes, 1,098 ; derricks, 15 ; stamp- heads, 50 ; boring-machines, 2. (In quartz mining) crushing- machines, 76 ; stamp heads, 735 ; whims and pulleys, 78 ; water- wheels, 15; derricks, 31; whips, 37 ; concave buddies, 2. VII.-REVENUE: BANKS, &c, The Revenue of New South Wales, during last year, was 4,775,540, and the expenditure 3,722,922, leaving a credit balance on the year of 1,052,618. This is inclusive of loan and trust funds. The revenue proper of the year was 2,812,379, and the expenditure upon the public service, 1,745,039 ; so that the surplus of income over outgoings was 1,067,340, and if to this bo added loans paid off, the year's surplus would stand at NEW SOUTH WALES. 71 1,400,171. The following statement shows the principal heads of revenue for the last two years : The year 1871. The year 1872. In the year. Customs 860,116 e 209,475 Stamps 77,500 Post Office 81,028 Telegraphs 31,769 Kailwars 361,426 Crown Lands 497,960 Gold 26,924 The Mint 18,888 Miscellaneous 70,814 974,857 221,422 94,298 96,477 48,866 421,888 840,452 35,196 17,789 61,134 decrease 114,741 11,947 16,798 12,449 17,097 60,462 312,492 8,272 1,099 9,680 Totals ,.2,238,900 2,812,379 Net increase 573,479 After all, the revenue of a State is one of the best tests of the prosperity of a people, and anyone who will consider the signifi- cance of the figures here set down, will see that the wealth of Kew South Wales is very generally distributed, a fact which is exemplified in the spending power of the people. The taxation proper amounts to 2 10s. l|d. per Jhead of the population, that is, basing the calculation on the estimated population of the Colony on the 30th June, 1872, whicTi according to the Registrar General's returns was 527,682. As a matter of fact, the pressure of taxation is light compared with the ability to pay, and being almost wholly derived through the Customs, it is really not felt at all. The machinery of Government lias now been established all over the Colony, so that every good citizen who is added to the population, not only contributes to the wealth and happiness of the community, but diminishes the cost of Government. The total amount of gold coined at the Sydney Mint since it was opened 14th May, 1855, to 31st December, 1872, was 32,354,000. The sworn returns of the nine Banks in Sydney, published by the Government, shew that on the 31st December, 1872 (the latest date available), they held deposits to the amount of 9,273,080, and that their total assets were 13,923,791. The total paid-up capital was 7,674,656. The rates per annum of last dividend were 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 12, 121, 13, and 20 per cent. ; the total amount of the year's divided profits being 409,247. If to these monetary institutions, established for facilitating the opera- tions of commerce, were added the savings of the humbler classes 72 NEW SOUTH WALES. deposited in the New South "Wales Savings' Bank and the Po&t Office Savings' Banks, the amount of deposits would be vastly increased. The total amount at the credit of depositors in the Savings' Bank of New South Wales on the same date was 1,028,737 ; and if to this be added the reserved and other funds, the total was 1,176,850. The total deposits in the Money Order Offices on the 31st December, 1872, was 109,343. The Colony offers great facilities for the investment of capital, not simply in direct mining and industrial enterprises, but also in the stock of the various banking, steam navigation, coal, insurance (fire, life, and marine), gee, an4- other companies, the rates of last year's dividends varying from 5 to 20 per cent, on the capital invested. The Auditor General of the Colony has instituted the following comparisons of the progress of accumulation in the paper from which we have already quoted : The coin and bullion in the Sydney branch of the Royal Mint, in the Colonial Treasury, and in the Banks of the Colony, on the 31st December, 1871, amounted to 2,622,387, being an increase of 74 per cent, on the amount on the same day of the previous year. A comparison between the first and second five years of the decade shows an average of 1,278,151 for the first period, 1,904,855 for the second j i.e., an increase of nearly 50 per cent. But it is to the amount on deposit in the several Banking Institutions that we must look for evidence for the accumulated wealth of the people. I find then, that at the end of 1871 the sworn returns of the Banks showed that they held on deposit no less than 7,043,885 N. S. W. Savings* Banks 931,688 Post Office ditto 14,226 Together 7,989,799 This was at the rate of 15 17s. Id. per head of the population. And it seems to have been in excess of the deposits at the end of the previdus year by nearly a million sterling. Dividing the decennary into two equal parts, it will be found that the average annual deposits in tho Banka during the earlier five years were 5,713,974, and in the latter five years 6,490,091, showing an increase of between 13 and 14 per cent. VIII.-TRADE. There were 4,014 vessels engaged in the trade of the Colony during 1871, whose aggregate tonnage wasl, 490,479 (i.e. including vessels inward aud outward bound). About two-thirds of the NEW SOUTH WALES. 73 whole of the Australian shipping is owned by New South Wales, namely 75,221 tons. During 1871 the import trade of the Colony was at the rate of 19 Is. 3d., and the export trade at the rate of 22 6s. 2d. per head of the population, that is more than double the import trade and nearly treble the export trade of Great Britain per hea I of the population for the same year. Wo may thus classify it : UNITED KINGDOM. Imports from 3,252,617 Exports to 4,378,281 7,630,898 AUSTRALIAN COLONIES AND NEW ZEALAND. Imports from 5,528,104 Exports to 6,508,802 12,036,906 FOEEIGN COUNTRIES. Imports from 828,787 Exports to 357,949 1,186,736 Total trade 1871... ,...20,854,540 The following statement shows the extent to which New South Wales is now contributing to the wealth of the world by the exportation of her own products : 1871. 1872. Wool 4,748,160 2,496,509 Tallow 245,727 213,150 Gold* 2,074,937 2,387,251 Coal 256,690 307,861 Grain (Maize, &c.) 126 : 957 141,337 Butter and Cheese 40,003 27,619 Livestock 41,330 48,726 Suited and Preserved Meats 133,266 159,763 Hides, Leather, Boots and Shoes 117,262 264,534 Timber 28,455 38,038 Copper* 239,446 376,233 Tin* 88,578 Kerosene Oil 11,820 7,679 Shale 4,406 7,213 Lead Ore 5,919 231 Antimony Ore 560 5 * Inclusive of what is sent to Sydney and Newcastle for coinage and smelting. 74 NEW SOUTH 'WALES. The foregoing list only comprises the principal commodities ; and the amounts put down for wool, tallow, live stock, &c., for 1872, do not include the large export trade overland to Victoria. To the end of 1871, New South Wales exported 733,218,093 Iba. wool, of the value of 50,388,813 ; tallow, 2,136,175 cwts., of the value of 3,365,589'; oil to the value of 2,801,GGO ; gold, 40,095,823 ; coal, 3,790,223 ; and large quantities of leather, hides, timber, minerals, fruits, and other native productions^ The position of New South "Wales is most favourable for com- merce ; and Sydney will inevitably become the great emporium for the trade of the Pacific ; for nowhere else can there be found a more magnificent haven for ships, and that backed up by a Country the productions of whose soil and whose mineral wealth are mare varied, rich, and extensive than most others. A fair idea of the progressive development of the trade of the Colony during the last ten years, may be gained from a con- sideration of the following observations, made before the Royal Society by Mr. Christopher Eolleston, the Auditor General of the Colony, in December, 1872. He says : I have looked through the statistics of the Board of Trade for the last ten years, and I cannot find amongst all the dependencies of the British Crown British India excepted any trade that approaches in value to that of " Australia." The Colonies are not separately specified in the returns, but as it may be interesting to show -what rank the Australian Colonies take amongst " the British Possessions" in their trade with the Mother country, I will take leave to quote the following figures from the Statistical Abstract for 1871. Imports into Great Britain in the year 1870 from British India 25,090,163 Australia 14,075,264 North American Colonies 8,515,364 West India Islands and Guiana 5,949,199 Ceylon 3,450,974 Cape of Good Hope 2,873,910 The Straits Settlements 2,517,320 All other Possessions 2,330,219 Total 64,832,413 SOUTH WALES. 75 Exports from Great Britain in 1870 to- British India 20,003,719 Australia 10,735,481 North American Colonies 7,581,427 West India Islands and Guiana 3,639,011 Hongkong 3,570,733 The Straits Settlements 2,407,577 Cape of Good Hope 1,962,377 Malta 1,156,982 All other Possessions 4,240,995 Total 55,391,332 The imports from Australia -were 22 per cent, of the whole, and the exports to Australia were 19 per cent, of the -whole. But to return to our own statistics, it should be notified that our trade with Great Britain constitutes no preponderating share of the whole, for I find that in the ten years we imported from Great Britain to the value of 32,575,519; Australian and other Colonies, 37,926,609; foreign countries, 14,330,145 ; that is to say, from Great Britain, 40 per cent.; other colonies, 42 per cent, j foreign countries, 17 per cent. ; as also in exports during the same period, we exported to Great Britain to the value of 30,208,485 ; Australian and other colonies, 41,467,718 ; and foreign countries, 2,472,673, that is to say at the rate of 41 per cent., 56 per cent., and 3 per cent, respec- tively. It may he interesting here to notice the extent to which the export trade is indebted to the produce and manufactures of the country, because the pros- perity of the Colony may be judged by the productions over and above its own wants of articles, the result of its own people's industry. Well, in this point of view, we may derive satisfaction from the returns ; for I find that of the exports valued at 74,148,876, for the ten years, no less than 52,043,742 represent the produce and manufactures of New South Wales, exhibiting an annual average of over five millions sterling, and at the rate of 12 3s. Cd. per head of the population. It has already been shown that the exports of Great Britain for the same period were at the rate of 5 16s. per head of the population. Relatively, therefore, the wealth of this community has been increasing in a ratio more than double that of the Mother Country ; there may, perhaps, be two reasons assigned for this : The one refers to the great natural resources of the country which yield their riches with comparatively small assistance from man. The other refers to what I conceive to be the more effective condition of our popu- lation. If the productive class bears a larger proportion to the unproductive in one country than in another, the power of creating wealth will be by so much increased. I have reason to believe that when the " Census" of Great Britain in 1871 is compared with that of New South Wales, it will be found that the population, ineffective by reason of age, bears a higher ratio to tho aggregate numbers in Great Britain than it does in New South Wales. 76 NEW SOUTH WALES. The wealth-producing power of population is fully exemplified ; for we see that, excepting the one period marked by the dismemberment of Port Phillip, as the population increased so did the power of production, and in an increased ratio. The import and export trade per head of the population was as follows, viz. : In 1831 15 18 4 per head 1841 25 4 2 1851 17 10 1861 33 9 1 And in 1871 40 3 4 We appear to be on the threshold of an epoch of excitement and prosperity; and whoever may live to see the decade out may have a marvellous story to tell of the country's progress, far outstripping that which I have been able to show you to-night. IX.-HARBOURS AND RIVERS. There are several commodious harbours along our coast, and in this particular ^ew South Wales has been more highly favoured than any of the Colonies on the Australian Continent. The coast-line is well lighted from north to south, and large sums of money are spent yearly in improving the navigation of the principal harbours and rivers. Storm signals are placed on all the principal promontories, which, together with the seaports, are connected by meana of the electric wire with Sydney. The Eichmond Eiver would be navigable for vessels of largest draught for distances of 90 and 50 miles along the two arms into which this noble stream divides ; but the trade is now confined to ships of light draught by reason of the sandbar at the entrance. This is one of the richest but most recently settled districts of the Colony, and population there is not yet numerous enough to justify the Government in constructing a breakwater. The Clarence Eiver is navigated daily by oceam steam-ships for a distance of 50 miles to Grafton, which is becoming the emporium of the n<3rth- western trade of the Colony. The width ' of the stream is nowhere less than half-a-mile. 10,000 persons are settled along its banks, which arc clothed with most luxuriant growths of sugar-cane, maize, arrowroot, bananas, vines, and semi- tropical vegetation. NEW SOUTH WALES. 77 The Bellinger, the Nambuckra, the Macleav, the Hastings, and the Manning Rivers occur farther South. Their productions are similar to those of the Clarence and Richmond ; aud they Lave steam communication with Sydney once a week and oftener. Trial Bay, half-way between Sydney and Queensland, is an excellent shelter for all classes of ships during S. and S.E. gales. The water area- of Port Stephens, 25 miles north of Newcastle, is even greater than that of Port Jackson, but there are several sandbanks in it. It runs into the country due west for about 14 miles. Newcastle is at the mouth of the Hunter River, which is daily navigated by ocean steamships as far as Morpeth, a distance of 29 miles. There is a magnificent breakwater at Newcastle, and many thousand pounds have been expended by the Government in the improvement of this fine seaport. Broken Bay, at the mouth of the Hawkeebury, is a very capacious harbour, 16 miles north of Sydney Heads, and inferior only to that of Sydney in the draught of water at the entrance, which is limited to 12 feet. Eight miles to the south of Sydney is Botany Bay, where Captain Cook first landed in Australia. It receives the waters of Cook's and George's Rivers, and has an area of twenty square milee. Wollongong, Kiama, Shoalhaven (on the river of that name), Ulladulla, and Moruya are small harbours on the south-east coast, where breakwaters, wharfs, and jetties, adapted to the coasting trade, have been constructed. Twofold Bay is the most southerly port of the Colony. It is five miles deep, east and west, and three miles broad. Jervis Bay and other places along the south-eastern coast are resorted to as harbours of refuge. There is regular weekly, bi-weekly, and daily communication by steam-ships between Sydney and the south-eastern coast settlements. The inland rivers flowing westward are navigated by small steamers from Adelaide in South Australia, which at certain periods of the year go up as far as AVagga Wagga on the Mur- rumbidgee in the south-west, and Bourte on the Darling in the north-west of the Colony. 78 NEW SOUTH WALES. X.-FISHERIES. The rivers and coast of New South "Wales abound with fish, and the rocky ledges of all its bays and estuaries form natural oyster beds thousands of miles in length. Sydney and the chief towns of the Colony are plentifully supplied with shell and other fish at all seasons of the year. Some attention is now being paid to the protection and development of our oyster fisheries, and they may ultimately become a large industry. At present our exports are confined to the neighbouring Colonies. There is a splendid opening for deep sea fisheries, for in that direction nothing is attempted beyond the supply of the local market. " New South Wales," says Mr. A. Oliver, " presents to the eye a coast-line of some 600 miles in length, situated in a zone of temperature, and endowed with marine and topographical conditions admirably adapted as a habitat for the many families of edible fishes with which Nature has endowed us. From north to south the coast abounds both with spawning as well as feeding grounds. A score of rivers, with wide and well protected embouchures, and a thousand inlets and indentations of every size and form, from the vast expanse of Jervis or Broken Bay to the miniature boat-harbour of Terrigal, or the spacious crescent of Curranulla, or Providence Bight, offer all the requirements of sea-bottom for food and protection for the young fry necessary to our southern fish in their various stages of growth." In 1871 we had five ships employed in the whale fisheries of the Pacific, the total value of whose cargoes is set down at 11,749. In the early days of the Colony the value of our exports of oil in some years amounted to nearly a quarter of a million sterling, as, for instance, in 1841, when it was set down at 224,000. From 1857, however, this trade has been altogether lost to us. Two years ago the Legislature was induced to remit all port charges upon whaling vessels, and to take off the duty upon all articles required by vessels engaged in that trade. So soon as the fact shall have become generally known, we may expect that the whaling fleets of the Pacific will again make Sydney the port at which they will refit and dispose of their cargoes. The reappearance of whale oil among the list of our exports is probably the first-fruits of a revival of that trade. NEW SOUTH WALES. 79 XI.-THE PORT AND CITY OF SYDNEY. The following brief description of the Port and City of Sydney in 1869 is taken from a work on the " Industrial Progress of N. S. "Wales": Sydney once the capital of the Australian Con- tinent, and of New South "Wales, when it included Victoria and Queensland remains the metropolis of New South Wales. Gifted by Nature with all the physical requirements of a great city, the emporium of a Country profusely endowed with mineral wealth, and rich in pastoral and agricultural resources our city, the " Queen of the Pacific," has increased in importance so largely that at the present time she in entitled to take rank among the principal cities of the "World. "Within easy sail of, and in constant steam communication with, the neighbouring Colonies, Sydney enjoys a regular intercourse with California, the French settlement of New Caledonia, the Fiji Islands, now rising into commercial importance ; she has a trade with many other islands of the Poly- nesian Group, with the numerous islands of Malaysia, as well as with Southern India. Her ships, also, hare an established traffic with China and Mauritius ; her immense trade in coal extends far north and westward to the American shores of the Pacific ; and her European mail service is carried on by lines of steamers that jointly make a circuit of the earth. Her maritime enterprise is aided by the vast advantages of a noble harbour, on the southern shore of which Sydney is built. Port Jackson, if equalled, is certainly not surpassed by any other natural harbour in the "World, and not even by the magnificent haven of Eio Janeiro. The bold coast fronting the Pacific is suddenly broken, and the giant cliffs form a portal to an estuary, about a mile in width, with an enor- mous perimeter, capacious enough to shelter the Navies of the World. A vessel making the port sails in a few moments out of the long swell of the ocean into calm deep water, protected on every side by high lands. On entering, a splendid vista is pre- sented to our voyager ; the elevated shore being broken into innumerable bays and inlets, and the central expanse of water relieved by many a picturesque islet. The rocky shore on each side stretches from heights of above 200 feet down to the water's edge, disclosing at intervals in the distance the white sandy beach of a bay which Stanfield or Copley Fielding would have loved to paint. The well-wooded hills, clothed in the bright garb of spring, or in the russet of summer, and bathed in the glorious light of 80 KEW SOUTH WALES. an Australian atmosphere, form a charming margin to the bright blue waters they enclose. As the city is approached, pretty villas and imposing mansions, surrounded with gardens and orchards, crown the heights or extend along the shore. About four miles from the entrance to the port, and at a point where the southern shore presents several prominent headlands leading to capacious land-locked basins, the city rises into view. It occupies an area of something more than 2,000 acres, and is bounded on the north and west by water. Its greatest length is 3 i} miles north and south, and its greatest breadth 2-J- miles east and west. It has about 115 miles of streets, irrespective of minor thoroughfares, and numbers 14,500 houses. The population (including the sub- urbs) is about 140,000 ; and the funds dispensed by the Corpora- tion last year amounted to about 200,000. Architecturally, Sydney has made rapid strides within the last ten or fifteen years ; and its fine banking-houses, mercantile establishments, and hand- some public edifices, give it an aspect bespeaking substantial wealth, advancing cultivation and enterprise. The portion con- venient, though not close, to the quays, which, as usual in other great seaports, is the most frequented, contains many of the best buildings for commercial purposes ; the banks and most of the warehouses being constructed of freestone, in the modern style of Italian composite, and displaying in their facades much rich ornamentation. The grandest specimens of architecture are the University, with its affiliated Colleges, the New Post Office, the Town Hall, the Museum, and Government House, the Anglican and Eoman Catholic Cathedrals, and the Churches of Presbyterian, Wesleyan, and Congregational bodies. The private residences in the neighbourhood of Sydney are of a superior character, and are generally in the vicinity of beautiful recreation grounds. The . fashionable quarter par excellence is the east end of the city, and the suburban localities stretching thence along the shore. Here are most of those splendid mansions of which glimpses are caught from the harbour, which they overlook. Many of them have been erected, at great cost, and for extent, tastefulness of internal decorations, and beauty of their grounds and gardens, are perhaps unequalled by any private residences on this side the equator. " Although Sydney has few reserves analogous to the squares of London, it has excellent parks and gardens within its boundaries, easily accessible to the citizens. Hyde Park is a beautiful plateau of 40 acres, nearly in the centre of the city. It has a fine avenue NETT SOUTH WALES. 81 about half a mile long, and is nearly surrounded by plantations and clumps of trees, affording a grateful shade, and forming an agreeable resort. The Domain, a charming expanse of park land of 138 acres, planted for landscape effect, is on the north-eastern side of Sydney, surrounding the pretty inlet called Farm Cove. The grounds present every variety required to produce picturesque views, and the artistic disposition of the groups and avenues of trees is faet developing the beauties of this favorite promenade. Near the main entrance is an excellent bronze statue of Sir Eichard Bourke, by Baily, in a situation from which is obtained one of the most beautiful views imaginable. The Botanic Gardens embrace 38 acres, and are the finest in the Australian Colonies, for, in addition to the immense collection of exotics from every clime, the site strikes every beholder with admiration. " More recently formed reserves are Prince Alfred Park and Belmore Park in the south, and a tract of 500 acres on the south- east side, named Moore Park. Adjoining the latter ground is the metropolitan Bacecourse, where large fields of horses of the finest breeds, compete at the two half-yearly meetings for stakes which amount to 14,000 or 15,000 in the year. " The harbour of Port Jackson proper has an area of 9 square miles. Middle Harbour, one of its arms, 3 square miles ; and the coast line of the whole is 54 miles. From the heads to the city the distance is 4 miles, beyond which the waters extend 8 miles into what is called the Parramatta River, giving 15 miles as the length of navigation. The average breadth of the navigable waters is three-quarters of a mile, though at some points they widen to 2 miles or more. The shallowest part is between Middle Head and George's Head, where the soundings show 23 feet at low water. Beyond this the depth ranges between 5 and 18 fathoms. There are 3 miles of wharf frontage in use, and about 25 miles of deep water frontage in sheltered places that may be made avail- able for a like purpose. G 82 SEW SOUTH WALES. " The following is the number and tonnage of steam-vessels owned in Sydney, trading to and from the various inland ports and Colonies: Number of vessels. {Horse-power. Tonnage. 80 3 517 Clarence and Richmond River Company ... Illawarra Steam Navigation Company Hunter River New Steam Company ,. 15 6 4 864 489 480 2,786 1,158 1 829 Parramatta River Company 4 150 632 Bulli Coal Company 2 SO 744 8 134 138 13 745 1454 5 319 830 18 336 481 XII.-RAILWAYS, ROADS, AND TELEGRAPHS. The emigrant who chooses New South Wales as his future home, will find that he has cast in his lot with a people whose energy and civilization is abreast of the age, who have constructed the most gigantic bridges across wide rivers, and carried railways over miles of rugged mountain country, to connect the fertile soil and rich mineral lands of the interior with the sea-board. A population numbering little more than half a million souls has spent 6,653,413 upon railways, 212,255 in making telegraphs ; and, during the last ten years, they have expended 2,566,000 on common roads, 675,497 in improving harbours and rivers, and 820,549 in erecting public buildings. The results of the expenditure of this 10,927,714 are 396^ miles of first-class railway, 6,114 miles of telegraphs, nearly 10,000 miles of common roads cleared (much of the length fenced and also macadamized), courts of justice, hospitals, and other public buildings in all the principal towns of the ,Colony, light- houses, break-waters, and wharfs almost wherever they are required. NEW 6OTJTII WJLL^S. 83 The amount voted for public works in 1872 was 642,856; and this is about the amount voted by Parliament every year for public improvements out of current revenue. In addition, to that, the Government propose to borrow 2,531,280 for railway construction and other public works, the loan to be secured on the Revenues of the Colony. The northern line of railway starts from the sea-board at New- castle, and has now reached Murrurundi, 120 miles ; and it is intended to extend it to Tamworth, 60 miles farther north. The western and southern lines start from Sydney. The former is within five miles of Bathurst (145 miles from Sydney), and is to be extended to Orange, 46^ miles farther west. The southern line is opened to Goulburn (132 miles from Sydney), and is to be extended to "Wagga Wagga, 174 miles farther. The total length of these extensions, which are to be entered upon at once, is 281 miles ; and if care be taken in the selection of contractors and an abundant supply of labour be obtainable, it will be possible to complete the lines to Tamworth, Orange and Tass in two years and the remaining section of the southern line (that from Tass to Wagga Wagga) in one year more. The Government also intend to construct a line from Grafton to the table-land of New England, to take the traffic westward as far as Glen Innes and Inverell, and northward as far as Tenterfield and the Queensland border. Eailway travelling in New South Wales is almost as rapid and quite as sumptuous as in England. The price of a second-class ticket from Sydney to Goulburn is 28a. 6d., first-class 36s. 2d. A ton of agricultural produce is carried the same distance (132 miles) for 17s. 6d., and of ores, metals, stone, &c., for 26s. 4d. The rates for other descriptions of goods are 29s. 7d., 32s. 10d., 45s. 8d., 56s. 7d., 78s. 5d., and 10 Is. 3d., according to the classifi- cation. The highest rates are for gunpowder, &c. In 1872 our railways carried 753,910 passengers (exclusive of season ticket holders) and 825,317 tons of goods. The total earnings were 425,058. Telegrams consisting of ten words are sent to any part of the Colony, say from Sydney to Wentworth (835 miles) for 2s. (the rate will be reduced to Is. in October next), and to England for 10. There are ninety-two telegraph stations in the Colony; 84 NEW SOUTH WALES. and 335,822 messages were transmitted in 1872, producing a revenue of 45,019. Telegrams from England, Europe, and America, are published in the Sydney newspapers daily, so that the colonists are probably informed earlier of the state of the markets, and of European politics, than the residents of many English towns. XIII.-POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS. The Mail Steamer leaves Sydney for Southampton every four weeks, and vice versa, and the letters are delivered with wonderful regularity every 56 days. Proposals are under consideration for two other routes, in addition to that which now exists via Suez, namely : Sydney to Brisbane and via Torres Straits, rounding the north of the Continent to Singapore, connecting us directly with India, China Japan, and what we still call the " East.'' This line is chiefly projected in the interest of Queensland. The other line will run straight across the Pacific from Sydney to San Trancisco, across the North American Continent to New York, and over the Atlantic to Liverpool, a service which has once been performed in 47 days. Both these services will probably be established before the end of the year. At the present time (February, 1873), the Chief Ministers of Victoria, South Australia, "Western Australia, Queensland, Tas- mania, and New Zealand, are in Sydney, and, with the Premier and Postmaster General of this Colony, are conferring together in respect to Postal Subsidies. In reply to a Minute by the Hon. Henry Parkes (Chief Secretary of New South Wales) , dated 10th August, 1872, Lord Kimberley, in a despatch just received by the Governor of the Colony, makes the following concession : " I have to inform you that Her Majesty's Government will be willing to give their assistance in effecting arrangements for the regular transmission of mails to and from Australasia, through the United States, and that no objection will be raised to the Colonies entering into direct postal conventions with the United States, provided that such conventions are submitted to Her Majesty's Government for final sanction." The Government has obtained Parliamentary authority to send a special Commissioner to the United States Government to negotiate. NEW SOUTH WALES. 85 In the Colony itself there were, at the close of 1872, G23 post offices. The extent of the postal route was 14,673 miles, the number of miles travelled 3,252,888, and the total cost of con- veying the mails, &c., was 87,350, exclusive of the annual vote of 20,000, the subsidy for the conveyance of the European mails by the P. & 0. Go's, steamships. The total revenue of the department was 96,477. The number of letters which passed through the Post Office in 1872 was 8,043,200 ; packets, 135,800 ; and newspapers, 4,171,500. Letters may be sent to any place 10 miles distant from Sydney for Id., and to any part of the Colony beyond that distance for 2d., to any of the Australian Colonies and New Zealand for 3d., and to the United Kingdon for 6d. Newspapers go anywhere for a penny, and a Bill has passed the Legislative Assembly to carry them through the Colony free of charge, but failed to pass in the Council. MONET OBDEES. The Money Order System is engrafted upon the Post Office. By means of this system any person can send 5 through the Post Office for 6d., or 10 for a shilling ; and the regulations are such that fraud is made impossible. The number of money orders issued in 1872 was 87,434, and the value of them 393,862. The system is also extended to all the Australian Colonies and the United Kingdom, the rates of commission being somewhat higher. SAVINGS BANKS. Government Savings Banks are another valuable adjunct of the Post Office. Sums of Is. or any multiple of Is., may be deposited with the Postmaster of the Colony, and the Government pays interest upon the deposits at the rate of four per cent, per annum. The regulations in this department also render pecu- lation impossible. The system has not long been in operation ; but the number of depositors in 1872 was 3,226 ; the total deposits to the 31st December, 1872, 109,343. However remote a man may be from the large towns, he has all the advantages of a high civilization and good government extended to him. 86 NEW SOUTH "WALES. XIV.-LABOUR AND WAGES. There is a great demand for labour of all kinds in the Colony, but more particularly is there a demand for it in agricultural and mining pursuits. Two or three columns of the daily newspapers are every morning devoted to nfaking known the wants of employers of all kinds, and a considerable space is occupied by the advertisements for servants who can be hired for neither love nor money. Of 800 emigrants who came out to the Colony by Government assistance, the great majority of them being single women, none died on the voyage, and all obtained engagements in respectable families immediately they landed, the rates of wages being from 20 to 22 6s. 6d. per annum. The Immigration Agent says : " A much larger number than have already arrived would readily obtain situations as domestic servants." The prospects of unskilled labourers may be judged of from what has been already written. They may reckon upon obtaining from Act provides for the establishment of Public Schools wherever, in the judgment of the Council, they may be needed, and for the maintenance of Certified Denominational Schools, under certain conditions. But all schools supported by the State must be under Government inspection, the teachers must be examined and certified by the Council, and the same course of secular instruction must be adopted, all class books used being subject to Government appro- bation. Under this system education is spreading as fast as the population ; every town and considerable village has its school ; itinerant teachers are even appointed to visit the families of settlers scattered through the bush ; and it is the policy of the Colony to leave no place in all the land where ignorance may hide and social misery fester, to become a curse to the community. There is a school fee charged usually amounting to one shil- ling per week ; but a reduction is made where several children attend from the same family ; and, in every case where the parents are unable to pay the fee, education is free of charge. The salaries of the teachers vary from 72 to 150 per annum from Government, in addition to the school fees, which are divided ratably among the teachers in large schools, and not uncommonly more than double the salarv. 92 3TEW SOUTH WALES. The standards of proficiency begin with children over fiveyears old in the first class, who are examined by the Inspector in reading, writing, arithmetic, and singing, and advance to the fifth class, including reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, object lessons, singing, drawing, geometry, algebra, and Latin, with permission to teachers to produce, if possible, higher results. While the chief aim of the Council is to make elementary instruc- tion universal, it is also intended to rectify as far as possible the inequalities of fortune, and put it within the power of the poorest family in the land to obtain a thoroughly liberal educa- tion. There are now 878 schools existing under the new Act, with 87,313 children on the rolls, of whom 7,069 are taught free of charge. The number of teachers is 1,225 ; the amount of school fees, 43,503 ; local contributions to buildings, 3,404 ; from public funds, 113,158 j total, 160,065. Many of the middle classes avail themselves of the excellent facilities of the Public Schools for the education of their children, deeming them more emcient than any other at their command ; and regarding it as a good thing that all the children of the Country should start life from this common educational platform. But there are in the Colony 561 private schools, with 826 teachers many of them are graduates of Universities ; and with an attendance of 13,700 children. Altogether, 101,000 children are enrolled in the public and private schools of the Colony more than one-fifth of the entire population. Besides these, there are Mechanics' Institutes an d Schools of Arts established in most of the leading towns, to which Government contributes a sum equal to that raised by local voluntary subscriptions and donations. There are also numerous prizes and scholarships available for all who distinguish themselves at the Public Examination of the University, by means of which the poorest child may receive a University training free of expense. The University of Sydney was established and endowed in 1851. In its constitution it approaches somewhat to University College, London, with the power of granting degrees in arts, law, and medicine, and with a guaranteed annual income from the public funds of 5,000. Last year it had six Professors, with 18 additional Examiners for degrees, 141 graduates, and 45 students. Its fundamental principle is the association of students, without respect of religious creeds, in the cultivation of secular NEW SOUTH WALES. 93 knowledge. But, as in the case of the University of London, pro- vision is made for Affiliated Colleges of the different religious denominations, with an additional guarantee from the public funds of one-half the cost of building each college, where the denomination has contributed the other half, and 500 per annum towards the salary of each Principal when duly elected. Under these provisions, St. Paul's Church of England College and St. John's Roman Catholic College are already in existence, and two more are projected in connection with the Presbyterian and Wes- leyan bodies. By glancing over these facts, the reader will perceive that the Colony has a complete system of educational institutions, adapted to its wants, and capable of expanding with its growth to the proportion of the most colossal Empire. In regard to the literary condition of the people, it is perhaps enough for the pur- poses of this pamphlet simply to state that the Colony has eighty- four newspapers many of them published twice and thrice a week, besides the daily, weekly, and monthly Sydney Press; periodicals, with a circulation varying from a few hundred up to 15,000 ; that in the capital there are three public libraries, numbering about 60,000 volumes, and taking in all the leading English, American, and many Foreign periodicals ; that many thousands per annum are spent in importing English periodical literature, and not less than 50,000 per annum in imported books, and that a native literature has been created, consisting already of several hundred volumes, in all departments of litera- ture and science, some of which have been favourably reviewed by the leading journals of Europe and America, and are standard works on the subjects of which they treat. The Municipalities Act empowers the Borough Councils to establish free libraries ; and if the library be established in a district where 300 persons can regularly make use of it the Council is entitled to a grant of 100 from the General Revenue, and 200 if within reach of 1,000 souls. Several libraries have already been established, and others are projected. Of the religious condition of the people, little need be said here beyond the statement that all the leading religious denominations of England are efficiently represented ; that there is perfect religious equality, that direct State-aid to Religion was abolished by Act of Parliament in the year 1862, provision being made for the existing life interests, so that the payments are now reduced to 22,976, and are being still further reduced year by year as the selected lives fall in. The number 94f NEW SOUTH WALES. of registered ministers of all denominations is 501, the number of churches and chapels is 924, the accommodation provided in them is for 181,914, and the average attendance 170,596. The number of Sunday Schools in the Colony is 933, with G,049 teachers, and some 60,000 scholars. The following table of the Religion of the people, taken from the Census of 1871, may perhaps give the best idea of the status of the different denominations : Church of England 229,243 Presbyterians ... 49,122 Wesleyan Methodists 36,275 Other Methodists 3,291 Congregationalists 9,253 Baptists 4,151 Unitarians 849 Protestants undescribed 2,549 Other'Protestants 4,659 Total Protestants 339,392 Roman Catholics 145,932 Catholics undescribed 1,695 Total Catholics 147,627 Hebrews 2,395 Other Persuasions 1,166 Pagans 7,455 Unspecified 5,946 Total : 16,962 Total Population 503,981 XVII.-SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE; Wealth has no value except as the means of promoting the comfort and happiness of the people. For this reason the nation which has the largest aggregate of wealth may be far from being the happiest, for its wealth may be accumulated in the hands of a few, while the masses of the people remain in abject poverty. Every man, whether rich or poor, has a right to the free use of all his faculties and opportunities, and to those social rewards which the circumstances of the land in which he dwells may secure him ; but the most desirable state of prosperity is where the productive powers of the Country are guided by the best laws of distribution, so that all the people, by sobriety and industry, NEW SOUTH WALES. 95 may be well to do. Mr. Mill, in his Principles of Political Economy, says : " To begin life as hired labourers, then after a few years to work on their own account, and, finally, employ others, is the normal condition of labourers in a new Country rapidly increasing in wealth and population, like America and Australia ; but in an old and fully peopled Country, those who begin life as labourers for hire, as a general rule continue such to the end, unless they sink into the still lower grade of recipients of public charity." In New South Wales pauperism does not exist, and poverty is almost unknown, except as the result of accidents or intemperance. With wages as high as in the United States, and provisions cheaper than in England, and far more varied and abundant, and a most genial and delightful climate, with no rigorous winter to fear, the condition of the working classes is one of greater enjoyment probably than in any other part of the World. How many thousands of families are there in Europe to whom animal meat is a forbidden luxury, or to be obtained only once or twice a week. Here it is to be found on any table every day ; and, while consuming four times as much meat per head of the population as in England, we have still available immense con- signments of tinned meats, which, after paying the cost of a long voyage and the profits of dealers, can still be sold in the English markets at half the price of butcher's meat. Here, too, the orange, nectarine, peach, grape, apricot, and other choice fruits, which in England are to be found only on the table3 of the rich, the produce of hot-house culture, grow under the blue sky to perfection, and any one can furnish his table daily with a liberal dessert at the cost of a few pence. The means of saving for the industrial classes are as abundant as the comforts of life are plentiful. In Sydney and the leading towns thousands of working men occupy their own houses, and live rent free, by accumulating their savings for a few years in Building Societies. There are 28,787 depositors in the Savings Bank of New South Wales and Post Office Savings Banks. The amount of deposits on 31st December, 1872, was 1,286,193, the rate of interest allowed being 4 and 5 per cent. There are several Building Societies and branches in the Colony, one of which the Permanent Mutual Benefit Building Society, in Sydney has 9,371 investing shares taken up, paying 2s. Gd. per month, and 6 NEW 8OUTH WALES. has advanced on mortgage to shareholders 76,525, holding other deposits to the amount of 50,540. Other Societies do an almost equal amount of business. Many of the leading English Friendly Societies have branches here. The Independent Order of Oddfellows, of the Manchester Unity, has 83 lodges in the Colony, 5,593 beneficiary members, an income in 1872 of 27,909, a hall which cost 7,300, and an invested capital of 39,877. An entrance fee of from 12s. to 4, according to age, is first paid, and then from Is. to Is. 3d., for which there is an allowance of 21s. per week during illness, with medical attendance for the members of his family, and funeral expenses after death to the extent of 20, to the nearest relative, and from 25 to 50 where there is a widow surviving. There are 42 Hospitals spread all over the Country, and the principal of these the Sydney Infirmary in 1871 admitted 1840 patients, and at the close of the year had 232 in residence ; its income was 12,792, of which sum 2,527 was from private donations, and 10,265 from Government. There are six Benevolent Asylums, with 1,572 inmates, and an income for the year of 18,120. There are eleven Orphan and Industrial Schools. One of these the Bandwick Asylum for Destitute Children had, at the dose of the year, 809 inmates, with an income of 11,954. There is an Institute for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, on the Newtown Road ; a fine and extensive structure, with every convenience for the maintenance and instruction of these afflicted fellow-colonists, and with an income of 3,402. In the Harbour there is a Nautical School for Vagrant Boys, on board the ship " Vernon," and on Biloela Island an Industrial School for Girls, of a similar character ; both intended to save these classes from falling into crime and becoming inmates of our prisons. There is a Sailors' Home, a Female Eefuge, and many other similar Institutions, maintained both by private contribution and Government aid. Altogether, for the year 1871, the total income of the Colony for known organized Public Charities of all kinds was 114,841. Nor are the sympathies of the colonists confined within their own bounds, for they contributed to the Crimean Patriotic Fund 64,916 ; to the Indian Mutiny Fund, 5,821 ; to the Lancashire Cotton Famine Eelief Fund, 21,311. NEW SOUTH -WALES. 97 Of the provident habits of the people the extensive business done by Life Insurance Offices is ample evidence. All the leading English Offices are represented in the Colony ; but the most prosperous Office for life business is native the Australian Mutual Provident Society. It has existed only twenty-two years, yet it has an annual income of about 250,000, and invested funds amounting to nearly 1,000,000. Its scale of premiums is lower than in many of the best English Offices, while its profits up to thi year are equal to a cash bonus of 60 per cent, of the total premiums paid. Of the accumulated wealth of the eomnmnity, the following facts afford some evidence : The amount deposited in the Mercantile and Savings Banks in the Colony, on the 31st December, 1872, was 10,411,166. Municipal government was established in 1867, and now, besides the capital, there are forty Boroughs and twenty- one Municipal Districts already existing. The assessed value of rateable property in the Municipality of Sydney exclusive of its suburbs, is 726,139, and the Corporation spent in 1871, upon City works of various kinds, 141,056. For all other Munici- palities in the Colony, exclusive of Sydney, the assessed value of rateable property is 12,243,630. In all the Municipalities the immigrant would find all the institutions, habits, customs, and courtesies of English town life prevailing, except the parish Work-house, and its prevailing causes and effects ; schemes of water supply, plans of sewerage, and irrigation, Gas Companies, Schools, Churches, Clubs, Working-mdn's Institute, and other phases of social life which spring up among self-governing peoples. And all this machinery is worked without disorder ; bribery and corruption, even in municipal elections are unknown. "Whether the tastes^ of the settler are for town or country, the Colony can offer him a life thoroughly enjoyable. The city has its public buildings, its University, Clubs, Schools, able minis- ters- and orators, its Libraries, Parks, Baths, Public Gardens, Pleasure-grounds, all round the harbour, and aquatic sports spread over all the year. The country has its varied recreations ; inland lakes abounding with wild fowl, woods swarming with parrots and other birds of gorgeous plumage ; plains where coveys of partridges and wild turkeys gratify the sportsman's vanity and reward his skill, with no Game Laws to prevent the humblest labourer from enjoying his share ; while on the verge of the Settled Districts, the emu and the noble kangaroo still u 9S NEW 8OTTH -WALKS. run and leap over their natural pastures, affording sport to the hunter, the most exhilarating and exciting. Nearly all our city youth can manage a boat fairly, bend the sail and ply the oar, and cast the fishing-line to some purpose ; and, attracted by the blue waters of the harbour, nearly all can breast the waves and enjoy a header in the sea. Horses are plentiful and cheap, both to buy and keep, riding is an almost universal accomplishment, and our young bushmen are among the finest riders in the World. A PUBLIC HOLIDAY is SYDNEY, Public holidays are frequent, and are observed with peculiar regard, and enjoyed with great gusto all over the Colony. A holiday in Sydney is a sight worth seeing. The weather is almost always fine, and there is no part cf the year when out-door amusements are not thoroughly enjoyable. A rigorous winter never interferes with the pleasure-seeker, and though a hot wind sometimes blows in summer, it is seldom indeed that the temperature is at all hot enough to mar the enjoyment of a holiday. Christmas Day here presents a remarkable contrast to Christmas Day in England ; and the day after Boxing Day is universally observed as a day of festivity ; so also is Anniversary Day, the 26th of January. On Queen's Birthday, too, the shops are closed, the warehouses deserted, the factories silent; banners and evergreens adorn the houses ; the streets are alive with processions, marching in the early morning, with flags flying and bands playing, down to the harbour, where every steamer of the port has been engaged for the day ; bells are ringing, salutes fired from the batteries, and returned from the vessels of war anchored under Government House. Every ship in' port, from whatever clime, is decorated with flags of all t colours, from stem to stern, from top-mast to hull. Hundreds of yachts dot the blue water, their white sails glittering in the sun ; the Regatta has assembled 20,000 spectators, crowding the Flagship, and lining the shores on either side, to watch the swiftest craft built on this side the Equator contend for the prizes offered, and still more for the honor of victory. All round the capacious harbour there are hundreds of beautiful winding bays, affording camping-ground and the most picturesque scenery to pic-nicing parties, who climb the rocks, ascend the summits, play on the sands, bathe in the waters, and practice cricket, croquet, foot-ball, and all the well-known English games, on the soft green sward. KEW SOUTH WALES. 99 CloDtarf is a favourite haunt with the holiday-makers, and is a spot of surpassing beauty. From the foot of George and Pitt Streets in the city, steamers ply all day, steam down the harbour for six miles, cross the opening between the heads, where the heavy swell of the Pacific Ocean rolls in upon the Middle Head, and gives the extremely squeamish stomach just five minutes suggestion of what sea-sickness is, besides affording no small amusement to their more robust friends ; and in half an hour from leaving the crowded streets and wharfs of the city, you land on a sylvan spot, where Nature still wears her primeval ga*b. First, there is the beach of pure white sand, then a large plot of green turf, as smooth as if levelled with the roller, with patches of trees, and seats and tables under them, for the accommodation of the public. Then there is a back- ground of rocks, covered with lichen and moss, and fern, and wooded to the summit, rising almost perpendicularly some 200 feet, and commanding a view of Sydney on one side and of the Pacific Ocean on the other, and the whole harbour at your feet. Here often 10,000 spectators gather to witness all kinds of sports ; breaking up into little family knots in all directions, and, wfth shouts of laughter and the blending of merry voices, doing ample justice to the varied and abundant food with which they have come provided. Manly Beach, about a mile across the bush from Clontarf, and built on the Pacific on one side, and on another bay of Port Jackson on the other, an interval of but 500 yards separating the two, is another favourite resort ; and here often as many thousands more spend the livelong day. Then there is Pearl Bay, Chowder Bay, Athol Gardens, Balmoral, Cremorne, and many similar places on the same side (the North Shore), each vicing with the other in beauty and attractiveness, and all thronged with visitors. A more gorgeous and exhilarating scene than these places present when the blaze of noon is succeeded by the more subdued light of evening, and wood, sky, and sea combine, their charms cannot be imagined. Future poets will find inspiration here for ages, and, in thoughts fhat breathe and words that bum, immortalize the glories of their native land. The other side of the harbour has its attractions too. Darling Point, Double Bay, Rose Bay, Watson's Bay, and, not the least, the Domain, and Botanical Gardens situate within two minute*' 100 :s'E\v SOUTH WALES. -walk of the main streets of the city, and yet as rural as if they were miles distant. These Gardens are superb ; abounding with magnificent specimens of all the varied vegetation of the Colony, and the choicest productions of the Islands and other lands ; tastefully laid out ; interspersed with flower-beds and grass-plots, eloping down to a level greensward, where military bands play, and the citizens promenade, while the ripple of the waves is heardattheir feet, and the dark foliage of the North Shore bounds the view in the background. Almost perfect judgment has been displayed in the laying out of these grounds, and Nature was lavish in the advan- tages which she bestowed. No wonderthat holidays orworkiug days the citizens never tire of this paradise, and visitors from all parts never grow weary in its praise. Besides these natural pleasure- grounds of the harbour, there are other charming spots on the Pacific coast, within eight miles of the city : Bondi, Coogee, Long Bay, Botany Bay, and many more, to which the people wend in omnibuses, coaches, cabs, vans, and every kind of vehicle which can be pressed into their service. All the roads from the city are crowded with lines of conveyances, and joyous voices are heard singing, laughing, and joining in merry converse all day 3ong. The Albert Cricket Ground, the Rifle Butts, Moore Park, Tempe, Sans Souci, and a score of other places, all present their temptations and attract their patrons ; while Government puts on extra trains at half-fare to bring the country population to the capital, and give the inhabitants of the city an opportunity of tasting the reality of country life and seeing the grand wild scenery of the Blue Mountains. Altogether, we believe it is no boast, but the simple truth to declare that there is not another spot known to civilized man combining in itself such a variety of attractions for the recreation of its people as this" capital of New South Wales ; and it is estimated that at least three-fourths of the whole population turn out to enjoy these holidays, and return home refreshed, reinvigorated, orderly, and sober, to resume the serious business of life all the more vigorously next day. And though so many assemble on the various places, they never seem crowded ; they are numerous and vast enough to afford secluded nool^ and corners to all who love quietness, even where the largest numbers go there for the day. All appear well dressed, well provided with the most liberal and even luxurious fare, perfectly well conducted, contented and happy. Drunkenness is seldom seen, and riots and general disorder never. Occasionally NEW SOUTH WALES. 101 overcrowding on the piers to get on board the steamers will tumble one or two into the water, but there are always good, swimmers ready to plunge after them, and the only inconvenience suffered is an unexpected cold bath, and the necessity for a change of dress. A whole year's holidays commonly pass and not a life is lost in all the hundreds of excursions. One or two policemen are in attendance at each chief pic-nicing place, but commonly the only service they have to perform is to hand the little ones over the vessel's side, or occasionally ftsh an unlucky wight out of the water, and to their credit be it said, that this service they are always ready to perform. Civility and good manners in a pushing crovvd are somewhat rare, but nowhere are they less rare than in these holiday-makings of the inhabitants of Sydney. XVIII.-HINTS TO EMIGRANTS. 1. Do not bring a large stock of miscellaneous articles, in the- belief that you will find them dearer here. Look over the list of prices given in these pages. Add to the Home price the cost of carriage and freight from England, allow for the risks of the voyage, and the encumbrance of moving with much luggage, and then select very judiciously such things as you find most suitable to your condition and intentions. As a rule, the less luggage the better, for nothing is more useful here than money. 2. For the voyage, unless you are prepared to rough it some- what, it is better, especially if you have a family, to bring a case or tfro of selected provisions in your cabin. The best ships are well and liberally provisioned ; they have their regular hours for meals, and as a rule supper is not one of their institutions. A good supply of cheap clothing is desirable, very light for the tropics, and as warm as for winter in England, as ships run up to 42 sometimes, and always as high as 38, where it is sure to be tolerably cold. 3. Emigrant ships chartered by the Government of New South Wales are occasionally sent out. For all particulars respecting these, apply to the Agent-General of New South Wales, at pre- sent Sir Charles Cowper, 3 WcstminstSr Chambers, London, S.W., who is instructed, on behalf of the Colony, to supply all information and advice gratis to intending emigrants, and who will render you every assistance in his power. 102 2fEW SOUTH WALES. 4. If you do not come by an emigrant ship, choose one belong- ing to a house of good standing and in the regular trade, as outsiders sometimes run at less fares, but with wretched accom- modation. The prices for a passage to Sydney are 40 to 50 first class, 25 to 30 second class, and 16 to 20 third class. The length of the voyage varies from 74 to 100 days. The lead- ing shipping houses to Sydney are Messrs. Devitt & Moore, 109 LeadenhalJUstreet, London, and their regular liners are the " Parramatta," " Sobraon," " Commissary," " Hawkeebtiry," "Bruckley Castle," "Windsor Castle," "Agnes Eose," "Ben Lomond," " Alexander Duthie," Eifleman," " Dunbar Castle," &c. Messrs. Greo. Thompson & Co., 24 Leadeahall-etreet, is another of &> leading shipping firms, and among the vessels which they despatch regularly to Sydney are the " Patriarch," " Christiana Thompson," " Ethiopian," " Koseiueko," " Aaealon," " Damascus," " Nineveh," &c. Messrs. Holder, Bros. & Co. are also in the trade, and their offices are at 146 Leadenhall-street, London. 5. Passengers have to furnish their own cabine, and care should be taken to have the berths firmly fixed before leaving the dock. Mattresses made to fit the berths, and good enough for the voyage, can be had for a few shillings at any respectable dealers cloee by the Docks in London. Other articles required, such as blankets, sheets, pillows, basins for washing, water-can, &c., will be equally useful on landing. A few books should be provided for reading, or materials for sewing, to prevent tiiae hangifig heavily on your hands. Be sure to close the window of your cabin at night if there is the slightest sign of wind; and have a sufficient supply of the cheapest underclothing you can get, to last the whole voyage, as washing is not always convenient at aea. 6. If, on landing at Sydney, you want advice or information, go to the Immigration Depot at Hyde Park. It is maintained by 'the Government, and there you will be able to get trustworthy information about wages and employment, tke situation of different districts, modes of travelling, means of taking up land, and every- thing else of importance to the settler. The intemperate aod-the idle need not apply, as this institution is not r, charity, bnt a means of protecting bona fide immigrants from extortion and imposition. mew SOUTH WAUIS. 103 XIX.-SUMMARYOFTHE ADVANTAGES OFWEW SOUTH WALES AS A HOME FOR THE EMtGRANT. 1. There is ready employment for all classes of labourers and artwwss, at double the wages given to the same classes of labour 2. The cost of livuag for the masses of the people is cheaper here than at Home. The necessaries and common comforts of life are cheaper. Soaae of the luxuries are dearer ; but fruits of all varieties are most abundant and exceedingly cheap. The labouring classes throughout the Colony are as well fed, as well clothed, and live as comfortably as the middle classes in England. 3. Capital finds ready investment either in trade, agriculture; mJMHg, or the public stock, at much higher rates than in Europe, and with as good security. Eight per cent, with good security- is deemed a fair rate in Sydney ; in the country, rates run higher. 4. There is an area of nearly 200,000,000 acres of public lands, two-thirds of which are occupied by the sqoaiters on short leases, but all of which, are open to *he emigrant to select from, wherever he pleases, and on terms wkMn reach of the poorest, and a cer- tain road to wealth, if he be healthy, prudent, and industrious. 5. The soil and climate are adapted to every variety of pro- duce, at the least expenditure of labour and capital ; and, cultivated with the same skill as at Home, will yield far better returns. 6. Our mineral resources can be surpassed by no other Country. The gotft deposits are spread over a larger area, and are proving ricbor than anything hitherto known in the whole history of mining. The coal deposits are inexhaustible, and copper, tin, kemseae shale, and other mineBal treasures abound. 7. For merchants and tradesmen no fairer field than Sydney co4fat be presented. Its position on the eastern seaboard, with the Southern Islands, San Francisco, and the whole American Continent, right opposite, with a harbour for shipping unrivalled in the World, and a vast trade already established, it cannot fiwl to secure the chief share of the commerce of the Pacific. 8. No finer climate can be desired, alike fee from the rigorous cold of England, Canada, and the North-western States of America, and from the enervating heat of India and the tropics. 104 NEW SOUTH WALES. 9. In natural scenery, New South "Wales can vie with some of the romantic Countries of Europe. The wild picturesque scenery of the Blue Mountains, and the manifold beauty of Port Jackson, the 1 glorious landscapes of New England, the Clarence, Monaro, Illawarra, and other parts, cannot well be surpassed. 10. Every district is easy of access by river, road, or railway. The most formidable barrier, long thought impassable, has been crossed by a Railway, along' which passengers and produce are carried day and night, in carriages as comfortable as any in Europe. The whole country lies at the feet of the emigrant, ready to be possessed. For the sum of 32s. you may travel in a few hours to Bathurst, the capital of the West. 11. All this may be enjoyed among a people whose whole social life is so like Home that it is scarcely possible for the emigrant to feel like "a stranger in a strange land." The language, customs, habits, laws, literature, education, religion, are all thoroughly English ; life and property secure, and government free. 12. Every immigrant, if sober, healthy, and industrious, is wealth to the Colony, and is made welcome at once never received with jealousy and suspicion. All that Australia wants to mate her one of the wealthiest if not the wealthiest of lands, is population. Everything else she offers, and on the most generous terms. Farm labourers, miners, domestic servants, mechanics, and artisans of all sorts, enterprising capitalists of large means OK small, if they are only temperate, able, and willing to work, may make sure of improving their condition by emigrating to New South Wales. In fact, it matters not what a man has been accustomed to in the Old World, if he is willing to throw away dilletanteism, take off his coat, turn up his sleeves, and put his shoulder to the wheel of fortune just as it may be presented to him not the slave of false pride and miscalled respectability, but making the best of such opportunities as may come across his path there is prosperity awaiting him on these shores, a certain competence, and not unlikely an ample fortune. Here children are a real blessing. The father's brow is never clouded with anxiety at every new addition to his family, wondering how the little mouth is to be filled ; unless false notions of gentility have poisoned his colonial blood, and he is ashamed to let his children degrade them- selves with business. If he be rich, he can afford to indulge that sublime luxury, but he would be a better citizen and patriot if he would dispense with it. We have land enough and to spare* NEW SOUTH WALES. 105 for many generations ; it will yield nearly everything that has any value in the markets of the World. Healthy labour is all we ask for; capital, too, where it is available, arid that will smooth the lot of labour, but healthy labour is the one great requisite, and whoever can offer us that is welcome. To all who are struggling to get on at Home and yet can hardly keep their heads above the water, and in their old age must depend upon their children or their parish, we say, gather together what little substance you have, bid farewell to your native land, come out to this Land of Plenty; and. under its brighter sky, let that same labour of yours, which at Home cannot save you from the fear of being a burden to your Country, win for you a fair day's wage for a fair day's work ; and, an Englishman still, you need love your fatherland none the less, but help to preserve her Empire and augment her greatness through all future ages. Sydney, Eebruary, 1873. XX-APPENDIX. GOLD FIELDS IJT NEW SOUTH WALES. Southern District. Burrangotig Black Creek Araluea sq. ms. ... 424 ... 1 ... 65 sq. ms. Vuttuma 30 Long Flat 1 Moruya 8 Tumberumba ... ... 210 Crackanbae 5 Marragle 97 Gundagai 9 Emu Creek 312 Nanima ... 95 Sharp's Creek 32 Western District. sq. ins. Bathurst 5 Winburndale Rivulet 3 Grattai Creek 3 Ophir 1-10 Shoalhayen Jumbaicumbene ... Mongarlow sq. ms. ... M ... 5 ... 40 405 2 Delegate ... 100 Gulpli 9 Adelons Creek ... 120 . ir> New Marraglo Adgimbilly ... 5 ... ISO ... 57 Black Range, at Albury 18 Nerrimunara 65 Ouranee --- 46 Coobarra Gundia Gundaroo Macqtiarie River... Turon ... 2JWJ ... 81 sq. ma. ... 18 ... sm Jugioug Creek Kirkconnell ... Cheshire's Creek Cudgegong River Muckrawa Caloola Creek ... 47 sq. ms. ... 71 ... 15 ... 103 .:. 25 ... 22 ... 15 Stoney Creek and Iron- barks 32 King's Plains 5 Abenrombio 800 Isabella River _. ... J2 Pipeclay tteek ... ^ a) JCeroo 3JW Campboll's liiver Cook's Vale Gilmandike Mitchell'* Creek ... Tallow Creek Wood's Flat Bcneree Apple-tree Flat ... ... 80 ... 15 ... 70 ... SO ... 15 ... 35 '.'.'. o5 Boeky Bridge Ijachlan Billabons ... Tallawang ... Belabula Gunner's Dam ... 21 1,GOO ... 408 ... :;i ::: ^ ... 100 ... 35 Gulgonf* ... ... Buckenbar Chambers' Creek... 3,000 - .3 i Northern District. sq. mU sq. ms. Peel River 70 Rinjham 143 Tooloom Creek 90 ' Timbnrra 1000 Upper Hunter 92 j Boyd 84 Cangai 69 | Solfcrino 200 Rocky River Tronbark Bocroo!;, Lunatic sq. ms. The approximate total area of Gold Fields proclaimed, 13,656 square miles. 106 NEW SOUTH WALES. GOVEBXOB. SIR HERCULES GEORGE ROBERT ROBINSON, K.C.M.G. MINISTRY. Chief Secretary and Premier The Honorable HENRY PARSES. /"^r/S:?;f ] ^e Honorable GEORGE ALFRED LLOYD. Secretary for Lands The Honorable JAMES SQUIRE FARNELL. Secretary for Pullic Works The Honorable JOHN SUTHERLAND. Attorney General The Honorable EDWARD BUTLER. Solicitor General The Honorable JOSEPH GEORGE LONG INNES. THe Honorable SAUL SAMUEL. STATISTICS, 1851 TO 1871. Tear. Population. Births. Marriages. Deaths. Schools. Grants fbr Primary Education, Schools. Number of Scholars. 1851 197,168 7,675 1,915 2,600 423 21,120 1852 208,254 7,866 2,175 3,605 ' 351 23,668 1853 231,088 8,860 2,569 4,176 420 25,660 1854 251,315 9,663 2,761 4,511 413 25,953 1855 277,579 10,344 2,765 4,022 476 27,243 1856 286,873 10,097 2,778 4,203 565 29,426 1857 305,487 12,501 2,902 4,846 550 29,236 41,827 1858 342,062 13,802 2,992 5,883 653 33,236 41,617 1859 336,572 14,415 3,295 ; 5,642 739 32,840 41,606 1860 348,546 14,233 2,945 6,562 798 34,767 51,693 1861 358,278 14,681 3,222 5,343 849 37,874 51,873 1862 367,495 15,434 3,326 6,524 925 42,211 62,062 1863 378,934 15,679 3,314 6,653 976 46,810 71,734 - 1864 392,589 16,881 3,480 6,445 1,022 48,427 71,627 1865 411,388 17,283 3,578 6,596 1,069 53,453 71,657 1866 431,412 16,950 3,462 7,361 1,155 59,594 81,671 1867 447,620 18,317 3,426 8,631 1,180 63,183 79,594 1868 466,765 18,485 3,736 7,225 1,254 66,835 91,42 1869 485,356 19,243 3,799 6,691 1,304 71,523 106,283 1870 502,861 19,648 3,848 6,558 . 1,381 74,503 105,732 1871 519,182 20,143 3,953 6,407 1,450 77,889 111,601 a Queensland was separated from. New South Wales, June 6, 1859. 15,000 a-year are voted by Parliament for University, Libraries, Schools of Art, Ac. The amount of gold coined at Sydney Mint to 31st December, 1872, was 32,354,000. The amount granted for primary education for 1872 was 1:32,000. 3TETV SOUTH WALES. 107 STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES 1851 TO 1871. Land Sales. Live Stock. Tear. Acres under crop. Quantity. Amount realized. Horses. Horned Cattle. Sheep. Pigs. acres. 1851 24,030 64,425 150,117} 116,397 1,375,257 7,396,895 65,510 1852 , 26,550 55,808 131,730} 123,404 1/195,984 7,707,917 78,559 1853 73,675 211,035 139,014} 133,705 1,552,285 7,929,708 71,395 1854 83^96 319,533 131,857 148,851 1,570,750 8,144,119 00,255 1855 127,952 270,636 171,100} 158,159 1,558,407 8,602,499 68,091 1850 167,753 245,555 186,033^ 168,929 2,023,418 7,736,323 105,938 1857 145,102 210,333 184,513* 180,053 2,148,604 8.144,102 109,166 1858 169,214 240,633 223,295$ 200,713 2,110,604 7,581,762 92,843 1859 135,107 252,627 247,542| 214,684 2,190,976 5,162,671 119,701 1860 109,216 155,316 200,798 251,497 2,408,566 6,119,103 180,662 1861 189,936 222,594 297,575 233,220 2,271,923 5,615,054 146,091 1362 67,2921 0357,280 ; 216,988 302,188* 273,389 2,020,383 6,145,651 125,541 1863 92,016 ^ 0259,369 ( 192,113 307,035 262,554 2,032,522 7,790,969 135,899 1864 58,216 0105,616 112,719 318,854 284,507 1,924,119 8,271,520 164,154 1865 101,550 151,450 213,241 378,254* 282,587 1,961,905 8,132,511 146,901 1866 261,590 451,225} 278,437 1,771,809 11,562,155 107,015 1867 119,044 261,600 413,104 280,201 1,728,427 13,909,574 173,168 1868 149,945 265,250 434,756} 280,818 1,761,411 15,080,625 176,901 1869 164,800 ) 319,613 482,324^ 280,304 1,795,904 14,989,923 175,924 1870 94,373 ) 250,843 , 426,976 337,597 2,195,096 16,308,585 243,066 1871 1 0358,082} 417,801 301,100 2,014,888 16,278,697 213,193 a Lands conditionally sold under the " Crown Lands Alienation Act of 1861." Lands leased for mining purposes are : gold, 64,000 acres ; coal, 31,720 ; tin, copper, lead, silver, and other minerals, 390,228 acres. Crops grown are : Wheat, maire'barlr-y.oata, hay, rye, millet, sorghum, sugar-cane, arrow- root, potatoes, tobacco, grapes, oranges, and most other fruits and vegetables. ruit exported, 1871 (mostly oranges), 146,751 pkgs. ; value, 49,312. Maize exported, 1871, 702,057 bushels and bags ; value, 109,412. Sugar produced to 1871 value, 150,000. 108 NEW BOUTS WALES. STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES 1851 TO 1871. 2 a H s ilanufactorics, Works, &c. Coal Mines. Shipping. Value of total Imports. Value of total Exports. Inwards. Outwards. Quantity. >' jjj "a ^ Number of Vessels. Tonnage. Number of Vessels. } 1 tons. 1851 151 140 67,610 25,546 553 153,002 503 139,020 1,563,931 1,796,912 1852 145 141 67,404 36,885 721 197,366 701 175,960 1,900,436 4,604,034 1853 143 141 96,809 78,059 1,048 336,852 1,081 341,540 6,342,397 4,523,346 1854 140 146 116,642 119,380 1,058 376,927 1,112 409,489 5,981,063 4,050,126 1855 147 255 137,076 89,082 1,152 353,323 1,185 362,482 4,668,519 2,884,130 1856 154 314 189,960 117,906 1,143 321,679 1,219 336,113 5,460,971 3,430,880 1857 157 284 210,434 148,158 1,100 351,413 1,204 377,147 6,729,408 4,011,952 1858 169 295 216,397 162,162 1,141 348,984 1,254 366,825 6,059,366 4,156,277 1859 177 549 308,213 204,371 1,250 363,121 1,299 387,015 6,597,053 4,768,049 1860 193 745 368,862 226,493 1,424 427,835 1,438 431,484 7,519,285 5,072,020 1861 184 788 342,067 218,820 1,327 366,236 1,391 379,400 6,391,555 5,594,839 1862 181 859 476,522 305,234 1,493 454,837 1,568 467,356 9,334,645 7,102,562 1863 180 1,768 433,889 236,230 1,494 479,827 1,603 511,373 8,319,576 6,936,839 1804 174 2,084 549,012 270,171 1,84? 607,168 1,842 647,057 10,135,708(1 9,037,832a 1805 175 2,132 585,525 274,303 1,912 635,888 2,120 690,294 10,635,507a 9,563,818a 1866 159 2,389 774,238 324,049 2,099 730,354 2,259 784,381 9,403,192a 9,913,839a 18C7 188 2,274 770,012 342,655 1,868 646,970 2,104 726,721 6,599,804 6,880,715 1868 181 3,562 954,231 417,809 2,073 724,193 2,218 776,449 8,051,377 7,192,904 1869 183 4,497 919,774 346,146 2,022 741,369 2,236 833,248 8,392,753o 9,933,442o- 1870 187 6,862 868,564 316,836 1,858 689,820 2,066 771,942 7,757,281a 7,990,038a 1871 190 6,827 898,784 316,340 1,891 706,019 2,123 794,460 9,609,50 Sa ll,245,032a ! a Inclusive of the Traffic Overland. Principal manufactures are: Iron works, flour, steam saw, sugar, bone, cloth and paper mills ; leather, oil, and tobacco factories ; ship-building (iron and wood), smelting and chemical works. Tonnage of ships built in the Colony, 76,700, and of shipping now owned in the Colony, 75,224 tons. Kerosene shale produced, 1871, 14,700 tons ; stated value, 34,050. Copper produced in 1871668 tons ; stated value, 47,275 Tin exported 1872 : Ingot 91 tons 18 cwt. ; hrahip. 1 2.G-.23 : oro, 1,031 tons 12 cwt. ; value, 75.!i-V>. Total quantity received from the mines at Sydney in 1872, 1,730 tons 1 cwt. ; value, 123,274. Coal raised from Now South Wales mines to end of 1871, was 9,816,093 tons, of which 6,885,493 tons valued at 3,700,223. NEW SOUTH WALES. 109 STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES 1851 TO 1871. Year. Telegrams Postal. Money Orders. Revenue (including Loans). Expendi- ture (in- cluding Loans). Letters. News- papers. rackets, &c. Number. Amount. 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1850 1857 1858 1S59 1860 1861 1862 1863 975,313 1,117,777 1,587,407 1,837,591 2,114,179 2,368,938 2,002,919 3,483,209 3,977,8.20 4,230,761 4,369,463 5,092,545 5,662,839 762,487 1,023,678 1,515,580 1,919,192 2,100,989 2,081,347 2,214,411 2,808,140 3,168,299 3,668,783 3,384,245 3,460,936 4,554,739 & 486,698 682,137 987,477 1,239,147 1,660,710 1,986,553 1,531,137 1,456,451 2,339,490 1,880,508 1,843,067 2,273,170 2,199,163 444,108 600,322 682,621 1,136,569 1,675,024 1,835,13-- 1,543,328 1,570,560 1,858,166 2,047,955 1,973,229 2,135,518 . 2,602,094 9,141 36,867 53,951 74,204 104,000 l-:-i,638 68,564 70,945 83,736 105,338 170,782 276,814 11,478 53,861 1864 130,500 5,963,562 4,600,077 287,540 21,912 105,899 1,984,775 2,326,901 1865 138,785 6,323,353 4,689,858 249,904 28,469 130,747 2,237,234 2,314,794 1866 143,523 6,678,371 4,513,185 249,939 43, 90S 196,071 3,253,179 3,012,571 1867 130,447 6,748,356 3,897,905 189,297 60,846 240,062 2,569,456 2,935,633 1868 132,872 6,555,890 3,580,332 116,987 56,492 247,488 4,093,812 3,286,839 1869 145,370 7,143,638 3,593,553 158,034 66,062 288,476 3,663,509 3,265,805 1870 173,812 7,083,500 3,814,700 157,700 65,743 289,325 2,575,309 3,298,353 1S71 215,530 7,509,500 3,992,100 158,300 69,750 293,370 4,709,010 4,179,840 Money deposited in the Banks, 1872. 10,411,16?. Railways: Cost, 6,653,413; miles opened, 396J ; extensions projected, 283 miles. Telegraphs : cost, 212,255; miles opened in 1872, 6,114. Roads : 10,000 miles ; number of miles travelled by postal conveyances, 1872, 3,253,888. Public works : Amount voted by Parliament out of current revenue for, in 1872, &i2,S56. '**-< A / 110 2STEW SOUTH WALES. STATISTICS OF NEW SOUTH WALES 1851 TO 1871. EXPORTS, THE PRODUCE OP THB COLOS?. Tear. WooL Hides & Leather Tallow. Gold.* Coal. Timber. Quantity. Value. Value. Value. Quantity. Value. Quantity. Value. Value. 1851 1852 1853 Ibs. 15,269,317 11,086,974 16,358,869 828,342 676,815 999,896 114,168 146,811 134,708 144,120 818,751 548,052 468,336 2,660,946 1,781,172 tons 28,470 24,794 51,501 12,027 109,951 81,078 17,462 17,330 82,217 41,159 1854 18,976,300 1,181,956 44,936 164,256 237,910 773,209 59,297 101,752 62^65 1855 17,671,684 1,078,017 42,782 123,255 64,384 209,250 61,484 58,893 44,777 1856 19,200,341 1,303,070 64,638 137,202 42,463 138,007 84,086 65,730 42,333 1857 17,044,201 1,275,067 122,653 82,134 253,564 983,850 96,457 45,960 48,734 1S58 13,553,835 1,126,486 61,844 53,186 254,907 994,960 113,649 89,200 36,645 1859 16,988,016 1,458,005 98,542 37,275 435,9% 1,696,078 173,935 132,984 47,154 1860 12,809,362 1,123,699 90,554 28,794 483,012 1,876,049 233,877 183,761 28,186 1861 12,745,891 1,396,426- ' 100,459 60,81 488,293 1,890,908 207,780 160,965 19,554 1862 13,482,139 1,283,818 105,456- 104,030 699,566 2,715,037 308,782 245,423 25,318 1863 14,791,849 1,262,274 119,004 31,221 605,722 2,361,949 296,038 220,181 42,190 1864 >2S,827,917o 2,294,6150 129,122 100,654 758,109 2,952,471 372,466 212,488 37,772 1865 29,858,791a 2,283,5600. 98,110 122TO. 2,521 2,647,668 382,968 214,158 36,105 18C6 36,980,6S5o 2,830,3480 113,045 51,626 751,700 2,924,801 540,905 300,588 25,315 186T 21,708,902 . 1,711^22-- 105,487 63,648 660,619 2,586,044 473,357 253,259 17,541 1868 25,721,632 1,879,751 105,995 144,377 487,600 1,896,929 548,036 292,201 12,707 1869 51,2G9,672o 3,762,5220 113,922 167,538 641,06ft 2^80,145 595,553 298,195 23,159 1870 47,440,61 Oa 2,741,1410 120,971 223,787! 410,547 1,586,736 5T8,389 267,681 22,037 1871 65,611,9530 4,748,1600 177,262 245,727' 535,492. 2,074,937 565,429 256,690 28,455 a Includes traffic overland. * Includes gold from other Colonies minted a* Sydney. Vatoe of gold, exported from New South Wales, to 3l3t December, 1872, 40,095,823. Approximate area of proclaimed Gold Fields, 13,656 square miles. Preserved and salted meat exported in 1871, the produce of the Colony, was valued at 133^66. Value of pastoral exports, 1871, 8,598,633. Total pastoral exports, seaward, from New South Wales, to 31st December, 1871, Wool, 733,248.693 Ibs., value, 50.388,813; tallow, 2,130,175 cwt.. value, 3,305,589. Value of oil exported, 2,801,600. NEW SOUTH WALES : THE OLDEST AXD RICHEST OF THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES. EXTRACTS FROM THE NEWSPAPERS. From Speech of His Excellency SIR HERCULES ROBINSON, atBathurst, 6 March, 1573. I know of no sight more calculated to impress an Englishman with feelings of pride and thankfulness than to travel through a great new Country like this, and to see on all sides the evidence which it affords of industrial progress and social improvement, to see scattered everywhere thriving bustling townships and home- steads, where, but a few years since, there was only the wigwam of the savage, to see lands, which, within the memory of the present generation, were unpro- ductive swamps and primeval forests, covered with flocks and herds and corn, and administering to the wants and contributing to the happiness of hundreds of thousands of the human race, and above all to see the land inhabited by thriving communities of citizens, who are striving to attain a high moral standard, who are enjoying to the utmost degree constitutional liberty, and who are proving by their loyalty and good order how well they appreciate its blessings. 1 say that a sight such as this always makes me feel proud of the genius of my countrymen for colonization, and justifies me in looking forward with confidence to the future of this great Country. The resources of the land are boundless, and thousands upon thousands of working men who are often suffering in the Old Country from want or insufficient means would here find an easy and comfortable subsistence. From Sptech of His Excellency SIR HERCULES ROBINSON, at Orange, loMarch, 1873. I can assure you that I have enjoyed my visit intensely to this beautiful and interesting district, which possesses such an unrivalled climate, and which is so rich in mineral and agricultural resources. It was at Ophir, in this neighbourhood, about twenty years ago, that gold was first discovered in Australia. Since then, silver, copper, lead, tin, and iron have all been found in this district, and there are abundant indications that this neighbourhood is as rich in mineral wealth as any part of the Colony. The land about Orange is capable of growing as fine wheat crops as any in the World ; and I am glad to learn that the average produce per acre of the harvest which has been just reaped is over 25 bushels, whilst in some instances the yield has reached 35 and 40 bushels per acre. The district produces also fine crops of oats, barley, maize, pease, vetches, potatoes, and beet-root, whilst the show of all descriptions of English fruit and vegetables, which I have myself seen in the gardens of the neighbourhood, could not be surpassed by the produce of the richest market gardens in the Old Country. As far as it is possible to forecast the future, there appear to be years of great prosperity in store for New South Wales. The policy which is being pursued by the Government is, I venture to pronounce, a wise and far-seeing one. It is their desire to free industry, to facilitate and cheapen the means of communication, to offer easy terms for the acquisition of land, and to frame regulations for the encouragement and the development of the marvellous mineral resources of the Country. The Colony also possesses many great and remarkable natural advantages. Its central position, vast area, rich resources, magnificent harbour, with coal .and iron close to navigable waters, all point it out as the first of Australian Colonies, and eventually as the head-quarters of Austra- lian Confederation. From Speechof HisExceUencySiRHERCVLtsRoBixsoH, at Hill End, 13 March, Ever since my arrived in New South Wales I have heard of the marvellous wealth of your golden mountain, and have felt a strong desire to inspect the place for myself; but I may say that the picture which my fancy had painted fell far short of the reality which I have witnessed since my arrival here. I had seen a photograph of your main street, taken about eighteen months ago, with a bullock team dragging a waggon out of a swamp opposite the door of this hotel. I had heard also that, a couple of years ago, the place consisted only of a few hovels ; and judging too, by the condition of the approach, I certainly did not expect to find much of a settlement at the end of it. But to my surprise, I found a large well laid out town, with straight streets and well built stores and business premises, four churches and parsonages, three tanks, two newspapers, a public school, and a hospital ; and in short, an appearance on all sides of comfort and stability and importance which would have been creditable in a city of fifty years' standing. As regards the population, I thought that perhaps I might have been met by a few hundreds of rough but enthusiastic miners ; but to my astonishment, I was received ai the entrance to the town by about three thousand well-dressed, orderly, and intelligent- looking men and women, accompanied by five hundred of as beautiful children as ever I saw in my life, and the whole procession headed by the members of the various Societies of Freemasons, Oddfellows, and Temperance Unions ; whilst the w.hole body appeared to me to be animated by a feeling of enthusiastic loyalty which convinced me that, although oceans separate you from the Old Country, your hearts are British still, and that you retain in your distant isolated mountain home of Tambaroora those feelings of personal devotion to the Queen, respect for con- stituted authority, and love of law and order, which form the marked characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon race. Having had an opportunity of inspecting to-day most of your principal mines, I must say that it gave me great pleasure to find that they were all being worked in an honest, open, and straightforward manner, in the interest of their shareholders, and not with any reference to the manoeuvres of the bulls and the bears of the Sydney Stock Exchange. 1 was much amused a few weeks since, in Sydney, to hear one morning that the city was much depressed, as Kroh- rnann's had only declared a dividend of 1 2s. 6d. Now, considering that this dividend was 6zi per cent, upon the original capital, and considering also that the mine had yielded a few months before 2os. 6d., making a total cash return in about nine months of 165 per cent, on the capital, I confess I could not see any.geat cause for depression. Fi'otn Speech of Hon. J. G. Francis, Chief Secretary and Premier qf Victoria. Lithgow V alley, 2$th January, 1873. The present company are met to inspect and admire one of the grandest feats which civilization has accomplished. 1 will not limit my expression to "south of the line," in speaking of a public work in which so much enterprise, professional skill and public spirit, have been crowned with success. The initiation of such a work as this must have seemed impossible to all but the greatest adepts in skill and science ; and, to the Colony of New South Wales, that has had the pluck, the courage, and the means to encourage such science, honor is due. The work is not only great, but it is unmistakeably grand to see Nature in its magnificence so subdued and utilized. 1 do not hesitate to say that until now I had no adequate I'dea of the grandeur of your public works, and I admit that every time I visk Port Jackson I have a growing wish that I could tow it away to Port Phillip. From Speech of Sir Henry Ayers, Chief Secretary and Premier of South Australia. Lithgnw yalley, 2s,th January, 1873. Like Mr. Francis, 1 have had some experience of the kindness and hospitality. of the^nhabitants of New South Wales, for like him I have had an opportunity of visiting this Colony once before, and I left it on that occasion with the impression that it was a most beautiful place, and that its people were kind and hospitable to a degr.ee. Twelve years have passed away since then. I have in the interval had 3 an opportunity of visiting Europe and seeing a considerable part of the World, and I return to find that my admiration of New South Wales was not equal to that which it deserves, and to find that the people are quite as kind and hospitable now as they were then. I have spent upwards of thirty-three years of my life in South Australia, and 1 am wedded to it by ties of great interest, and I will say patriotism. If, however, I were not a South Australian, Ishould like to be a New South Welshman. From Speech of the Hon. F. M. Innes, Treasurer and Premier of Tasmania. Sydney* February, 1873. I did not require to tread upon these shores the other day for the first time to learn what the institutions of the Colony are, or what is the provision made by the Legislature for education and benevolent purposes in New South Wales. I did not require to be carried rapidly the other day along the railway, and to be brought face to face with Nature in some of its wildest forms, and to recognize there the mastery of your energy, enterprise, and resource. I knew what you had accom- plished ; but still I say that, for the complete success of the political institutions which have been transplanted to these new lands, we must look to the discipline of the people and the experience of the future. No one who has cast even a glance over this Colony, as I have been able to do, can doubt that great prosperity awaits this land, not only from the magnitude of its material resources, but from that spirit of enterprise which sees no difficulties, which so largely animates its people. From Speech of Hon. E. Langton, Treasurer, Victoria. Sydney, 6 February, 1873. Many years before I came to this part of the World, I read charming descrip- tions of the scenery in ihe neighbourhood of Sydney. Having seen it, I have no hesitation in saying that I believe there is no spot on this planet so beautiful. I rejoice with you in the beauty of your landscapes, and in the great commercial advantages which you possess. From Speech of Hon. W. H. Reynolds, Commissioner of Trade and Customs, New Zealand, Sydney, 6 February, 1873. The population of New Zealand is comparatively small, but before five years it will exceed that of Victoria. I will not say that it will exceed that of New South Wales, because I have very great faith in the prosperity of this Colony, and I believe that New South Wales and Queensland will take the lead in the Australian Group, and that New Zealand will rank third, From Speech of the Hon. J. M. Thompson, Minister for Lands, Queensland. 15 February, 1873. I shall always entertain a loyal feeling towards this Country, in which I was born ; and I am more than pleased with the evidences of prosperity I see on every hand in this Colony of New South Wales. Not only are fortunes made, but, as the Premier of New Zealand has said, the people themselves appear to be in such prosperous circumstances, that the problem of the day will soon be what to do with the accumulation of riches. From Speech of the Hon. Henry Parkes, Chief Secretary and Premier of New South Walet. 15 February, 1873. We entertain an ardent desire that only one feeling should prevail in these great communities, and that is, a feeling of attachment to the Parent State, and a friendly desire to assist each other in the race of progress. It has been said by one of those voices which influence the progress of great communities, that " emulation has a thousand sons" ; and I rejoice to see that, in this hemisphere, emulation has at least seven daughters. I rejoice in the free, vigorous, bold spirit of emulation which exists amongst these free communities springing from the Parent State. I trust that this legitimate emulation will never be narrowed by any unworthy feeling ; that while we strive side by side, each doing his best to carve for himself the highest mark in the race of progress, we shall still remember that we are children of the same Parent State, that we inherit the same glories of that great Country which has been the pioneer of freedom all over the World, and that our destiny is one of common importance and distinction. The people of New South Wales have no cause to envy the progress of any one of the Colonies. We feel conscious that we have within our own bounds all the elements of national greatness ; and while we wish them God-speed in their respective courses of progress, we feel at liberty to tell them that we shall endeavour yet to assert our position as the leader of them all. We feel that our resources justify the hopes we entertain, that the resources of our intellect, our settled population, our accumulated wealth, and our public spirit, will enable us to accomplish all to which we aspire. From the " Maryborough Advertiser," March, 1873. When Mr. Parkes, at the picnic which he gave to the Members of the Intercolo- nial Conference during their stay in Sydney, declared that the Colony of New South Wales intended to resume and maintain the lead among her sisters, he seems to have " spoken by the card." He has a scheme of policy already prepared which, if he can only obtain the concurrence of the Legislature in its adoption, will undoubtedly enable the neighbouring Colony to secure that pre-eminence which she is so anxious to obtain. A telegram from Sydney, which was published on Monday last, announces that the first business of the ensuing Session of the New South Wales Parliament will be the introduction of a Bill to revise the tariff, including the entire abolition of the ad valorem duties. Capital and enterprise naturally gravitate towards those Countries in which there is cheap coal, cheap iron, cheap living, and cheap raw material. If our neighbours in New South Wales establish free trade, and are content to raise their Customs revenue as Great Britain does, from about a dozen articles, such as tea, sugar, coffee, brandy, wine, "and. tobacco, Sydney will be the cheapest place in Australia to live. Cheap living implies a cheap labour; and with cheap labour, in addition to abundance of coal and iron, and a noble harbour, splendid docks, and a railway system facilitating the distribution of commodities to all parts of the Colony, the capital of New South Wales may not improperly aspire to take the lead both in manufactures and commerce. When Mr. Parkes spoke of the future of New South Wales (observes " ^Egles," in the Australasian of March 24, 1873), and of her outstripping Victoria in material prosperity, he was not so far out of his reckoning as some unthinking people imagined. New South Wales has a greater extent of territory, is richer in minerals generally, has longer and cheaper railways, and possesses magnificent coal measures. Isn't there significance in the fact that the debentures of New South Wales, which were far below those of Victoria in market value, now stand level With ours ? Without a Victorian coal field, I will back Mr. Parkes in his forecast of our being ultimately passed in the race by New South Wales. We claim for Melbourne the honor of being the terminus of a mail line, and we haven't a pound of Victorian coal to sell to the steamers. From the " Sydney Morning Herald" On Thursday, 2Oth March, 1873, His Excellency the Governor and Lady Robinson, accompanied by the Colonial Secretary (the Honorable Henry Parkes), visited Mr. F. L. Edwards's store, to inspect the splendid specimens from Kroh- mann's mine which he is about to take to England. These specimens, numbering some half a dozen, weigh about 56 Ibs., and appear to contain more gold than quartz. They are not merely flecked with the precious metal, but have threads of it of various thicknesses running right through. One lump has on its side a small piece cracked all round in such a way as to induce the belief that it could be easily separated from the larger mass. We saw an attempt of this kind made, yet such was the strength of its golden attachments that it could not be moved. Mr. Edwards, who leaves by the mail steamer on Tuesday, intends exhibiting them at the London Exhibition and elsewhere, in order to convince our English friends that the reputation which Hawkins Hill has obtained is based on something more than mere rumour. They are magnificent proofs that New South Wales contains the richest gold mines in the World ; and, if a prize is offered for specimen* of auriferous quarts, the judges will have little difficulty in making their award. ADYEETISEMENTS. VICTORIA INSURANCE COMPANIES. EIRE AND MARINE, LIFE AND GUARANTEE. United Capital 2,200,000. Established, 1849. LOCAL DIBECTOBS: George Thorne, Esq., | J. de V. Lamb, Esq. Fire Department : The premiums are the lowest that can be accepted witbj safety to the Insured and the Company. Marine Risks at lowest current rates. Fidelity Guarantee Policies issued at lowest current rates, with periodical reductions, to Government and Bank Officials and others holding situations of trust. Private Sureties can obtain Indemnity Policies from this Company, securing themselves against loss arising through the dishonesty of the person for whom they have become surety. Life Assurance, Endowment, or Annuity Policies granted at low rates of premium. Life Assurance combined with Guarantee secures important reductions in the premium. Forms of Proposal and full particulars upon application to any of the Agenti, or to the Resident Secretary. New South Wales Branch: New Pitt-street, Sydney. FREDK. J. JACKSON, Besident Secretary. AGENTS WANTED. Tlie above Companies are prepared to appoint Private and Public Agents in Country Districts where no such appointments have yet been made. Appli- cations to be addressed to the Resident Secretary. VICTORIA LIFE AND GENERAL INSURANCE COMPANY, NEW PITT-STREET, SYDNEY. Life Insurances effected on most favourable terms, and when combined' with fidelity guarantees, at very reduced rates. Fidelity Guarantee Policies issued to all Departments of the Govern- ment Service. FREDK. J. JACKSON, Resident Secretary. ADVERTISEMENTS. COLONIAL SUGAR REFINING COMPANY, Established 1855, for the Manufacture of Raw and Refined Sugars, and the Distillation of Spirits, &c. OFFICES: 24, BRIDGE-STREET, SYDNEY, N.S.W. Directors : Edward Knox, Esq., Chairman. ; Thomas Buckland, Esq. (Messrs. D. Cooper & Co.) : Fred. C. Griffiths, Esq. (Messrs. Fanning, Griffiths, & Co.); "Walter Lamb, Esq. J.P.; Alfred Stanger Leathes, Esq. (Liverpool, London, and Globe Insurance Company.) General Manager : J. Grafton Boss. STJG--A-H MILLS. Edward "William Knox, Inspector. Name of Mill Capacity per Season. Locality. Manage^. Chatsworth Harwood 2,500 tons Sugar 2,500 do Clarence River Do. W/A.;Poolman C. "W. Stephens Southgate 2,000 do Do. E. W. S. Hayley. SUGAR REFINERY: Parramatta-street, Sydney. DISTILLERIES : Parramatta-street, Sj-dney. Harwood Island, Clarence River. AGENTS IN LONDON : Messrs. F. Parbury & Co., 7, East India Avenue. BANKERS : Oriental Bank Corporation. ADVEETISEMEXTS. BULL! COAL-MINING COMPANY, (Incorporated, 1862.} Capital, 37,000 ; Amount paid up, 36,465. Directors : G. Wigram Alien, Esq., M.L.A., Chairman ; The Honorable George AUen, Esq., M.L.C. ; A. H. C. Macafee, Esq.; Edwin T. Beilby, Esq. ; and R. G. Beading, Esq. Manager: James Shoobert. Offices : 1 and 3, Exchange, Sydney, N.S.W. APAHT from their extensive local and intercolonial trade, this Company executes orders for delivery of Coal at San Francisco, Java, Mauritius, or any of the Ports of India and China ; and having a line of their own screw steam Colliers running from their Mines at Bulli, N.S.W. (about 40 miles south of the Port of Sydney), can ensure the loading of vessels with great despatch. , COPY of Report (dated March 23rd, 1872), of Koyal School of Mines, London, on Bulli Coal. I herewith forward the result of the examination of the Bulli Coal from New South Wales : COMPOSITION. PEE CEST. Carbon 75'57 Hydrogen 4'70 Oxygen and Nitrogen 4'99 Sulphur . 0-54, Ash 13-17 Water 1-03 100-00 The colour of the ash is reddish white. Specific gravity 1'471 When the portion of the powdered Coal is heated in a closed vessel, the gases evolved burn with a yellow luminous somewhat smoky flame, and a slightly lustrous coherent Coke is left, which differs little in bulk from the original Coal. The percentage results obtained are as follows : Coke ,... 74-78 Volatile Gaseous matters 24-19 Water T03 100-00 The theoretical calorific or evaporative power, that is, the weight of water converted into steam by 1 Ib. of the Coal, as determined by experiment with the calorimeter, is 12'21 Ibs. A second experiment gave a like result. The actual evaporative power of a fuel as found in practice differs from th theoretical, and varies with the construction of the furnace, form of boiler, mode of burning, and other obvious circumstances. I am, gentlemen, for DB. PEBCT, Yours faithfully, RICHARD SMITH. ADYEETISEMENTS. TANNEES, CURRIERS, Ctraraeitor AND MANUFACTURERS OP All DESCRIPTIONS OP Saddlery, Harness, Mill-Bands, MEN'S WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S PEGGED AND RIVETED BOOTS AND BOOT TJIPIFIE J3,S MERCHANTS & IMPORTERS OF SADDLERS 1 IRONMONGERY, GRINDERY & ELASTIC WEBBING ALL KINDS OF FANCY LEATHERS. WHOLESALE WAKEHOUSE : 221, ELIZABETH STREET, SYDNEY. TANNEST & MANUFACTORY: BOURKE STREET, SURRY HILLS. FELLMONGEEY ESTABLISHMENT . WATERLOO. ADTERTISEMEKT9. AUSTRALIAN BREADSTUFFS, THE undersigned are desirous of notifying to Grain Merchants and Flour Factors in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, that they devote special attention to, and have the largest Commission business in this Colony in the sale and purchase of Wheat and Flour. Sydney is the chief depot in the Australasian Colonies for the surplus pro- ductions of Wheat and Flour in the surrounding Colonies of South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, and New Zealand ; and the undersigned are Agents for most of the leading Millers and Shippers engaged in this trade at the prin- cipal ports, and are in receipt of continuous supplies. They have the experience of many years in executing Foreign Commissions, and, in their capacity of Agents, charter and load vessels direct from any of the grain- producing Colonies, or forward any quantities desired by the regular lines of ships trading to London and elsewhere. No charge is made for chartering vessel^ or engaging freight. The usual Mercantile Commission of 2\ per cent, covers execution of orders accompanied by Letters of Credit. Drafts under which at sixty days sight against shipping documents can be negotiated at from par to 1 per cent, premium. Insurances (free of particular average) range from 25s. to 30s. per cent., according to ports of loading and discharge. WHEAT Is snipped in the usual Dundee sacks, containing about 4 bushels. Cost of sacks extra. FLOUR Is shipped in same kind of sacks of 200 Ibs. net. Cost of sacks included in price. The superior quality of Australian Grain and Flour is now so universally known and understood in the United Kingdom, India, China, the Cape, Mauritius, Port de France, and many other parts of the world, that any further description is unnecessary. BANKERS : Oriental Bank Corporation, and we should consequently prefer their Credits or references. AGENTS IN LONDON : Messrs. Johnson and Archer, No. 2, Lawrence Pountney Hill, Cannon-street. EDWIN THOMAS BEILBY, WALTER SCOTT, Trading as BEILBY & SCOTT, General Commission Merchants and Agent", 123, Pitt-street, Sydney. ADVERTISEMENTS. AUSTRALIAN MERCANTILE X, SHIPPING AGENCY. THE undersigned tender their Services for any matters pertaining to a GENEBAL COSIMISSION AGENCY BUSINESS to which they devote their Special Attention, and can offer their constituents the advantage of over thirty years Commercial experience in this City. EDWIN THOMAS BEILBY, 7 ^TT T> V . WALTER SCOTT, ^V&LLUI & &LU 123, Pitt-street, North, Sydney. Bankers : Oriental Bank Corporation. ' London Agents : Johnson & Archer, No. 2, Laurence, Pountney Hill, Cannon-street. GRETA COAL AND SHALE MINE, POET OF NEWCASTLE, NEW SOUTH WALES. THE undersigned invite the special attention of Foreign Gas Companies and Steam Proprietors to the produce of this Mine being of the highest quality for Gas, Steaming, and Household purposes, and is shipped from Newcastle at a small advance on the price of the ordinary Shipping Coal. Direct orders for Charters and Cargoes are executed by the undersigned free of Commission, the Mine being their own property. 123, Pitt-street, Sydney. BELLBY & SCOTT. EDWIN THOMAS BEILBT, WALTER SCOTT, AKD EDWAED EOW, Trading under the firm and style of EDWARD ROW I COMPANY, "Wholesale Importing Chemists and Druggists. Exporters of Crude Minerals and Chemicals. Contractors to the Government of New South Wales. Agents for the Principal Patent Medicines and Medicinal Manufacturers of Europe and America. 219, PITT-STEEET, SYDNEY. ADVEETISEMEXTS. COMMERCIAL BANKING COMPANY OF SYDNEY, (Incorporated by Act of Council, 1848.) CAPITAL, 400,000. RESERVE FUND, 170,000. Directors : Richard Jones, Esq., Chairman ; Walter Lamb, Esq., Deputy Chairman ; Edward Knox, Esq. ; John Brewster, Esq. ; F. H. Dangar, Esq. ; T. A. Dibbs, Esq., Manager. Auditors : Charles Smith, Esq., and E. M. Stephen, Esq. Solicitors : Messrs. Want and Johnson. Head Office George-street, Sydney. T. A. Dibbs, Manager ; F. N. Burt, Acting Manager ; T. B. Gaden, Branch Inspector with Branches at Haymarket, George-street South ; and South Head Road. London Office 39, Lombard-street, E.G. Directors : J. A. Youl, Esq. ; H. G. Smith, Esq. ; and Charles Parbury, Esq. Manager : Nathaniel Cork. Branches in New South Wales : Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Bega, Berrima, Bombala, Bourke, Burrangong, Carcoar, Casino, Cooma, Dubbo, Goulburn, Hill End, Inverell, Kempsey, Kiama, Maitland, Milton, Morpeth, Murrurundi, Muswellbrook, Narrabri, Newcastle, Orange, Parramatta, Queanbeyan, Shoalhaven, Singleton, Tambaroora, Tamworth, Wollongong, Yass. And at Brisbane : Bundaberg, Dalby, Gayndah, Maryborough, and Mackay, in Queensland. With the following AGENCIES IN THE COLONIES :- VICTOBIA : The Bank of Victoria, National Bank of Australasia, and Colonial Bank of Australasia. SOUTH AUSTBALIA : The Bank of South Australia, the National Bank of Australasia, and the Bank of Adelaide. WEST ACSTBALIA : National Bank of Australasia. TASMANIA : The Bank of Van Diemen's Laud. NEW ZEALAND : The Bank of New Zealand. IN GREAT BRITAIN, &c. : LONDON : The London and Westminster Bank, and the London and County Bank. LIVERPOOL: The Liverpool Union Bank. MANCHESTER : The Manchester and Salford Bank. IBELAND : The Belfast Banking Company, and the National Bank. SCOTLAND : The Commercial Bank of Scotland. SAN FBANCISCO : Messrs. Macoudray & Co., and the Bank of British Columbia. VALPABAISO : Banco Nacional de Chile. NEW YOBK : Messrs. Drexel, Morgan, & Co. INDIA, CHINA, CEYLON, AND SINOAPOBE: The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London, and China. HONOLULU : Messrs. Bishop & Co. The Bank discount bills, grant cash credits, make advances on approved security, allow interest upon fixed deposits, issue drafts or letters of credit, and negotiate or collect bills payable at any of the above-named places or elsewhere, at current rates ; collect dividends on shares in public Companies, and interest on debentures ; act for their customers in the investment of money in securities in Great Britain or in the Colonies ; and are prepared to undertake the agency of Banks on such terms as may be mutually agreed upon. ADYEETISEMENTS. THE AUSTRALIAN JOINT STOCK MM, (Incorporated by Act of Council, 1853.) PAID-UP CAPITAL, 484,656, with power to increase to 1,000,000. Directors : J. S. Mitchell, Esq., Chairman ; William Moffitt, Esq. ; Edward Lord, Esq. ; John Frazer, Esq. ; Robert Saddington, Esq. ; Alexander Learmonth, Esq. Auditors : T. B. Roh'n, Esq. ; J. G. Raphael, Esq. Solicitors : Messrs. M'Carthy and Robertson. HEAD OFFICE, SYDNEY. Vincent Wanostrocht Giblin, General Manager. Edward Griffiths, Accountant. LONDON OFFICE. Directors : James Henderson, Esq. ; Paul Frederick Morgan, Esq. ; William Mort, Esq. John Christie, Manager. BRANCHES. BBANCHES IN NEW SOUTH WALES. Francis Adams, Branch Inspector. Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Braidwood, Currajong, Deniliquin, Forbes, Gulgong, Goulburn, Grafton, Grenfell, Hay, Hill End, Mudgee, Newcastle, Singleton, Solferino, Tambaroora, Taree, Tenterfield, Wagga Wagga, Wentworth, West Maitknd, Yass. BRANCHES IN QUEENSLAND. H. P. Abbott, Branch Inspector. Brisbane, Bowen, Clermont, Copperfield, Gladstone, Gympie, Ipswich, Mackay, Maryborough, Milchester, (Charters Towers), Ravenswood, Rock- hampton, Stanthorpe, Toowoomba, Townsville, Warwick. The Agents for the Bank in the Colonies are : For Victoria The Bank of Victoria. The English, Scottish, and Australian Char- tered Bank. ,, The National Bank of Australasia. For Tasmania The Bank of Van Diemen's Land. For South Australia The Bank of South Australia. The National Bank of Australasia. For New Zealand The Bank of New Zealand. The Bank of Otago (Limited), Dunedin. FOE GEEAT BEITAIN AND IEELAND : London The Australian Joint Stock Bank, 18, King William-street, E.G. London Bankers, and Agents for England generally The National Provincial Bank of England. Edinburgh and Scotland generally The Royal Bank of Scotland. Dublin and Ireland generally The Provincial Bank of Ireland. FOE NEW YOEK AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMEEICA : Messrs. Brown, Brothers and Co. FOE SAN FEANCISCO : Agency of the Bank of British North America. The Bank grants drafts and credits on all its Agents and Branches at current rates ; negotiates produce bills with documents ; discounts commer- cial paper ; collects dividends on local stock for its customers, free of com- mission ; and is open to transact every kind of banking business and agency. ADTEBTISEMZ3TS. THE CITY BANK, SYDNEY. PAID-UP CAPITAL, 240,000, with power to increase to 500,000. DIRBCTOM : S. A. Joseph, Esq., Chairman ; M. Alexander, Esq. ; W. Forster, Esq., M.L.A. ; John Alger, Esq. ; James Watson, Esq., M.L.C. AUDITORS : E. Wrench, Esq. ; Hon. John Blaxland, Esq., M.L.C. MANAGER : William Neill. SICRETARY : Edmund Rouse. ACOOUSTAKT : William Woolley. | SOLICITOR : W. W. Billyard, Esq. London The London Jomt Stock Bank. Agents: Victoria The National Bank of Australasia. South Australia -Ditto ditto. Western Australia Ditto ditto. Tasmania The Bank of Tan IMemeu's Land. New Zealand The Bank of New Zealand. New Caledonia Compagnie de la Nouvelle CaUJdonie. This Bank adopts and transacts all usual banking business with either of the places above mentioned. Scotland The Commercial Bank of Scotland. Ban Francisco The Bank of California. New York Messrs. Lees and Waller, Bankers. Hongkong The Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China. Queensland The Queensland National Bank. The following Publications may be obtained at ihe Government Printing Office, Sydney, THE INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS OF NEW SOUTH WALES, COIfTAIWIKa A COLOURED MAP OP THE COLONY, Showing the localities of the various Mining, Agricultural, and Pastoral Industries ; the Gold Fields, Vine-growing Districts, and Coal Deposits, &c. This Work embraces a general view of the progress of the Colony, during its first centenary C'od, in Arts, Manufactures, Agricultural, Pastoral, and Mineral pursuits ; together with a ort of the Intercolonial Exhibition held at Sydney in the year 1870, and a Catalogue of the Exhibits, and Judges' Awards, as well as separate and Original .Papers oa the Sedimentary Forma- tions of New South Wales, Mineralogy, Indigenous Woods, Orange Cultivation, Natural History, and other equally interesting subjects. The Book contains nearly 800 pages, royal 8vo. Price, in boards, 5*. ; cloth, 10s. THE PUBLIC STATUTES OP NEW SOUTH WALES, From 7 Geo. IV to 25 Victoria. In 4 vols., cloth bound. Price 3. The subsequent Acts, from 26 to 34-5 Victoria inclusive, collected, quarter-bound, and lettered on edge to distinguish Sessional Parts. Price 2 6s. The New South Wales Parliamentary Hand-book. Price 2s. 6d. - Crown Lands Acts of 1861, and Regulations thereunder (Eighth Edition). Price Id. 6d. The Gold Fields Act of 1866, and Regulations of 24th September, 1869, to 25th AugUlt, 1871, inclusive. Price, Is. THE MAMMALS OP AUSTRALIA, Illustrated by Miss HARRIETT SCOTT and MRS. HELENA FORDE, for the Council of Education. With a short account of all the Species hitherto described, by GE&ARD K&frrr, l'.L.S., Curator and Secretary of the Australian Museum. Price, 12s. 6d. KREFFT'S SNAKES OF AUSTRALIA: A deicriptive Catalogue of all the known species, with a full account of their habits and geographical distribution ; including hints with regard to the treatment of wounds inflicted by venomous Snakes. Illustrated by 12 Plates, on which all the known species arc represented. Plain. 16s. : Coloured, 30s, To be had of all Booksellers. THE FOSSIL FAUNA OF AUSTRALIA, By GIRARD KRKFFT, l'.L.S., with 18 Plates of Illustrations, by Miss HARRIOTT! Scon and MRS. HELENA FORDK. THOMAS EICHABDS, Government Printer. ADVEETISEMESTS. AUSTRALIAN MUTUAL PROVIDENT SOCIETY, ESTABLISHED 1849, FOE LIFE ASSUBANCE ON THE MUTUAL PRINCIPLE. PBINCIPAL OFFICE : 98, NEW PITT-STBEET, SYDNEY. Board of Directors : George King, Esq., Chairman; Professor John Smith, M.D., Deputy Chairman ; Samuel Lyons, Esq. ; Edwin Thos. Beilby, Esq. ; J. H. Goodlet, Esq. ; John Fairfax, Esq. Actuary : Morrice A. Black, Esq., F.I.A. Chief Medical Officer : Sprott Boyd, Esq., M.D., 6, Lyons' Terrace, Hyde Park. VICTORIA BRANCH: HEAD OFFICE : 35, QUEEN-STBEET, MELBOUBNE. NEW ZEALAND BRANCH : HEAD OFFICE : GBEY-STBEET, WELLINGTON. SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BRANCH: HEAD OFFICE : 10, KING WILLIAM-STBEET, ADELAIDE. t Agencies in all the Principal Towns throughout New South "Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania. The Society was Established in 1849, an.1 has now achieved a position of Affluence and Stability unsurpassed in the history of Life Assurance Institutions at Home or Abroad. The Accumulated and Invested Funds now exceed 1,151,100 The Annual Revenue exceeds 282,672 The Last Year's Income was Increased by 42,270 19s. 5d., resulting from the Issue of 2,926 Policies, Assuring 830,904 ; a rate of progress which entitles the Society to rank with the First-class Assurance Institu- tions of the United Kingdom. The Fourth Quinquennial Report, showing the Society's State and Progress, Prospectuses, and Forms of Proposal, may be had, or will be sent, post free, on application to the Principal Office, or any of the Society's Agents. ALEXANDER J. RALSTON, Secretary. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-25i-9,'47(A5618)444 THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OP CALIFOP LOS ANGELES DU 161 R56n **!*> i> SX>j> f - >"">-, . >.- 3H> *" -' * > > >1 > > I i > ^v^- - " *i?s-?^- * * ^ ^5^ > f ^ J i >- ^ " > > l . > -% "> ~> J>1 ^ > ^ J ^ 3^ \ ; >v /_