PRIVATE PROPERTY AND INCOMES.

THE

HE first century of Australasian history closed on the 26th January, 1888, and though it is impossible to trace step by step the progress made during that period, as the data for the purpose are for the most part wanting, sufficient material is available from which a comparative statement of the wealth of the states at different periods may be deduced. In the following figures the private property of the people has alone been considered, the value of the unsold lands of the state, as well as the value of public works, having been omitted. The table shows the value of private property for the whole of Australasia, and the increase thereof at intervals of twenty-five years from the date when this territory was first colonised :—

Though Australasia has but the population of a province of some of the great European powers, in the wealth and earnings of its people it stands before most of the secondary states, and as regards wealth and income per head of population it compares very favourably with any country.

The plan adopted in valuing the elements of private wealth is given in detail in previous issues of this work, and has not been greatly varied on this occasion. Land, houses, and other improvements thereon, represent more than two-thirds of the private wealth. There are now ample data for assessing the value of these, for besides the municipal returns which are available for each state, there are complete land-tax returns for New South Wales, New Zealand, and South Australia. From the information thus to hand, there has been no difficulty in arriving at the value of land separately from its improvements. Estimates of the value of property of all kinds were made with great care for the year 1901; these have since been reviewed, and as there does not appear to have been any change of sufficient consequence to warrant an alteration of the estimates arrived at in the census year, the figures have, therefore, been reproduced in this chapter. For all Australasia, the value of land in private hands is £411,747,000, out of

a total wealth of £1,083,838,000; this represents a proportion of 38 per cent., varying in each state, as follows:

Proportion of Value
of all Property.
39.74 per cent.

40.30

Value of Land.

£142,617,009

112,396,000

35,887,000

The value of land and improvements together amounts to £738,910,000, or 68.18 per cent. of the total value of property. The following is a statement of the values for each state :

56.53 99

The improvements on the lands of the Commonwealth and New Zealand are valued at £327,163,000, which sum represents 79.46 per cent. of the value of land, ranging between 84.45 per cent. in New South Wales and 59.16 per cent. in Tasmania.

Distributing the total value of private property into the ten subdivisions usually adopted in the classification of the elements of private wealth, the following results are arrived at :

The foregoing gives an average of £240 per inhabitant for Australasia, and £243 for the Commonwealth, which figures show a considerable reduction on those of 1890, when the average was not less than £309 per inhabitant. The results fall somewhat short of the truth, inasmuch as they do not take into account property rights, the value of which is not represented by land, buildings, machinery, etc. The case of gas companies may be cited as an example. The total value of the shares of and interests in these companies throughout Australasia is approximately £6,900,000, but in the statement of values of properties given above, the actual property of gas companies appears as value of land, machinery, plant, etc., £4,350,000, no note being taken of value of goodwill and other items which form an appreciable proportion of the value of these works. The actual selling value of the gas undertakings of Australasia is therefore £2,550,000 in excess of the value of their tangible assets, and there are many other cases where a like anomaly exists. For New South Wales it is found that the sum of £18,000,000 might be added to the valuation on this score, and probably a like amount for Victoria, but the data even for these states are imperfect, and it has not been considered desirable to take into consideration an item about which there is any uncertainty.

The distribution of the property amongst the various states is as follows:

:

The foregoing

These figures must be taken with some qualification. table shows the state wherein the property lies, but gives no indication as to the place of residence of the owners. As is well known, residents in Great Britain have very large interests in Australia and New Zealand, and persons residing in one state have large holdings in other states: thus residents of Victoria and South Australia have large investments in New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia, while residents of Victoria and New South Wales are largely interested in Queensland properties. If it were possible to locate the actual ownership of property throughout Australasia it would probably be found that the actual distribution is very different from the apparent distribution as shown above.

The figures available to illustrate the amount of property possessed by persons not living within the state in which their property is situated are by no means complete; indeed details of any kind are obtainable only for New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand.

An analysis of the information gathered by the Stamps Office in Sydney for the purpose of assessing the values of the estates of deceased persons shows that the ownership of the £32,638,705 on which stamp duty was paid during the last seven years was as follows:

Europe, including Great Britain
Victoria

Total.
£

Proportion

per cent.

New South Wales

26,319,141

80.6

Other States of Australia and New

Zealand

It may, therefore, be assumed that 20 per cent. of the property in New South Wales is owned by persons who live outside its boundaries, about 10 per cent. being held in Great Britain and 6 per cent. in Victoria.

In regard to Victoria, there is no direct evidence of ownership available, but the place of residence of the persons who pay income tax affords indirect evidence of great value. During the last five years the incomes of persons paying taxation in respect of incomes derived from property in Victoria were £21,364,000, and of this amount £3,932,500 was enjoyed by persons who resided out of Victoria, This gives about 18 per cent. as the apparent proportion of absentee incomes. The actual proportion, however, is not so great, as incomes of residents of Victoria below £200 a year do not pay tax, while all absentee incomes are liable; making due allowance on this score it will be found that in all probability 16 per cent. of property in Victoria is owned by absentees.

So far as New Zealand is concerned, there is both direct and indirect evidence. In the year 1888 the value of property assessed for property tax was £135,881,176, and of this sum £24,313,706, or 18 per cent., was returned as belonging to persons not residing in the colony. Since then the proportion of property held by absentees has greatly declined; there has of late years been no great import of capital into the colony, while during some years there have been considerable withdrawals. On the other hand, the total value of property has largely increased, so that at the present time the proportion of New Zealand property held by absentees is only about 9 per cent.

The proportion for Queensland and Western Australia is probably greater than in the other states; for South Australia and Tasmania it is probably less. Adopting a reasonable estimate for these states, it may be said that, apart from Government stock held in London, the value of property in Australia belonging to non-residents

of the states in which such property is situated, is not less than £152,000,000, and in New Zealand £15,350,000. In the case of Australia, a considerable portion of this property is held by persons residing in other states than those where the property is situated, an if allowance be made on this account, it will be found that the value of property belonging to other than Australian residents is approximately £110,000,000. The question of the indebtedness of the Australasian states is referred to at length in another part of this chapter, and for further information the reader is referred to page 314.

DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY.

It is a somewhat prevalent practice amongst statisticians to make the valuations for probate purposes the basis of their estimates of the wealth of a country, but no reliance whatever can be placed upon the returns of values of estates assumed for probate purposes, for such returns at best only profess to give the apparent amount of property left by deceased persons, without any allowance for debts. There is, however, some show of reason for using the valuation of estates for stamp-duty purposes. These valuations are far below the values for probate purposes, for while during the twelve years ended with 1902 the probate returns in New South Wales give a total of £66,708,000, the sworn valuation of the very same estates for stamp duty was £52,187,000, or a little more than 78 per cent., and there can hardly be any doubt that all the other states would show similar discrepancies. Much greater reliance could be placed upon estimates depending upon the amount of stamp duty paid, if the ages of the persons dying were taken into consideration; but information on this point is not procurable, except at excessive trouble, and the idea of using the valuations for stamp duty for estimating the amount of wealth in the country cannot, therefore, be resorted to.

The probate returns, however, are not without considerable statistical value, as will presently appear, and the returns for the seven years ended with 1902 are, therefore, given below :—