cent. of the total obtained from goods and passenger traffic. for each colony are given below :—

The figures

The following table gives the different classes of rolling stock in the possession of the several Australasian Governments at the end of the year 1896-7, and, considerable as are the numbers of each class, they could with advantage be largely increased in most of the colonies :——

In Victoria the stock of powerful engines requires augmenting without delay; and at the close of the working year, 355 waggons were under construction. Queensland has a large number of rolling stock under order, as have also New Zealand and Western Australia.

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

The persons meeting with accidents on railway lines may be grouped under three heads-passengers, servants of the railways, and trespassers; and the accidents themselves might be classified into those arising from causes beyond the control of the person injured, and those due to

misconduct or want of caution. The following table shows the number of persons killed and injured on the Government railways during 1896-7 in those colonies for which returns are available :

Colony.

Passengers.

Railway
Employés.

Trespassers, &c.

Total.

Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured.

The railways of Australasia have been as free from accidents of a serious character as the lines of most other countries. In order to obtain a common basis of comparison it is usual to find the proportion which the number of persons killed or injured bears to the total passengers carried. There is, however, no necessary connection between the two, for it is obvious that accidents may occur on lines chiefly devoted to goods traffic, and a more reasonable basis would be the accidents to passengers only compared with the number of passengers carried. The data from which such a comparison could be made are wanting for some countries. As far as the figures can be given they are shown in the following table, which exhibits the number of passengers killed and injured per million carried. The figures are calculated over a series of years and brought down to the latest available dates :

STATE RAILWAYS OF AUSTRALASIA, 1897-8.

The financial results obtained from the administration of the State lines of the colonies during the last financial year are shown in the following table. An analysis of the figures cannot yet be made :

In all the Australasian colonies tramways are in operation, but it is chiefly in Sydney and Melbourne, the inhabitants of which numbered. at the latest date 417,250 and 458,610 respectively, that the density of settlement has necessitated the general adoption of this mode of transit. In New South Wales steam-motors are mostly used, though there are 2 miles of cable tram and 3 miles of electric tram at North Sydney, and another cable-line, 2 miles in length, from King-street, Sydney, to Ocean-street, in the suburb of Woollahra. The length of Government tram-lines open on the 30th June, 1897, was 62 miles, which had cost for construction the sum of £1,452,670. The receipts for the year ended on the same date were £306,695, and the working expenses £248,881, leaving a profit of £57,814, or 3.98 per cent. on the invested capital.

In Victoria the cable system is in operation in the metropolitan area, the lines having been constructed by a municipal trust at a cost of £1,705,794. The tramways are leased to a company, and the receipts for the year ended 31st December, 1897, were £365,981. The number of passengers carried during the year was 36,231,106. In addition to these cable lines, 48 miles in length, there are 5 miles of steam and 4 miles of electric tramway in Victoria. There is no record of the length of horse tramways in the colony.

In Queensland there is a system of horse trams, controlled by a private company, which is now being converted into an electric system. Νο information regarding liabilities is available, but the assets on the 30th

September, 1896, were set down at £131,182. The receipts for the year ended 30th September, 1897, were £30,299, and the expenses, including depreciation, £26,304. The company owned 33 electric and 24 horse cars, and 70 horses. The length of the tramways is 15 miles, or 25 miles of single line.

In South Australia there are no Government tramways, but horse trams are run in the principal streets of Adelaide by private companies. No particulars have been collected respecting the length of these lines, nor of the returns therefrom.

The Western Australian Government owns a line of horse tramway on a 2-ft. gauge between Roeburne and Cossack, a length of 81⁄2 miles, constructed at a cost of £21,767. For the year ended 30th June, 1897, the gross earnings were £3,686, and the working expenses £2,491, leaving the net receipts at £1,195, equal to 5.49 per cent. on the capital cost.

In Tasmania there is an electric tramway, about 9 miles in length, owned by a private company. The cost of construction and equipment was £90,000; the average number of hands employed is 65; and the company possesses 20 cars, of which the average number in use is 12. For the year ended 31st December, 1896, the receipts amounted to £12,052, and the working expenses, excluding directors' fees, to £8,511. The passengers carried during the twelve months numbered 1,219,273.

There are also tramways in existence in New Zealand under private management, but no particulars in regard to them are at present available.

T

POSTS AND TELEGRAPHS.

THE

HE first Australasian post-office was established by Governor Macquarie in the year 1810, Mr. Isaac Nichols being appointed Postmaster. The office was in High-street (now known as George-street), Sydney, at the residence of Mr. Nichols, who was, "in consideration of the trouble and expense attendant upon this duty," allowed to charge on delivery to the addressee 8d. for every English or foreign letter of whatever weight, and for every parcel weighing not more than 20 lb., 1s. 6d., and exceeding that weight, 3s. The charge on Colonial letters was 4d., irrespective of weight; and soldiers' letters, or those addressed to their wives, were charged 1d. Very little improvement in regard to

postal matters took place for some years.

In 1825 an Act was passed by Sir Thomas Brisbane, with the advice of the Council, "to regulate the postage of letters in New South Wales," giving power for the establishment of post-offices, and to fix the rates of postage. It was not, however, until 1828 that the provisions of the Act were put into full force. The rates of postage appear to have depended upon the distance and the difficulty of transmission. The lowest single inland rate was 3d., and the highest 12d., the postage on a letter increasing according to its weight, which was fixed for a single letter at 4-ounce. Letters between New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land were charged 3d. each (ship rate), and newspapers 1d. Other ship letters were charged 4d. single rate, and 6d. for any weight in excess. The privilege of franking was allowed to the Governor and a number of the chief public officials, and letters to and from convicts passed free under certain regulations.

In 1831 a twopenny post was established in Sydney; and in 1835, under Sir Richard Bourke, the Act of 1825 was repealed and another Act was passed, fixing the charge on a single letter at 4d. for 15 miles, 5d. for 20 miles, 6d. for 30 miles, and so on up to 1s. for 300 miles. In 1837 a post-office was established in Melbourne, and a fortnightly mail was established between that city and Sydney. Stamps were introduced in the same year in the shape of stamped covers or envelopes, which are believed to have been the first postage-stamps ever issued. By 1838 there were 40 post-offices in the colony of New South Wales, which at that time, of course, included the territory now known