fourth, with £3 7s. 8d. The high averages of Western Australia and Queensland are due to the gold-mines, while in New South Wales nearly half the year's wealth was contributed by the silver-fields. average per inhabitant for Australasia was £3 4s. 8d. The The following table shows the value of production in each of the colonies during 1896, distinguishing the principal minerals. With regard to some of the colonies the data are defective in respect to "other minerals," but not to such an extent as to seriously affect the gross total. The column "other minerals " includes kerosene shale in New South Wales : : Corresponding figures for the year 1897 are appended : The total mineral production to the end of 1897 is shown in the following table, in which the column "other minerals" again includes kerosene shale : New South Wales Queensland.. South Australia Western Australia. Tasmania New Zealand Australasia 44,488,371 24,108,285 4,351,343 6,246,418 33,049,372 2,710,842 114,954,631 250 167,849 73,467 425,915 23,876,122 369,911 7,280,495 3,673,162 1,276,897 491,876 6,496,680 348,841 10,777 12,298,233 53,372,634 202,724 17,868 6,158,481 213,969 59,965,676 399,381,186 27,215,916 28,536,981 17,946,072 42,265,840 4,172,768 519,518,763 ...... *Exclusive of kauri gum of the value of £8,512,852. Coal was the only mineral raised in New South Wales prior to 1852, and its production up to that date was valued at £279,923. Deducting that amount from the total value of Australasian minerals raised up to the end of 1897, the remainder, £519,238,840, represents the value of mineral production from 1852, equal to an average of £11,287,801 per annum for the forty-six years. AGRICULTURE. TAKEN as a whole, Australasia may be said to be in the first phase of agricultural settlement; indeed, several colonies have not yet emerged from the pastoral stage. Nevertheless the value of agricultural produce, estimated at farm prices, is considerable, and amounts to nearly 50 per cent. of the value of the pastoral and dairy produce. The return from agriculture in each colony for the season 1896-7 was approximately as shown below : From this estimate it would seem that the value of crops per acre cultivated is much larger in Queensland than in the other colonies, a fact which is due to the proportionately large area under sugar-cane. In Tasmania the area devoted to fruit and hops, and the higher returns of cereals, account for the high average per acre which that province shows; while in Western Australia, where the greater part of the produce consumed is imported, prices are higher than in the eastern colonies, and the small area devoted to the plough returns on an average a better price per acre than in the colonies where agriculture has received greater attention. In point of gross value New Zealand occupies the first position among the members of the group, the produce of that province having a value considerably in excess of one-fourth of that of all Australasia. Victoria also produces over one-fourth of the total, and New South Wales nearly one-fourth. The value of the principal crops, and the percentage of each to the total production, are given in the following statement :— The average value of agricultural produce per head of population in each of the Australasian colonies during the season 1896-7 is represented by the figures given below. It will be seen that in the colonies of New Zealand, Tasmania, South Australia, and Victoria the development of agricultural resources has attracted the attention of the colonists to a greater extent than in the other provinces. New South Wales, however, has made a considerable advance in agricultural pursuits during the past two years, and from a position of dependence upon outside sources for a large portion of its wheat supply, has become an exporter of this cereal : Below will be found the value of the agricultural production of the colonies in the years 1871, 1881, and 1891. Comparing these figures with those for 1896-7 given above, it will be seen that while the total production of Australasia is now more than double that of twenty-five As The fall in years ago, the average value per head of population is lower. subsequent tables will show, the great lowering of prices is responsible for this decline, and not want of productiveness. prices was very rapid down to 1895, when the price of wheat became so low as to render cultivation of this cereal unprofitable. Fortunately, the following years witnessed a great improvement in the market quotations, and the result is seen in the larger area sown with wheat in each of the colonies during the last two seasons : Compared with the principal countries of the world, Australasia does not take a high position in regard to the gross value of the produce of its tillage, but in value per inhabitant it compares fairly well; indeed, some of the colonies, such as New Zealand, Tasmania, and South Australia, show averages which surpass those of many of the leading agricultural countries. This may be partly seen from the following table, which gives approximately the value of agricultural production in the principal countries of the world, with the average amount per head of population : |