By the term "cast" is meant the number of animals of the proper age available for slaughter. The movement in prices will be seen from the following tabulation, which is based chiefly on an analysis of the New South Wales trade. The prices of 1896 are represented by 1,000: EMPLOYMENT AND PRODUCTION. то O obtain a fair approximation of the number of persons engaged in the various walks of life in Australasia was impossible before the census of 1891 was taken, for although at the Census enumerations of 1881 and previous years the occupations of the people were made a feature of the inquiry, the classification, which followed closely that originally devised by the late Dr. Farr, was unsatisfactory, as it completely failed to distinguish between producers and distributors. To avoid a repetition of this defect the Census Conference, held at Hobart in March, 1890, abandoned the English system and adopted a scheme of classification more in accordance with sound principles. Under this classification the population is divided into two great sections-breadwinners and dependents; and the breadwinners are arranged in their natural classes of producers and distributors, with their various orders and sub-orders. The classes may be shortly defined as follow :— Section A.-Breadwinners. Class 1. Professional. Class 2. Domestic. Class 3. Commercial. Class 4. Industrial. Class 5. Agricultural, Pastoral, Mineral, and other primary Producers. Class 6. Indefinite. Section B.-Dependents: Non-Breadwinners. Class 7. Dependents. A description of the various classes and orders, together with the number of males and females, exclusive of aborigines, belonging to each order, is given in the following pages. It is impossible, however, in a work such as this to enter minutely into details, and anyone who may desire to pursue the subject further is referred to the Census Reports of the various colonies. BREADWINNERS AND DEPENDENTS. Of the total population of Australasia at the Census of 1891, the occupations of 2,023,999 males and 1,758,967 females were specified. These persons were thus divided into breadwinners and dependents: CLASSES 1 TO 6.-PROPORTION OF BREADWINNERS TO SPECIFIED POPULATION. If a comparison of the proportion of breadwinners be made with the proportion of males of supporting ages given in the table on page 43 of this volume, it will be seen that Western Australia, with the highest proportion of supporting males, viz., 67.60 per cent., naturally supplied the highest proportion of breadwinners, the leading position occupied by this colony being sufficiently accounted for by the pioneer stage of its existence; Queensland came second, with 65.22 per cent. of males of supporting ages, and 65.84 per cent. of breadwinners; Victoria third, with 62.68 per cent., and 65.42 per cent. respectively; and New South Wales fourth, with 61.41 per cent. of males of supporting ages, and 63.13 per cent. of breadwinners. Tasmania, South Australia, and New Zealand, with the lowest proportions of supporting ages, had also the lowest proportions of breadwinners; and the positions of these colonies may be largely attributed to the exodus from their shores of able-bodied men in search of employment. In all the colonies the male breadwinners were in excess of the males of supporting ages. This fact was, of course, due to the employment of boys under 15, and the continued activity of men over 65 years of age. The excess was greatest in Tasmania, where the largest proportion of males of the old ages was to be found. Queensland, where the excess was smallest, viz., to the extent of only 0.62 per cent., had the lowest proportion of males of the old ages, and, except Western Australia, the lowest proportion of children of dependent ages. DEPENDENTS. The dependents are all contained in class 7, and are thus grouped :— (1) Persons performing domestic duties; (2) scholars and students; (3) relatives not stated to be performing domestic duties; (4) persons supported by the State and by voluntary contributions; and (5) the criminal class. The first three groups are comprised in order 23, and the last two in order 24. The following table shows the number of males and females classified under each of these headings in the different colonies. It has to be stated in connection with the figures relating to female dependents, that in the Victorian and South Australian returns the persons performing domestic duties were originally classified with relatives not stated to be performing domestic duties, and the figures for these colonies have been adjusted to correspond with the returns of the other provinces : Males ORDER 23, SUB-ORDER 3.-RELATIVES NOT STATED TO BE PERFORMING DOMESTIC DUTIES. Persons. 96,140 94,123 190,263 83,300 35,454 29,294 92,481 38,768 29,084 175,781 74,222 58,378 3,614 13,930 49,106 310,838 324,198 635,036 TOTAL OF ORDER 23.-ALL DEPENDENTS, EXCLUDING CRIMINALS AND PERSONS SUPPORTED BY CHARITY. Males.. ORDER 24, SUB-ORDER 1.-SUPPORTED BY THE STATE AND BY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS. 4,180 1,292 TOTAL OF ORDER 24.-DEPENDENTS ON CHARITY AND PUBLIC SUPPORT. The breadwinners are included in classes 1 to 6, comprising orders 1 to 22. First among these classes in numerical strength stand the PRIMARY PRODUCERS. These are included in class 5, which embraces all persons mainly engaged in the cultivation or acquisition of food products, or in obtaining other raw materials from natural sources. Order 21 is the only one covered by this class, and is defined as containing persons directly engaged in the cultivation of land or in the rearing or breeding of animals, or in obtaining raw products from natural sources. The order is divided into six sub-orders as follow:-(1) Agricultural pursuits; (2) pastoral pursuits; (3) fisheries, the capture, preservation, or destruction of wild animals, or the acquisition of products yielded by wild animals ; (4) forestry, or the acquisition of raw products yielded by natural vegetation; (5) the conservancy of water in all its forms, and water supply from natural sources; and (6) mines, quarries, or the acquisition of natural mineral products. The conditions of production in the Australasian colonies are such that it is difficult to draw a marked line of separation between the followers of the various pursuits. A man may be set down as engaged |