The value of the plant in the remaining two colonies has been estimated as follows: South Australia Western Australia.. £1,475,000 The gross value of articles produced in manufacturing establishments is known in the case of all the colonies except South Australia and Western Australia, and is given in the appended statement. For New South Wales and Victoria the figures were obtained at the Census of 1891, and for New Zealand at the Census of 1896, while for the other two colonies they refer to the calendar year 1896: New South Wales Victoria Queensland Tasmania New Zealand £16,625,258 £6,482,824 £523,079 £9,549,360 The foregoing figures include, of course, the value of materials used, of wages paid, and of fuel. In New South Wales the returns obtained under the Census and Industrial Returns Act show that the value of materials used was £7,382,070; of wages paid, £4,831,308; and of fuel, £375,927; making a total sum of £12,589,305; thus leaving the net value of production at £4,035,953. In New Zealand the value of materials used is given as £3,285,247, and of wages paid as £1,907,502, while the value of fuel may be estimated at £350,000, making a total sum of £5,542,749, so that the net value of production would amount to £4,006,611. Similar figures for the remaining colonies are not available. VALUE OF PRODUCTION. Full particulars regarding the value of primary production have already been given in previous chapters; combining the results there shown with the value of manufactures, the total value of production during the year 1896-7 was £114,460,000, of which amount the total of each colony and the value per inhabitant were as follow: Of this amount, £85,639,000, or £20 0s. 1d. per inhabitant, is derived from primary industries; and £28,821,000, or £6 14s. 8d. per inhabitant, from other productive industries. The distribution of the production of the colonies under the various branches of primary and other productive industries was as follows :— Corresponding figures, showing approximately the total value of production at previous periods, are given in the following table : Compared with the older countries of the world, the amounts stated above are by no means insignificant, and in production per head Australasia exceeds any other country for which records are available. Although the data on which an exact statement can be founded are incomplete, there is sufficient information to warrant the assertion that from primary industries alone Australasia produces more per inhabitant than is produced from the combined industries of any other country, and a consideration of this fact will perhaps explain the ease with which these colonies bear their apparently great indebtedness, and the general prosperity they enjoyed until the disturbances incident to the banking crisis unsettled general business. The following figures, giving the value of production from primary industries in the principal countries of the world, are, with the exception of those for the Australasian colonies, taken from Mulhall's Dictionary of Statistics Judged by the aggregate production, New South Wales stands far above the other colonies, a position which it owes to the largeness of its interests in pastoral pursuits. The value of the return from this industry was £13,237,000, a sum greater than the total production from all primary industries in every colony except Victoria and New Zealand. In value of primary production per inhabitant, New Zealand stands first, Queensland second, and Western Australia third, while Victoria is lowest, with not quite two-thirds of the production per head of New Zealand and Queensland. Such a condition of things is only what might be anticipated from the circumstances of the colonies. A comparison of the production of the colonies from primary industries per head of population, however, is liable to give an undue importance to those provinces which have large territories and scanty population; for it is but a natural expectation that where the population of a country is dense a large proportion of the inhabitants will be engaged in other than primary industries. If the value of primary production, therefore, be compared with the extent of territory enjoyed by each colony, it will be found that the positions of several of the provinces are reversed. Thus, Victoria occupies first position with an average primary production of £217 3s. 8d. per square mile, while Western Australia has the lowest return of £2 14s. 8d. The following, as well as the preceding table, bears testimony to the great natural resources of New Zealand, which has an average production per head of £24 17s. 9d., and per square mile of £168 5s. 9d. : Article. FOOD SUPPLY AND COST OF LIVING. CONSIDERING ONSIDERING the comparatively high rate of wages which prevails, food of all kinds is fairly cheap in Australasia, and articles of diet which in other countries are almost within the category of luxuries are largely used even by the poorer classes. The average quantities of the principal articles of common diet annually consumed in the various colonies are given below : It will be seen that the consumption of wheat ranges from 305-2 lb. in Victoria to 518.8 lb. in Western Australia, the average consumption for Australasia being 363-0 lb. per head. The high figures for Western Australia are, of course, due to the large proportion of adult male population in that colony. In Western Australia, and also in Tasmania, there has been an increase in the average consumption, and a decrease in the other colonies. In all the colonies, also, except Western Australia, there has been a decrease in the consumption of rice; at present the quantity used varies greatly, the consumption in Victoria being 7.4 lb. as against 20.0 lb. in Western Australia. The consumption of oatmeal is larger in New Zealand than in the other colonies. The use of tea is universal in Australia, but there has been a perceptible decline in the quantity used during the last twelve years. The consumption is |