BACON, HAM, LARD, AND PORK. 241 swine. The breeding of swine is usually carried on in conjunction with Breeding of dairy-farming. Below will be found a return of the number of swine in each Colony in 1861, and in 1891, together with the proportion owned by each in comparison with the total stock. It will be observed that the actual number owned by the various Colonies has in all cases increased, though the relative proportions have altered considerably. New South Wales, for instance, held over 40 per cent. of the stock of swine in 1861, but in 1891 the proportion had receded to 21.9 per cent., while Victoria, which possessed little less than 15 per cent. in 1861, has now nearly 25 per cent. of the total number. In the same interval New Zealand had increased from nearly 12 per cent. to something over 26 per cent. of the whole : : swine. The products of the swine-bacon, ham, lard, and salt pork- Products of the are still imported by all the Colonies with the exception of South Australia and New Zealand, as is shown in the following table, which relates to the year 1891 : 242 POULTRY, EGGS, HONEY, &c. The figures marked (*) show an excess of exports, all the others represent an excess of imports. There seems to be considerable scope for an extension of this particular branch of farming in most of the Colonies. Poultry, eggs, and honey. POULTRY AND MINOR INDUSTRIES. An estimate is given below of the value of the production of poultry and eggs, together with that arising from bee culture. The value of the production in each Colony in 1891 was as follows: The most remarkable feature is the trade in eggs between South Australia as supplier and Victoria and New South Wales as buyers. The figures for 1891 show that during that year South Australia exported eggs to the value of £48,544, viz., £21,230 to Victoria, £26,606 to New South Wales, and £708 to Western Australia. The bulk of the New South Wales trade was done with the Barrier district, which is commercially a dependency of South Australia. A MINERAL RESOURCES. LMOST all the principal metals of economic value are found in Australasia, and many are common to several Colonies. In dealing with the occurrence and value of mineral deposits, the classification into noble metals, metallic minerals, carbon minerals, soluble and insoluble salts, diamonds and other gem stones, has been adopted. NOBLE METALS. Gold, the most valuable of noble metals, is found throughout Gold. Australasia, and the present prosperity of the Colonies is largely due to gold discoveries, the development of other industries being, in a country of varied resources, a natural sequence to the acquisition of mineral treasure. gold. Settlement in Australia was still young when many-tongued Discovery of rumour spoke of the existence of gold, but it was not until the 16th February, 1823, that the Government was officially apprised of a discovery destined to be the precursor of a prosperity seldom surpassed in the history of nations. On the date mentioned Mr. Assistant-Surveyor M'Brien reported that, at a spot on the Fish River, about 15 miles east of Bathurst, he had discovered gold. Mention is made, in the early records of New South Wales, of several other finds, but it remained for Count Strzlecki and the Rev. W. B. Clarke to demonstrate the existence of the precious metal in payable quantities, and to assert their belief in its abundance, an opinion strongly supported in England by several eminent authorities, and substantiated by Hargraves' discovery in the year 1851. The gold-fields of Lewis Ponds and Summer Hill Creek had hardly been opened up when, on the day that witnessed 244 Gold in Western Value of gold raised. VALUE OF GOLD RAISED. the severance of the Port Phillip district from the mother Colony of New South Wales, Mr. J. M. Esmond discovered gold in Victoria. Shortly afterwards, a rush set in for Ballarat, and the gold fever took possession of Australia. The following year (1852) saw gold found in South Australia and Tasmania; the rush to Canoona, in what is now Queensland, took place in 1858; and gold was also discovered in New Zealand in the same year, though it was not until 1861 that a large population was, by the prospect of rapidly obtained wealth, attracted to the last-mentioned Colony. In Western Australia gold was first found in 1868, although it was not until 1887 that any diggings of importance were discovered. The richest field is at the Yilgarn Hills, 200 miles east of Perth, which has yielded to the end of July, 1892, 29,800 oz. valued at £109,130. Until quite recently this Colony was considered to be destitute of mineral deposits of any value, but now it is known that a rich belt of mineral country extends from north to south. The Kimberley gold-field, in the north-eastern portion of the Colony, is considered likely to become an important reefing district, as the lodes are rich and easily worked. The following table gives the value of gold raised from the commencement of mining in the various Colonies to the beginning of the year 1892, and the proportion due to each :- During the year 1892 gold valued at £569,178 was won from the New South Wales mines. PROGRESS OF GOLD-MINING. 245 discovery in It will be readily understood from the foregoing figures how Effect of gold Victoria, although in area the smallest of the group, with the Victoria. exception of Tasmania, achieved the foremost position amongst the Colonies, and retained that place so long as the powerful attraction of gold continued; but as the alluring dazzle of the gold-seeker's life was gradually dimmed by privation and frequent disappointment, people turned to safer, if less brilliant, fields of employment. Although the discovery of such extraordinary deposits as those of Mount Morgan, in Queensland, may astonish the world, and give princely dividends to shareholders, the thirst for gold-so powerful in the past-cannot now entice any considerable proportion of the population from other pursuits, and this, notwithstanding that only a small portion of the auriferous. area of the continent has been explored, and a still smaller portion fully developed. gold-mining. The production of gold, which had been declining steadily for Progress of many years, reached the lowest point in 1886. Since then there has been a marked revival, owing chiefly to the increased production of Queensland. It will be seen from the following figures, showing the quantity and value of gold obtained up to the beginning of 1892, that the annual production of Queensland is now almost equal in value to that of Victoria. The returns from South Australia include 98,140 oz., the production of the Northern Territory : |