Article.

Average consumption of food in Australasia.

FOOD SUPPLY AND COST OF LIVING.

ONSIDERING the comparatively high rate of wages which prevails, food of all kinds is fairly cheap, 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 of Australasia are given below:

It will be seen that the consumption of wheat varies from 246 lb. in Queensland to 454 lb. in New Zealand, the average con

Rice varies greatly in the consumption of Victoria as

sumption being 334 lb. per head.
quantity used, only 7.1 lb. being the
against 25.2 lb. in Western Australia. The consumption of oat-
meal does not vary much, but it is larger in Victoria than in the

AUSTRALASIAN MEAT CONSUMPTION.

283

other Colonies. The use of tea is universal in Australia, the Large consumption of tea. consumption being largest in Western Australia and Queensland-with 10.6 lb. and 8.4 lb. respectively. Sugar also enters largely into consumption, the average being 93.5 lb. per head in New South Wales and 90.75 lb. in Victoria. Coffee is not a universal beverage in Australasia, the consumption being a little more than one-ninth that of tea. It is used most largely in South Australia and Western Australia, where the annual demand amounts to 21.9 oz. and 24.2 oz. respectively.

potatoes.

The consumption per head of potatoes in some of the Colonies Consumption of is probably less than the foregoing table shows; thus in the case of Tasmania the returns show a consumption of 550 lb., and in New Zealand 461 lb. It is probable that potatoes are in some years grown in excess of the local requirements, and the market in New South Wales and other continental Colonies not being sufficient to absorb this excess, it remains unconsumed or is given to live stock and poultry; under the circumstances it is impossible to determine with exactitude the quantity entering into the food consumption of the population.

meat.

The consumption of meat has been ascertained with exactness Consumption of for only five Colonies, but these may be taken as fairly repre

senting the whole group. The average quantity of beef consumed
in the year amounts to 161 lb. per head, that of mutton to
104 lb., and of pork 11 lb. ; in all, 276 lb.
It would appear
that each inhabitant of these Colonies requires daily about three-
quarters of a pound of meat, and that during the year two sheep
are killed for each member of the community, and one bullock to
every five persons. It is obvious, therefore, that much meat
must be wasted.

The quantity of meat used by the Australasian people, as shown Meat consumption by the above figures, is the most remarkable feature of their diet. compared. The consumption per inhabitant in Germany is 64 lb., in Australia it is four times that quantity, while in the United States, a meat exporting country, the consumption is little more than half that