Western Australia has the second lowest return with £12 18s. 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 £27 12s. 3d., and per square mile of £216 15s. 7d. :—

If the value of production in all the industries be related to the area of territory possessed by each state, which is a favourite comparison with some statisticians, the following results are obtained. There is, however, no necessary connection between the production of the manufacturing industries of a country and the area of its territory, the development of manufactures depending upon entirely different considerations:

The question is often asked, as to the relation between production of a country and the amount of its domestic exports. In the year 1903, the production of the Commonwealth, as shown in the foregoing tables, was valued at £117,672,000, and during the same period, goods of local production were exported, to the value of £45,578,935. These latter, however, are valued at the points of export, whereas in the case of the former the value is taken as at the point of production. Reducing the exports of domestic produce by 10 per cent., so as to bring them also to the value at the point of production, the figure works out at £41,021,000, and represents 35 per cent. of the total production.

In New Zealand, the export of domestic produce was £14,838,192. Reducing this by 10 per cent., to arrive at the value at the point of production, the net value is £13,354,000, whereas the total production was £30,076,000. The export, therefore, was equivalent to 44.4 per cent. of the total production. Both in the case of New Zealand and in that of the Commonwealth, the proportion of production exported was extremely large. No very recent figures can be given of the proportion of exports compared with production in other countries. Such statistics as are available point to an export of about 11 per cent. in the United States, and 20 per cent. In the United Kingdom.