misleading, as the main consideration is the extent of employment afforded by the industry and the return to the persons engaged therein.

Below will be found the value of the agricultural production of the Commonwealth and New Zealand in the years 1871, 1881, and 1891. Comparing these figures with those given above, it will be seen that while the total production of Australasia now averages nearly £14,000,000 more than in 1881, the average value per head has declined 1s. 6d. whereas compared with 1891, the average shows an increase of £1 9s. 3d. per head. As subsequent tables will show, a decrease in prices, and not want of productiveness, was responsible for the decline in value since 1881. The fall in prices, especially of wheat, was very rapid down to 1895; for the next three years there was a very material increase; in 1899 they fell again to the 1895 level, but in 1901 there was a more or less general increase; while towards the close of 1902, and almost up to the close of 1903, the effects of the adverse season were acutely felt, and prices rose to double those of the previous year. At the end of 1903, when the heavy crops began to come in, prices again fell, but they were nevertheless higher than the 1901 level.

Compared with the principal countries of the world, Australasia does not take a high position in regard to the gross value of the produce of its tillage, but in value per inhabitant it compares fairly well; indeed, some of the provinces, such as South Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, show averages which surpass those of the leading agricultural countries. This may be partly seen from the following table, which gives approximately for 1891-95 the value of agricultural production in the principal countries of the world, with the average amount per head of population :—

The following figures, giving the total extent of land in cultivation in each of the Commonwealth states and New Zealand at different periods since the year 1871, will serve to illustrate the progress which agriculture has made. In this table, and in the others which follow, the period represented extends from the 1st April in the year named to the 31st March of the following year. It must be understood that the areas under grass for pasturage, whether indigenous or artificially sown, are not included amongst the acreage set down as under cultivation ;

New Zealand

Australasia........

337,282 1,070,906 1,424,777 1,713,799 1,734,127 2,683,204 5,560,513 6,790,462 10,125,394 11,032,891

The 1,734,127 acres under crop in New Zealand as shown above, .nclude 77,167 acres of grass land cut for hay, and 68,041 acres of clover and grass cultivated for seed.

In 1861, the cultivated area in Australasia was 1,337,548 acres, so that the extent of land under crop is now over eight times as large as it was in that year. If, however, the land artificially grassed be included, the total for 1903 will reach 24,741,034 acres, or more than eighteen times the area in cultivation in 1861. A comparison of the acreage under crop on the basis of population, may perhaps best serve to give an idea of the progress of agriculture, and this is shown in the table given below. South Australia still holds, as it has done for many years, the first position, followed at a long interval by Victoria and New Zealand.

For the whole of Australasia the decennial increase of agriculture as compared with population is shown in the following table:—

Although during the period of forty-two years the population of Australasia was nearly quadrupled, the area of land devoted to agriculture increased over ninefold, and the rate of agricultural progress was more than twice that of the population. The chief progress was made during the twenty years from 1861 to 1881, and the ten years from 1891 to 1901. During the period intervening from 1881 to 1891 the population increased nearly twice as rapidly as the agricultural industry.

The progress in the seventies is what naturally might be expected, as the gold fever had altogether subsided about the end of the first period, and a large portion of the population was seeking employment of a more settled nature than was afforded by the gold-fields. It was not to be anticipated that the same rate of progress could be maintained, and the comparative decline in the eighties may be accounted for by the fact that most of the best land had been taken up. The earnest attempts of the state to assist the agriculturist in obtaining land on easy terms, however, together with the satisfactory advance in the price of wheat during the three years 1896-98, enabled the industry to show a substantial rate of progress during the ten years prior to 1902, when, although the area under crop was greater than in the previous year, the return was small.

In the following table will be found the proportion of land under crop to the total area of each state, and the same with regard to Australasia as a whole. In instituting comparisons between the several states, however, it must be borne in mind that circumstances other than the mere area in cultivation require to be taken into consideration. It would not be fair, for instance, to compare Tasmania, which has 6-85 persons per square mile, with Western Australia, which has only 0.23 inhabitant to the square mile. The table has a value chiefly because it shows how each province has progressed in cultivation of the soil during the periods quoted :--

per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent.

Between the years 1870 and 1890 the area under crop in Tasmania remained almost stationary, the total in 1870 being 157,410, and in 1890, 157,376 acres. In the latter year the value of agricultural production was £962,751. From 1890 to 1903 the development of the agricultural industry has been rapid; in the latter year the area under crop had increased to 259,611 acres, and the value of production to £1,265,000; the acreage increasing by 102,235 acres, and the value of the yield by £302,000 during the period dealt with.

The subjoined table shows the proportion of cultivated area devoted to the principal crops in each province, during the year 1903. It will be seen that wheat forms the greatest percentage of the total tillage in Australasia as a whole, and in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia. Maize and sugar-cane also form a large proportion of the total in Queensland, while the principal crop in New Zealand is oats. In Tasmania only 19 per cent. of the land cultivated was under wheat, the area cut for hay forming 25.8 per cent. of the total acreage. The proportion under orchards, 5.5 per cent., is higher than that shown by any other state. "Other crops show a high proportion in the New Zealand returns, chiefly due to the extensive planting of turnips, rape, and other green crops as fodder for sheep.

per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent.

The position in which each of the principal agricultural products stood in relation to the total area under crop in Australasia, at various periods since the year 1861, may be ascertained from the following table. The figures should, however, be taken in conjunction with those giving the actual areas cultivated, for a decline in the proportion of land under any particular crop does not necessarily mean a falling-off in the area devoted to that product; on the contrary, in few instances has there been any actual retrogression. It is satisfactory to observe that there is a greater proportionate increase in the cultivation of the more valuable crops, and