It will be seen that only in New South Wales, Western Australia and New Zealand is there any large registration of trade unions, and it is in these states that the principles of compulsory arbitration are in force. The vivifying effect of compulsory arbitration upon trade unions is exemplified by the case of New South Wales, where, prior to the passing of the compulsory Arbitration Act, the total number of persons belonging to unions was less than 20,000, as compared with 70,000 at the present time. The figures refer to registered trade unions. There may be other unions which have not taken advantage of the law to register themselves, but the membership of such nonregistered trade unions cannot be very great in the states where compulsory arbitration is in force. In Victoria the number of registered unions is only 7, and the membership 7,942. The total strength of the unions is, however, much greater, for registration is the exception and not the rule in that state. According to the report of the Trades Hall Council there were, on the 30th June, 1904, 77 trades societies belonging to or affiliated to the Council, and there were in addition to these the Trades Councils of Ballarat and Bendigo, which are independent bodies, unconnected with the Melbourne Council. Towards the close of the year 1904 an Act was passed by the Federal Parliament to give effect to the powers of the Constitution (section 51, sub-section 35) with respect to conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of disputes extending beyond the limits of any one state. "Industrial dispute" is defined as a dispute in relation to industrial matters extending beyond the limits of any one state, including disputes in relation to employment on state railways, or to employment in industries carried on by or under the control of the Commonwealth or a state or any public authority constituted under the Commonwealth or a state, but it does not include a dispute relating to employment in any agricultural, viticultural, horticultural, or dairying pursuit. Preference to unionists may be given where, in the opinion of the Court, the application for such preference is approved of by a majority of those affected by the award who have interests in common with the applicants. It will probably be some little time before the Act can be put into operation, and its effect on the industrial situation will be most keenly watched PRIVATE PROPERTY AND INCOMES. HE first century of Australasian history closed on the 26th January, progress made during that period, as the data for the purpose are for the most part wanting, sufficient material is available from which a comparative statement of the wealth of the states at different periods may be deduced. In the following figures the private property of the people has alone been considered, the value of the unsold lands of the state, as well as the value of public works, having been omitted. The table shows the value of private property for the whole of Australasia, and the increase thereof at intervals of twenty-five years from the date when this territory was first colonised :— Though Australasia has but the population of a province of some of the great European powers, in the wealth and earnings of its people it stands before most of the secondary states, and as regards wealth and income per head of population it compares very favourably with any country. The plan adopted in valuing the elements of private wealth is given in detail in previous issues of this work, and has not been greatly varied on this occasion. Land, houses, and other improvements thereon, represent more than two-thirds of the private wealth. There are now ample data for assessing the value of these, for besides the municipal returns which are available for each state, there are complete land-tax returns for New South Wales, New Zealand, and South Australia. From the information thus to hand, there has been no difficulty in arriving at the value of land separately from its improvements. For all Australasia, the value of land in private hands is £461,255,000, 1 out of a total wealth of £1,204,042,000; this represents a proportion of 38 per cent., varying in each state, as follows: The value of land and improvements together amounts £836,770,000, or 69.5 per cent. of the total value of property. following is a statement of the values for each state : - The 60.31 "" The improvements on the lands of the Commonwealth and New Zealand are valued at £375,515,000, which sum represents 81.41 per cent. of the value of land, ranging between 93.88 per cent. in New South Wales and 59.89 per cent. in Tasmania. Distributing the total value of private property into the ten subdivisions usually adopted in the classification of the elements of private wealth, the following results are arrived at :— The foregoing gives an average of £252 per inhabitant for Australasia, and £249 for the Commonwealth, which figures show a considerable reduction on those of 1890, when the average was not less than £309 per inhabitant. The results fall somewhat short of the truth, inasmuch as they do not take into account property rights, the value of which is not represented by land, buildings, machinery, etc. The case of gas companies may be cited as an example. The total value of the shares of and interests in these companies throughout Australasia is approximately £6,900,000, but in the statement of values of properties given above, the actual property of gas companies appears as value of land, machinery, plant, etc., £4,350,000, no note being taken of value of goodwill and other items which form an appreciable proportion of the value of these works. The actual selling value of the gas undertakings of Australasia is therefore £2,550,000 in excess of the value of their tangible assets, and there are many other cases where a like anomaly exists. For New South Wales it is found that the sum of £18,000,000 might be added to the valuation on this score, and probably a like amount for Victoria, but the data even for these states are imperfect, and it has not been considered desirable to take into consideration an item about which there is any uncertainty. The distribution of the property amongst the various states is as follows: : These figures must be taken with some qualification. The foregoing table shows the state wherein the property lies, but gives no indication as to the place of residence of the owners. As is well known, residents in Great Britain have very large interests in Australia and New Zealand, and persons residing in one state have large holdings in other states: thus residents of Victoria and South Australia have large investments in New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia, while residents of Victoria and New South Wales are largely interested in Queensland properties. If it were possible to locate the actual ownership of property throughout Australasia it would probably be found that the actual distribution is very different from the apparent distribution as shown above. The figures available to illustrate the amount of property possessed by persons not living within the state in which their property is situated are by no means complete; indeed details of any kind are obtainable only for New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand. An analysis of the information gathered by the Stamps Office in Sydney for the purpose of assessing the values of the estates of deceased persons shows that the ownership of the £38,442,357 on which stamp duty was paid during the last eight years was as follows: New South Wales Europe, including Great Britain Other States of Australia and New Zealand Proportion Total. 4,090, 809 10.6 It may, therefore, be assumed that 20 per cent. of the property in New South Wales is owned by persons who live outside its boundaries, about 10 per cent. being held in Great Britain and 6 per cent. in Victoria. In regard to Victoria, there is no direct evidence of ownership available, but the place of residence of the persons who pay income tax affords indirect evidence of great value. During the last five years for which information is available the incomes of persons paying taxation in respect of incomes exceeding £200 per annum derived from property in Victoria were £20,566,000, and of this amount £3,134,700 was enjoyed by persons who resided out of Victoria. This gives about 151 per cent. as the apparent proportion of absentee incomes. So far as New Zealand is concerned, there is both direct and indirect evidence. In the year 1888 the value of property assessed for property tax was £135,881,176, and of this sum £24,313,706, or 18 per cent., was returned as belonging to persons not residing in the colony. Since then the proportion of property held by absentees has greatly declined. There has of late years been no great import of capital into the colony, while during some years there have been considerable withdrawals; on the other hand, the total value of property has largely increased, so that at the present time the proportion of New Zealand property held by absentees is only about 4 per cent. The proportion for Queensland and Western Australia is probably greater than in the other states; for South Australia and Tasmania it is probably less. Adopting a reasonable estimate for these states, it may be said that, apart from Government stock held in London, the value of property in Australia belonging to non-residents of the states in which such property is situated, is not less than £152,000,000, and in New Zealand £9,000,000. In the case of Australia, a considerable portion of this property is held by persons residing in other states than those where the property is situated, and, if allowance be made on this account, it will be found that the value of |