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loan of £1,000,000 was floated successfully in London, the amount being over-subscribed. The wheat harvest fell below that of 1898-99 by 325,000 bushels, but was considerably higher than the return for 1897-98, while the exports exceeded those of the previous season by Viticulture remained steadily productive over 3,000,000 bushels. throughout the year, the export trade receiving material assistance Various amending measures from the State Wine Depôt in London. Several were passed by Parliament, and existing social legislation was added to by the Early Closing Act and Workmen's Compensation Act. contingents were despatched to South Africa during 1900, and in addition the gunboat "Protector," with a strong naval contingent, was sent to China to aid in the suppression of the Boxer rebellion. In January the first case of bubonic plague recorded in Australia occurred in Adelaide. During the same month devastating bush-fires swept over the Mount Gambier district, and caused damage to property estimated at £100,000. At intervals during 1900 occasional sharp shocks of earthquake were registered at different stations in the state.

The year 1900-01 showed a deficit of £22,365, but in wheat production there was a decided improvement, and both wheat and flour exports The election of were largely in excess of those of the previous year.

several of South Australia's leading politicians to membership of the Federal Parliament brought about a readjustment of state politics, and Mr. Holder gave place as Premier to Mr. Jenkins, who had held office in the Playford, Kingston, and Holder Cabinets. This Ministry was sworn in on the 15th May, 1901, and is still in office.

South Australia was perhaps the first of the Australian States to take up the question of reform and economy in local administration. In the Session of 1901 Mr. Jenkins succeeded in passing an amendment of the Constitution Act, reducing the number of responsible ministers from 6 to 4. (This reduction came into force in March, 1902.) At the same time the number of members of the Legislative Assembly was reduced from 54 to 42, and the Legislative Council from 24 to 18, and the expenses of administration were cut down to meet the altered condition of affairs. In May the Spencer-Gillen expedition set out on a journey across the Continent in search of further information respecting the manners and customs of the Central Australian aboriginal tribes. The expedition was well equipped, and succeeded admirably in its mission, reaching Borooloola (Northern Territory) in the early part One of the most of 1902 after spending nearly a year in the interior. disastrous fires ever known in Adelaide occurred on the 16th April, when warehouse premises were destroyed valued at £80,000. Mount Pleasant district serious loss was caused by bush-fires, the settlers in some localities being completely burnt out.

In the

In consequence of adverse climatic conditions in 1902 the wheat harvest suffered considerably, and although rain fell in the middle, northern, and southern districts, production was almost universally retarded. On the 1st April South Australia had the unique experience

of being without a Member of Parliament of either House, the Lower Chamber having ceased to exist under the terms of the Constitution Amendment Act, and the Legislative Council resigning by arrangement, though several of its members had still some years before seeking re-election. Next day the Premier opened the election campaign, and in his speech drew attention to the unsatisfactory state of the finances. The railway receipts showed a great falling off in consequence of the continued drought, while the Customs revenue was adversely affected by the remission of the duties on tea and kerosene. During the early months the deliberations of the Corowa Conference were regarded with great interest in South Australia. It was proposed at this Conference to utilise the waters of the Murray for irrigating lands on the Victorian and New South Wales side of the river, and South Australia feared that navigation on the lower reaches of the river would suffer in consequence. The movement, therefore, was not popular in the state, but as the Commission provides for efficient representation of South Australia, these fears were somewhat allayed.

In the following table will be found a list of the different Ministries in South Australia from the establishment of Responsible Government to the date of the publication of this volume with the date of appointment to and retirement from office of each.

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WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

WES

ESTERN AUSTRALIA is the youngest of the six sister states of Australia; but, curiously, it shares with Queensland and the Northern Territory of South Australia the privilege of being first known to Europeans. As early as 1503 it is claimed that a French navigator, Binot Paulmyer, Sieur de Gonneville, was blown out of his course, and touched at some portion of the coast, but the evidence in support of the assertion is anything but conclusive. The Portuguese also lay claim to the discovery of the western coast at a later date. But it is to Dutch navigators in the early portion of the seventeenth century that we owe the first really authentic accounts of the western coast and adjacent islands, and in many instances the names given by these mariners to prominent physical features are still retained. By 1665 the Dutch possessed rough charts of almost the whole of the western littoral, while to the mainland itself they had given the name of New Holland. Of the Dutch discoverers, Pelsaert was the only one who made any detailed observations of the character of the country inland

It was reserved, however, for an Englishman, William Dampier, to make a more thorough examination of the country adjacent to the western coast, and he visited it on two occasions-once in 1688, when he was a member of a company of buccaneers who landed to repair their vessel, and later, in 1699, as an accredited explorer in charge of the "Roebuck." The history of his voyage, published by Dampier shortly after his return to England, represented the country as so barren and inhospitable that no idea was then entertained of utilising it for settlement.

During the interval elapsing between Dampier's two voyages, an accident led to the closer examination of the coasts of Western Australia by the Dutch. In 1684 a vessel had sailed from Holland for the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, and after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, she was never again heard of. Some twelve years afterwards the East India Company fitted out an expedition under the leadership of Commander William de Vlamingh, with the object of searching for any traces of the lost vessel on the western shores of New Holland. Towards the close of the year 1696 this expedition reached the island of Rottnest which was thoroughly explored, and early the following year a landing party discovered and named the Swan River. The vessels then proceeded northward without finding any traces of the object of their search, but, at the same time, making fairly accurate charts of the coast line.

From this time onward the country was visited by various explorers, but the expeditions of Lieutenant King (1818-22) are the most noteworthy, inasmuch as this officer made very careful surveys of the whole of the western coast from King George's Sound to Cambridge Gulf, and continued his observations from this point along the northern shores of the Continent. King's work was so thoroughly and accurately done that his charts and sailing directions still form the basis of those in use at the present day.

Expeditions fitted out by the French Government had at various periods touched at the shores of Western Australia; and, in 1825, the presence of two French vessels, the "Thétis" and "L'Espérance," off the coast, roused the suspicion that France had designs on some portion of the Continent-a suspicion never altogether absent from the minds of the Colonial authorities. At this juncture, therefore, LieutenantGeneral Sir Ralph Darling (Governor-General of New South Wales) sent Major Lockyer with a detachment of the 39th Regiment, and a small party of convicts, numbering in all some seventy-five or eighty souls, to found a settlement at King George's Sound. The harbour was selected in preference to a port on the west coast on account of its unique advantages as a naval base. Lockyer's expedition landed at

the Sound on the 25th December; 1825.

Twelve months later (17th January, 1827), Captain Gilbert, in H.M.S. "Success," was despatched from Sydney to re-victual the infant settlement, and also to examine the Swan River, with a view to its occupation, the Imperial authorities fearing that they might be forestalled by the French. The "Success" had on board as a passenger Mr. Charles Fraser, the Colonial Botanist of New South Wales. On the 5th March, the expedition reached Rottnest Island, which was explored. On the following day the vessel anchored off the mouth of the Swan River. On the 7th March the "Success" was moored at Berthollet Island (now known as Carnac), and, on the following day, the first gig and the cutter, victualled for fourteen days, and well armed, proceeded up the Swan River, which was explored to its supposed source; the boats experiencing, however, some difficulty in crossing the shallows near the islands which now form part of the causeway. About 15 miles up the stream two gardens were planted, and friendly relations were established with a party of natives by means of presents. The cutter returned to the "Success," and left the gig to make a hasty exploration of another river, to which the French had given the name of the Moreau (now called the Canning), which survey was successfully carried out. The crew of the vessel was subsequently employed in surveying the islands of Rottnest, Berthollet, and Buache, and the neighbouring reefs. On the island of Buache itself was planted a garden, from which circumstance it probably derives its present name of Garden Island; and a ow, three sheep, and three goats were placed thereon. On the 21st March, 1827, the "Success" sailed for Geographe Bay, where she arrived thre e days afterwards. On the 2nd April King George's Sound was