273,582,000, being nearly 60 for every person in Australasia. An examination of the statistics of other countries shows that these States stand third among the countries of the world in the transmission of correspondence, being only exceeded by the United Kingdom and the United States of America per head of population. The following table shows the increase which has taken place in the quantity of postal matter carried, together with the proportion of letters and newspapers carried per head of population at the last six census periods :—

There are 983 newspapers published in Australasia; 306 in New South Wales, of which 92 are published in Sydney and suburbs; 323 in Victoria, of which 130 are published in Melbourne; 115 in Queensland; 46 in South Australia; 22 in Western Australia; 16 in Tasmania ; and 155 in New Zealand,

PARKS, MUSEUMS, AND ART GALLERIES.

All the Australasian capitals are liberally supplied with parks and recreation-grounds. In Sydney and suburbs there are parks, squares, and public gardens comprising an area of 3,131 acres, including 530 acres which form the Centennial Park. Then there is the picturesque National Park, of 36,320 acres, situated about 16 miles from the centre of the metropolis; and, in addition to this, an area of 35,300 acres, in the valley of the Hawkesbury, and distant about 12 miles from the railway terminus on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour, has been reserved for public recreation under the name of Ku-ring-gai Chase. Thus Sydney has two extensive and picturesque domains for the enjoyment of the people at almost equal distances north and south from the city, and both accessible by railway. Melbourne has about 5,400 acres of recreation-grounds, of which about 1,750 acres are within the city boundaries, 2,850 acres in the suburban municipalities, and 800 acres outside those municipalities. Adelaide is surrounded by a broad belt of park lands, and also contains a number of squares within the city boundaries, covering altogether an area of 2,300 acres. Brisbane, Hobart, Perth, and the chief cities of New Zealand are also well

provided for in this respect, and in all the provincial towns large areas have been dedicated as public parks. There are fine Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Hobart, which are included in the areas above referred to. Each of these gardens has a special attraction of its own. They are all well kept, and reflect great credit upon the communities to which they belong.

The various capitals of the States, and also some of the prominent inland towns, are provided with museums for the purposes of instruction as well as recreation; and in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Hobart there are art galleries containing excellent collections of paintings and statuary. All these institutions are open to the public free of charge.

PUBLIC CHARITIES.

One of the most satisfactory features of the social condition of the Australian communities is the wide distribution of wealth, and the consequently small proportion of people who are brought within the reach of want. In the United Kingdom, the richest country of Europe. only nine out of every hundred of the population possess property of the value of £100, while in Australasia the number is not less than fifteen, and the violent contrast between the rich and the poor which blots the civilization of the old world is not observable in these young States. It is, unfortunately, only too plain that a certain amount of poverty does exist; but there is a complete absence of an hereditary pauper class, and no one is born into the hopeless conditions which characterize the lives of so many millions in Europe, and from which there is absolutely no possibility of escape. No poor-rate is levied in Australasia, the assistance granted by the State to able-bodied men who find themselves out of employment in times of depression, taking the form of payment, in money or in rations, for work done by

them.

The chief efforts of the authorities, as regards charity, are directed towards the rescue of the young from criminal companionship and temptation to crime, the support of the aged and infirm, the care of the imbecile or insane, and the subsidising of private institutions for the cure of the sick and injured and the amelioration of want. Even where the State grants aid for philanthropic purposes, the management of the institutions supervising the expenditure is in private hands, and in addition to State-aided institutions there are numerous charities wholly maintained by private subscriptions, whose efforts for the relief of those whom penury, sickness, or misfortune has afflicted are beyond all praise. The rescue of the young from crime is attempted in two ways-first, by means of Orphanages and Industrial Schools, where children who have been abandoned by their natural guardians, or who are likely, from the poverty or incapacity of their parents, to be so neglected as to render them liable to lapse into crime, are taken care of, educated,

and afterwards apprenticed to some useful calling; and second, by sequestering in Reformatories children who have already committed crime, or whose parents or guardians find themselves unable to control them; but the accommodation in the latter class is very limited, and might well be extended.

Although more than a century has elapsed since settlement commenced in Australasia, its resources are by no means developed, and very many men are at work far away from the home comforts of everyday life, and from home attendance in case of sickness or injury. Owing to the peculiar nature of the occupations in which a great part of the adult male population is employed, accidents are very common, the annual death-rate being about 8 per 10,000 living, and the majority of the cases treated, especially in the districts outside the metropolitan area are injuries arising out of accidents to men following hazardous pursuits. Hospitals are therefore absolutely essential under the conditions of life in the rural districts of the States, and they are accordingly found in every important country town. Below will be found the number of hospitals in each State, with the number of indoor patients treated during the year mentioned, and the total expenditure for the same year. Unfortunately, the South Australian and Western Australian returns are defective, as will be seen by the note appended to the table :

All the States possess institutions for the care of the insane, which are under Government control. The treatment meted out to the inmates is that dictated by the greatest humanity, and the hospitals are fitted with all the conveniences and appliances which modern science points out as most calculated to mitigate or remove the affliction from which these unfortunate people suffer. The following table shows the number of insane patients under treatment, the total expenditure on hospitals for the insane during the year, and the average expenditure per inmate

under treatment. The question of insanity is treated farther on in this

The amounts expended on Destitute Asylums and Benevolent Societies cannot be separated from other items of expenditure in some of the States. As far as they can be ascertained they are given in the following table, together with the number of adult inmates of the various asylums for the year 1900:

In addition to the above, a liberal amount of out-door relief is given in all the Australasian provinces, and destitute children are taken care of, either by being supported in the Government institutions or by being boarded out to persons deemed able to take care of them properly. As far as can be judged from the imperfect returns, adding together the amount received from the Government and the amount of private subscriptions, the expenditure in the whole of the Australasian States in connection with all forms of relief and in aid of hospitals and other charitable institutions is certainly not less than £1,350,000 per annum. This sum, though not excessive in proportion to the population, may yet appear large in view of the general wealth of the States, which should preclude the necessity of so many seeking assistance; and there is the risk that the charitable institutions may encourage the growth of the pauper element, for while free quarters and free food are so accessible those who are disinclined to work are tempted to live at the public expense. It should be stated, however, that of the total number of persons who seek hospital relief, less than one-half are natives of the States, the remainder being mostly natives of the United Kingdom, with a few who were born in a European country or in China. This, however, cannot be taken as evidence of the superiority of the Australian born. The inmates of the institutions referred to are in almost all cases aged persons, and probably not more than half the number of aged persons are Australian born.

CRIME.

In all the states proceedings against a person accused of an offence may be initiated either by the arrest of the culprit or by summoning him to appear before a magistrate. Serious offences, of course, are rarely dealt with by process of summons; but, on the other hand, it is not uncommon for a person to be apprehended on a very trivial charge, and this circumstance should not be forgotten in dealing with arrests by the police, which are unusually numerous in some of the States. Unfortunately, it is not easy to say how far the police of one State are disposed to treat offenders with such consideration as to proceed against them by summons, and how far those of another State are content to adopt similar action; for in most of the provinces the records do not draw a distinction between the two classes of cases; and in the table given on page 699, showing the number of persons charged before magistrates in each State during the year 1900, offenders who were summoned to appear are included with those arrested, except in ths case of Victoria, whose criminal statistics seem to deal only with arrests. It is likewise difficult to make a true comparison between the varioue States in the matter of the prevalence of crime, for there are a number of circumstances which must considerably affect the criminal returns