The distribution of the production of the states under the various branches of primary and other productive industries was as follows:

:

The timber industry has not been specially dealt with in this volume. The interests involved, however, are somewhat large, especially in New Zealand and in the states of Western Australia, Queensland, and New South Wales. The total annual value of the timber industry of the Commonwealth is £2,100,000, and of New Zealand £971,000. This represents the value of the rough timber as it leaves the forest saw-mills, the value added by further treatment in the saw-mills and joinery yards is included in the manufacturing industries. Amongst the states of the Commonwealth, Western Australia stands first as regards timber production. In the year 1901 the value was £751,000, for New South Wales the return was £563,000 during the same period, and for Queensland £536,000. The other states show much smaller amounts, viz., Victoria, £125,000; Tasmania, £95,000; and South Australia about £30,000.

The fisheries of Australia comprise the ordinary coast and river fisheries, and the pearl-fishing industry of Queensland and Western and Northern Australia; while there is a small export of whale oil from Tasmania. The pearlshell fisheries of Queensland show an export of £107,000 per annum, and of bêche-de-mer the value exported is, in round figures, £10,000. From Western Australia the export of pearlshell is about £87,000, and of pearls £20,000. Reckoning the home fisheries of all the states and New Zealand, as well as the pearl fisheries, the total production of the industry may be set down at £782,000.

Compared with the older countries of the world, the amounts stated in the table just given are by no means insignificant, and in production per head Australasia exceeds any other country for which records are available. Although the data on which an exact statement can be founded are incomplete, there is sufficient information to warrant the assertion that from primary industries alone Australasia produces more per inhabitant than is produced from the combined industries of any other country, and

a consideration of this fact will, perhaps, explain the ease with which these states bear their apparently great indebtedness, and the general prosperity they enjoyed until the disturbances incident to the banking crisis unsettled general business. The following figures, giving the value of production from primary industries in the principal countries of the world, are, with the exception of those for the Australasian states, taken from Mulhall's Dictionary of Statistics :—

Judged by the aggregate production, New South Wales stands above the other states, a position which it owes to the largeness of its interests in pastoral pursuits. The value of the return from this industry was £12,552,000, a sum almost equal to the total production from this industry in all the other Commonwealth States. In value of primary production per inhabitant, Western Australia stands easily first with the very high production of £56 2s. 3d. per head. New Zealand comes next, followed by Queensland. The high position occupied by Western Australia is due to its great production of gold, and to its large timber industries.

A comparison of the production of the states from primary industries per head of population, however, is liable to give an undue importance to those which have large territories and scanty population; for it is

but a natural expectation that where the population of a country is dense a large proportion of the inhabitants will be engaged in other than primary industries. If the value of primary production, therefore, be compared with the extent of territory enjoyed by each state, it will be found that the positions of several of the provinces are reversed. Thus, Victoria occupies first position with an average primary production of £244 2s. 4d. per square mile, while Western Australia has the second lowest return with £10 15s. 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. 5d., and per square mile of £206 Os. 2d. :

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 :

State.

Total production per

square mile.

A comparison of the value of production in 1901 with that of previous years brings out the fact that in spite of many adverse conditions these states are holding their own. In 1901 the value per head was £30 16s., which was greater than in 1891 or than in 1871, and only a few shillings below the average of 1881. This is an excellent result considering the continuous fall in prices from 1871 to 1894. If the prices of 1870-4, shown on page 376, had been maintained, the following would have been the value of production in the years indicated; for purposes of comparison the actual results are also quoted:

During the interval of ten years between 1891 and 1201 the sheep depastured in Australasia declined in number from 125 millions to 92 millions, while there was also a large decrease in other classes of stock, and the satisfactory results shown in this and the succeeding table were achieved in spite of the shrinkage in the return from the leading industry. The total value of production for each of the years Lamed was as follows:

The results per inhabitant for the same years were as follow :—

These figures show that since 1871 the value of production per head of population has increased in every state of the Commonwealth with the exception of Victoria, and as it is extremely probable that the returns from the manufacturing industry in that state are undervalued it may be said that the increase has been general throughout the Commonwealth, although proportionately larger in some states than in others. Taking the last period of ten years only, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand show increases, but the average for Australasia also increased slightly, and this must be regarded as satisfactory when it is considered that the year could not be regarded as a favourable one for the pastoral and agricultural industries.