The average weekly wages of females in the different industries enumerated were as follows: These figures must be accepted with a certain degree of caution. In each state a considerable number of juvenile workers is employed, but only in Victoria is their actual strength ascertained, and as the average weekly wage paid in any establishment would depend to a large extent on the proportion of juvenile labour employed, a fair comparison is impossible while that information is lacking. EMPLOYMENT AND PRODUCTION. O obtain a fair approximation of the number of persons engaged in the census of 1891 was taken, for although at the Census enumerations of 1881 and previous years the occupations of the people were made a feature of the inquiry, the classification, which followed closely that originally devised by the late Dr. Farr for the English Census, was unsatisfactory, as it completely failed to distinguish between makers and modifiers, and distributors. To avoid a repetition of this defect the Census Conference, held at Hobart in March, 1890, abandoned the English system and adopted a scheme of classification more in accordance with sound principles. This classification was reviewed at the conference of Statisticians held in Sydney in February, 1900, and was adopted, with very slight modification, for use at the decennial Census of 1901. Under this classification the population is divided into two broad sections-bread-winners and dependents-and the bread-winners are arranged in their natural classes of primary producers, makers and distributors, with their various orders and sub-orders. The classes may be briefly defined as follows: Section B.-Dependents: Non-Breadwinners. Dependents. The information relating to the various classes and orders in each state has been arranged and presented in as concise a manner as practicable, as it is impossible to enter minutely into details in a work such as this, and those who desire to pursue the subject further are referred to the Census Reports of the various states. BREAD-WINNERS AND DEPENDENTS. Of the total population of Australasia whose occupations were ascertained at the Census of 1901, the bread-winners numbered 1,979,484, and comprised 43.67 per cent., and the dependents 2,553,819, or 56:33 per cent. The number in each state and their proportion to the total population are shown below : Males Females Persons 451,403 | 389,381 | 182,146 | 120,328 85,382 57,585 1,286,225 | 272,077 1,558,302 421,182 1,979,484 Males 94,084 64,094 27,229 32,039 Females 256,634 | 210,980 685,060 131,164 816,224 The largest proportion of bread-winners is found in Western Australia, where this class comprises more than three-fourths of the male and nearly one-fifth of the female population. The striking feature of the table is the large number of bread-winners in the female population of Victoria, the proportion in that state being 24.27 per cent., while the corresponding figure for the Commonwealth is only 19-88 per cent. It is interesting to compare the figures presented above with those obtained at previous census periods. In 1871 the proportion of breadwinners to the total population of Australia was only 41.36 per cent. ; in 1881 it had increased to 42.36 per cent., and in 1891 to 43.14 per cent., while in 1901, as shown above, it was 43.64 per cent. Taking the male population for the same years, the proportion of bread-winners in 1871 was 62.43 per cent.; in 1881 it had risen to 63.26 per cent., and in 1891 to 64-27 per cent., while in 1901 it was 65.25 per cent. In the female population the increase was more striking, the proportion of bread-winners having increased from 16-03 per cent. in 1871 to 19.88 per cent. in 1901, the figures for the intermediate years 1881 and 1891 being 18.07 per cent. and 18.78 per cent. respectively. In New Zealand the proportion of bread-winners to total population was 40.94 per cent. in 1871, and 38.52 per cent. in 1881. Since the latter year there has been a considerable increase, the percentage in 1891 being 39.93, while in 1901 it was 43.80. In the male population the proportion increased from 60.95 per cent. in 1881 to 62.11 in 1891, and to 67-47 in 1901; while in the female population the bread-winners represented 11-26 per cent. of the population in 1881, 14.86 per cent. in 1891, and 17·70 per cent. in 1901. The number of bread-winners, male and female, in each of the various classes at the Census of 1901 was as follows: : CLASS VI.-Agricultural, PASTORAL, MINING, and other PRIMARY PRODUCERS. Males 168,212 | 140,149 | 79,413 | 45,898 35,081 25,439 494,192 108,007 602,199 38,944 3,914 533,136 111,921 42,858 645,057 |