The average density of the population is 12.5 persons to the square mile, or one person to every 51 acres.

The following table gives a summary of the population of Victoria, according to the census taken on April 3, 1881:

During the last decade there has been a large decrease in the number of the Chinese and aborigines.

At the date of the last census 96 per cent. of the population were British subjects by birth; native Victorians numbered 499,199, or 58 per cent. of the population; natives of the Australian colonies, 39,861; of England and Wales, 147,453; of Ireland, 86,733; of Scotland, 48,153.

Of the total population in 1881, 108,919 were directly engaged in agriculture; in pastoral pursuits, 13,731; commercial, 23,559; mining, 36,066; in 'entertaining or clothing,' 41,712; contractors, artisans, and mechanics, 46,883; domestic servants, 24,723; public business,' 9,901.

More than one-half of the total population of Victoria live in towns. At the end of 1888 it was estimated that the town population numbered 633,210, out of a total population of 1,090,869.

Inclusive of the suburbs the estimated populations of the principal towns were as follow in 1888:--Melbourne, 437,785, or two-fifths of the population of the colony; Ballarat, 40,753; Sandhurst, 36,020; Geelong, 20,984; Castlemaine, 8,900.

The following are the births, deaths, and each of the five years from 1884 to 1888 :

marriages in the colony for

In the 37 years from 1838 to the end of 1874, more than 167,000 immigrants received assistance from the public funds for defraying their passage to the colony; but since 1874 State-assisted immigration has ceased. No account is taken of migration overland across the borders, but the recorded immigration into and emigration from the colony of Victoria by sea were as follow in each of the five years from 1884 to 1888:-

Of the immigrants in 1888, 68,575 were males and 33,457 were females; and of the emigrants 41,380 were males and 18,849 females. The excess

of immigrants over emigrants in 1888 was 41,803, of which 9,894 was due to immigration from the United Kingdom, 31,043 from the neighbouring colonies, and 866 from foreign countries.

Religion.

There is no State Church in Victoria, and no State assistance has been given to religion since 1875. Prior to that period a sum of 50,000l. had been set apart annually out of the general revenue for the advancement of the Christian religion in Victoria, and this amount had been distributed proportionately amongst the various denominations. At the date of the last census about 73 per cent. of the population were Protestants, 24 per cent. were Roman Catholics, and a half per cent. were Jews. The following were the estimated numbers of each of the principal divisions in 1888:Episcopalians, 383,505; Presbyterians, 163,221; Methodists, 133,439; other Protestants, 81,355; Roman Catholics, 250,440; Jews, 5,331; Buddhists, Confucians, &c., 11,310; others (including unspecified), 33,449.

Instruction.

Educational establishments in Victoria are of four kinds, viz. the University with its three affiliated colleges, State schools (primary), technical schools or colleges, and private schools. The Melbourne University was established under a special Act of the Victorian Legislature (1858), and the building was opened on October 3, 1855. The Act, which was amended in 1880, provides for its endowment by the payment of 9,0001. annually out of the general revenue; but, besides this sum, an additional endowment of 7,5007. is now annually voted by Parliament, making a total endowment of 16,500l. It is both an examining and a teaching body, and in 1859 received a royal charter empowering it to grant degrees in all Faculties except Divinity.

Affiliated to the University are three colleges-Trinity, Ormond, and Queen's-in connection with the Church of England, Presbyterian, and Wesleyan Churches respectively. From the opening of the Universit to the end of 1888, 2,716 students matriculated, and 992 direct deg were conferred. In 1888 the students who matriculated numbered

the direct graduates numbered 118, and there were 539 students attending lectures.

Public instruction is strictly secular; it is compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 15, with certain exceptions, and free for the subjects comprised in the ordinary course of instruction. In 1888 there were 1,933 State schools, with 4,400 teachers, a total enrolment of 242,046 scholars, and average attendance 128,958, or nearly 54 per cent. of the numbers on the roll. In 1888 over 95 per cent. of the children of school age living in the colony were being educated during some portion of the year, 78 per cent. at the State schools. Amongst persons aged 15 years and upwards at the census of 1881, 92 per cent. were able to read and write, and only 3 per cent. were entirely illiterate. In 1887-88 the total cost of public instruction, exclusive of expenditure on buildings, was 617,0397. Although the education given by the State is strictly primary, eleven exhibitions-of the yearly value of 351. each, and tenable for six years-and 200 scholarships-of the annual value of 107. tenable for three years are awarded to the ablest scholars to enable them to complete their education at the private grammar schools and at the University. Secondary education is entirely under the control either of private persons or proprietary bodies, usually connected with some religious denomination. There were in 1888 749 private schools in Victoria, with 1,812 teachers, and attended by 37,823 scholars. These numbers include 185 schools, 568 teachers, and 21,461 scholars in connection with the Roman Catholic denomination, the members of which do not as a rule avail themselves of the free education afforded by the State.

The technical schools and other educational establishments embrace three Schools of Mines, an Agricultural College, and a Working Man's College.'

The public library of Melbourne has about 200,000 volumes. The leading towns have either a public library or a Mechanics' Institute. On Jan. 1, 1887, they numbered 303. The total number of volumes in the libraries, exclusive of Melbourne, was 373,980.

Justice and Crime.

There is a Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and four puisne judges. There are courts of general and petty sessions, county courts, courts of insolvency, courts of mines, and courts of licensing. The following are the criminal statistics for five years :

The total number convicted of serious crimes in 1888 was 557. There are 9 prisons in Victoria, besides police gaols. At the end of 1887 there were confined in these prisons 685 males and 334 females, of whom 214 males and 50 females had been convicted of felony.

Finance.

The revenue and expenditure of the colony in each of the five financial years ended June 30, from 1885 to 1889, were as follow:

:

The following table shows the amount of revenue and expenditure under the principal heads during 1888-89, the figures being approximate :

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE, 1888-89.

The revenue for 1889-90 is estimated at 8,269,8457., and expenditure at 9,730,3591. ; and there was expected to be a credit balance of 147,0457., to be carried forward to the next year.

The amount raised by taxation, as shown in the last table, viz: 3,733,6504, was equivalent to a proportion of 31. 78. 7d. per head of population.

Victoria has a debt, incurred in the construction of public works, which amounted, at the end of December 1889, to 37,627,3821. Of this sum, 26,425,7067. was borrowed for the construction of railways, 5,345,150l. for waterworks, 1,105,5577. for State school buildings, and 1,750,9691. for other public works. The rate of interest on the public debt varied from 4 to 6 per cent., and averages about 44 per cent.

The estimated total value of the rateable property of the colony in 1888 was 167,385,2107., and the annual value 11,913,4737.

Defence.

The land forces of Victoria at the end of 1888 comprised an establishment of 5,439 men of all arms, of whom 315 were officers, 234 non-commissioned officers, and 4,890 rank and file. The rifles and carbines in the possession of the land forces number 5,869. The number of garrison and field guns in possession of the land forces is 132.

The Victorian fleet consists of the flag-ship Nelson, which carries two 7-in. 116-pr. Woolwich guns; eighteen 45-cwt. 64-pr. shunt guns, and two Gatling guns; the armoured turret-ship Cerberus, which carries four 10-in. 18-ton muzzle-loading guns, and six 1-in. Nordenfeldt guns; the steel gunboat Victoria, which carries one 10-in. 25-ton breech-loading gun, two 13-pr.breech-loading guns, and two 1-in. Nordenfeldt guns; the steel gunboat Albert, which carries one 8-in. 11-ton breech-loading gun, one 6-in. 3-ton breech-loading gun, two 9-pr. breech-loading guns, and two Nordenfeldt guns; the torpedo boat Childers (first class), which carries, besides Whitehead torpedoes, two Hotchkiss guns; the torpedo boats Nepean and Lonsdale (second class), for Whitehead torpedoes; the torpedo wooden steam launch Commissioner, the Customs and the Harbour Trust steamers Batman, Fawkner, and Gannet, each of which carries one 6-in. breechloading gun, and one new pattern Gatling gun; the wooden torpedo-boat Gordon, which carries one 1-in. Nordenfeldt gun and five torpedoes; the steel Custom steamer Lady Loch, which carries one 6-in. breech-loading gun and two 1-in. Nordenfeldt guns; and the wooden steam launch Custom No. 1, fitted with torpedoes.

Production and Industry.

I. AGRICULTure.

Of the total area of Victoria about 22,493,913 acres are either alienated or in process of alienation. Of the remainder only about 8,400,000 acres are at present suitable for agriculture; 7,000,000 acres for pastoral purposes; land covered with smaller scrub, 11,500,000 acres; State forests, timber and other reserves, over 1,650,000 acres; auriferous land, nearly 1,500,000 acres; and roads, 1,300,000.

The total number of cultivated holdings in 1888 was 37,615.

The following table shows the areas under the principal crops and the produce of each for five years :—