Population and Trade. As defined by Royal Commission, Western Australia includes all that portion of the continent situated to the westward of 129° E. longitude. The greatest length of this territory is 1,280 miles from north to south, and 800 miles from east to west, while the occupied portion of the colony is about 600 miles in length from north to south, by about 150 miles in average breadth. The total estimated area of the colony is 975,920 English square miles, including islands. It is divided into 16 districts. Western Australia was first settled in 1829, and for many years the population was small. In 1850, the colony had not more than 6,000 inhabitants, but at the census of December 1859, the population had risen to 14,837-namely, 9,522 males and 5,315 females. On the 31st December 1867 the population numbered 21,713, At the census comprising 13,934 males and 7,779 females. taken on the 31st March 1870 the total population was 25,353, of whom 15,565 were males and 9,788 females. Included in these numbers were 1,790 male prisoners, either in prisons or at working depôts in various parts of the colony. At the end of 1878, the estimated population of the colony was 28,166, according to the returns of births and deaths; and the results of the census of April 3, 1881, gave a total population of 29,708-17,062 males and 12,646 females. This shows an increase since 1870 of 4,355, or 17 per cent., equal to 1.5 per cent. per annum. These populations do not include the aborigines, of whose numbers it is difficult to give even an approximate estimate, scattered as they are over an extensive territory, much of which is yet entirely unknown. There were 2,346 aborigines in service in the colony in 1881. Of the total population in 1881, 20,410 were returned as unmarried, and 17,773 as being natives of West Australia. Perth, the capital, had 5,044 inhabitants in 1886, Fremantle 3,641. In 1887 there were 1,556 births and 702 deaths, giving a surplus of 854. There were 4,450 arrivals and 2,400 departures; excess of arrivals over departures, 2,050; total gain during the year being 2,904; the total mean population being on December 31, 1887, 42,488. The religious division of the population was as follows at the census of April 3, 1881 : Religious divisions Church of England Roman Catholics Wesleyans Presbyterians . Number Per cent. Of the total white population above 15 years in 1881, 9.93 per cent. could neither read nor write. Education is compulsory. The agricultural prosperity of the colony has been greatly on the rise in recent years; still there were only 105,582 acres of land under cultivation at the end of 1887, out of a total of 678,400,222 acres. The live stock consisted, in 1887, of 41,100 horses, 93,544 cattle, and 1,909,940 sheep. At the census of 1881, 4,763 persons were returned as directly engaged in agricultural pursuits-exclusive of their families; 2,607 persons were engaged in industrial pursuits. In 1887, of the cultivated area, 27,512 acres were under wheat, 5,935 under barley, 1,680 under oats, and 25,807 under hay. The total area alienated in the colony up to the end of 1887 was 1,877,045 acres. Along the river-courses of the north and north-east of the colony are about 20,000,000 acres of fairly well-watered country, affording good pasturage. The total value of the imports and exports, including bullion and specie, of Western Australia, in the five years from 1883 to 1887, is shown in the subjoined statement : The principal exports were wool 333,7851., pearls and shells 123,3757., timber 76,3841., sandalwood 34,5321. The value of the commercial intercourse of Western Australia with Great Britain, according to the Board of Trade returns, is shown in the following table, which gives the total exports of the colony to Great Britain, and the total imports of British home produce, in each of the five years from 1883 to 1887 : The exports of the colony to Great Britain consist almost entirely of wool. The wool exports were of the value of 146,2027. in 1878, of 221,3897. in 1881, of 186,015l. in 1882, of 192,0367. in 1883, of 242,7907. in 1884, of 233,345l. in 1885, of 210,4657. in 1886, and of 229,0697. in 1887. The principal imports from Great Britain are apparel and haberdashery, 41,0391. in 1887; beer and ale, 32,6171.; cottons, 16,2291.; iron, 73,3897.; telegraphic wires and apparatus, 25,9137. Recent scientific researches prove the colony to be rich in mineral ore, principally copper, and coal has been found in small quantities. Gold was discovered in the north of the colony in 1886. In 1887, 266 vessels of 252,323 tons entered, and 248 of 240,527 tons cleared, the ports of the colony. There were 241 miles of railway open for traffic at the end of 1887 and 244 miles under construction. In 1887 there were 2,955 miles of telegraph line within the colony, with 38 stations; and from Albany the wire extends to South Australia. In 1887 there passed through the post office 2,253,814 letters, 1,133,096 newspapers, and 158,698 packets. Australasian Federation. By the Federal Council Act of Australasia, 1885' (48 & 19 Vict. cap. 60), it is premised that 'Whereas it is expedient to constitute a Federal Council of Australasia for the purpose of dealing with such matters of common Australasian interest, in respect to which united action is desirable, as can be dealt with without unduly interfering with the management of the internal affairs of the several Colonies by their respective Legislatures: Be it enacted . . . There shall be in and for Her Majesty's possessions in Australasia a Federal Council constituted as hereinafter provided, and called the Federal Council of Australasia, which shall have the functions, powers, and authority hereinafter defined. . . . A session of the Council shall be held once at least in every two years. 'Each Colony shall be represented in the Council by two members, except in the case of Crown Colonies, which shall be represented by one member each. Her Majesty at the request of the Legislatures of the Colonies may, by Order in Council from time to time, increase the number of representatives of each Colony.... Saving Her Majesty's prerogative, and subject to the provisions herein contained with respect to the operation of this Act, the Council shall have legislative authority in respect to the several matters following: (a) The relations of Australasia with the islands of the Pacific: (b) Prevention of the influx of criminals: (c) Fisheries in Australasian waters beyond territorial limits: (d) The service of civil process of the courts of any Colony within Her Majesty's possessions in Australasia out of the jurisdiction of the Colony in which it is issued (e) The enforcement of judgments of courts of law of any Colony beyond the limits of the Colony: (f) The enforcement of criminal process beyond the limits of the colony in which it is issued, and the extradition of offenders (including deserters of wives and children and deserters from the Imperial or Colonial naval or military forces): (g) The custody of offenders on board ships belonging to Her Majesty's Colonial Government beyond territorial limits: (h) Any matter which at the request of the Legislatures of the Colonies Her Majesty by Order in Council shall think fit to refer to the Council: (i) Such of the following matters as may be referred to the Council by the Legislatures of any two or more Colonies, that is to say-general defences, quarantine, patents of invention and discovery, copyright, bills of exchange and promissory notes, uniformity of weights and measures, recognition in other Colonies of any marriage or divorce duly solemnised or decreed in any Colony, naturalisation of aliens, status of corporations and joint stock companies in other Colonies than that in which they have been constituted; and any other matter of general Australasian interest with respect to which the Legislatures of the several Colonies can legislate within their own limits and as to which it is deemed desirable that there should be a law of general application. Provided that in such cases the Acts of the Council shall extend only to the Colonies by whose Legislatures the matter shall have been so referred to it and such other Colonies as may afterwards adopt the same. Every Bill in respect of the matters marked (a) (b) or (c) shall, unless previously approved by Her Majesty through one of Her Principal Secretaries of State, be reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure. The Governors of any two or more of the Colonies may, upon an address of the Legislatures of such Colonies, refer for the consideration and determination of the Council any questions relating to those Colonies or their relations with one another, and the Council shall thereupon have authority to consider and determine by Act of Council the matters so referred to it. 'Every Bill passed by the Council shall be presented for Her Majesty's assent to the Governor of the Colony in which the Council shall be sitting, who shall declare according to his discretion, but subject to the provisions of this Act and to Her Majesty's instructions, either that he assents thereto in Her Majesty's name, or that he withholds such assent, or that he reserves the Bill for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure, or that he will be prepared to assent thereto subject to certain amendments to be specified by him.' The federal union of the Australasian Colonies has, so far, only been partially accomplished by the appointment of a council, representing the colonies of Victoria, Queensland, South Australia (joined 1889), Tasmania, Western Australia, and Fiji; the colonies of New South Wales and New Zealand having up to the present time taken no steps to join the Union. The first meeting of the Council took place at Hobart on January 25, 1886. Measures were considered for extending the jurisdiction of the courts of the different colonies, so that their warrants and judgments will have operation throughout all territories represented by the Federal Council, and other useful work was done, including an agreement to act, in conjunction with the Imperial Government, for the fortification of King George's Sound and Torres Straits. The second meeting was held in January 1888. A Bill for regulating the bêche de mer fishing in Northern Queensland and other measures were passed. The third Session was opened on January 29, 1889. South Australia then entered the Federal Council for the first time. Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Australasia. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Agricultural Statistics of the Colony of New Zealand. Fol. Wellington, 1888. Australasia: Despatch on the subject of a Draft Bill to constitute a Federal Council of Australasia. London, 1884. Australasian Statistics, published annually, with Report, by H. H. Hayter, C.M.G., Government Statist of Victoria. Melbourne, 1887. Australasian Statistics, published annually, by T. A. Coghlan, A.M.Inst.C.E., Government Statistician of New South Wales. Sydney, 1888. British New Guinea (Queensland) Act of 1887. Brisbane, 1888. 1882. Census of New Zealand, taken on the 28th of March, 1886. Fol. Wellington. 1887. Census of Victoria, 1881. Fol. Melbourne, 1883. Census of the Colony of Queensland, taken on the 3rd April, 1881 Fol. Brisbane, 1882. Census of South Australia, taken on the 3rd April, 1881. Summary tables. Fol. Adelaide, 1881. Census of the Colony of Western Australia, taken on the 3rd April, 1881. Fol. Perth, 1882. Census of Tasmania, 1881. Hobart, 1883. |