upwards of eight times more that of the other. The total of auction duty in the last five years of Sir Ralph Darling was 61837.; in the first five of Sir Richard Bourke, 13,432/. 6. Post Office. This is a peculiarly interesting branch of Colonial Statistics, as it plainly indicates the enlargement of our commercial and social intercourse. The Post-office department, on any thing like a respectable footing, is of very recent creation; and Mr. Raymond, its present head, was the first officer deserving the appellation of Postmaster General. In the Darling administration, the revenue derived from the Post-office was, Thus, in the short space of three years, the Post-office revenue produced an increase on the first year of its regular establishment, of 15557.; and the gross amount of its first four years was 58281. In the Bourke administration it has been 1836..... 4974} The last year's revenue, as compared with that of the first in which the department was regularly established, shows an increase of 43761. The last year under Sir Richard Bourke, as compared with the last under Sir Ralph Darling, shows an increase of 28217. The first four years of the Post-office yielded a revenue of 58281.; the last four15,9877.; being an increase, in the short space of five years, of 10,1597. While this luxuriant growth is a triumphant proof of the active and prosperous state of colonial trade and commerce, it is but fair to ascribe it in part to the skill and vigilance of the head of the department-Mr. Raymond. 7. Crown Lands.-The present regulations for the disposal of Crown lands, by sale, came into operation in the year 1831; we therefore lay aside the accounts of earlier years, and commence with those of 1831. The revenue derived from this source was, £3617 Increase on the year £10,066 In 1831..... 1832.. 1833.. 26,272 The last of these six years, as compared with the first, exhibits the magnificent increase of 128,7791. The gross revenue realised by the sale of Crown lands, within that short period, was 308,8301.; and in the next six years, supposing the increase to be even somewhat less than that of the last two, there will be an additional revenue of at least one million sterling. 8. Rents of Tolls, Ferries, Markets, &c.-During the administration of Sir Ralph Darling, the revenue derived from this source was The last of these six years, as compared with the first, exhibits an increase of 1575%. In the five years of Sir Richard Bourke, the income 3612} Decrease on ditto 519 .... 1836..... The last of these five years, as compared with the first, gives the inconsiderable increase of 2251.; and even as compared with the first in Sir Ralph Darling's time, it shows an increase of only 3817. The total income derived in the last five years of the latter governor, was 18,258.; while in the five years of Sir Richard Bourke, it has been only 17,9787.; being a decrease of 2807. ! How is this to be accounted for? Surely our tolls and ferries must have kept pace with all the other sources of supply; and as to the market-dues, we take it for granted that since the new market-house of Sydney was thrown open, about the year 1832 or 1833, their produce must have increased considerably. Then, to what cause or causes is this strange falling off in the revenue to be attributed? We are at a loss to conjecture, unless it be that the decline has been in the "rents of government premises,” which are injudiciously mixed up with the tolls, ferries, and markets. The rents of those premises ought undoubtedly to be kept separate in the accounts, for they are purely adventitious and fluctuating, while the others are sources of permanent and legitimate revenue, and afford useful criteria of the advancement of inland trade and traffic. 9. Fees of Public Offices.-These fees are derived principally from the Supreme Court, the inferior Courts, and the Colonial Secretary's and Internal Revenue Offices. During the time of Sir Ralph Darling they yielded 4 Until about the years 1827 and 1828, the fees of several of the public offices were allowed to be pocketed by the officers, as perquisites either in aid or in lieu of salaries; but they were then, most properly, transferred to the public revenue, the remuneration of officers being altered to fixed salaries. This accounts for the sudden augmentation apparent in the above returns. The last year, as compared with the first, shows an increase in the income from fees of 43421. During Sir Richard Bourke's five years, the proceeds have been The last of these years shows an increase on the first of 13551. The last year under Šir Richard Bourke, as compared with the first under Sir Ralph Darling, shows an increase of 43301. The total income of the last five years of the Darling government was 25,628l. : that of the first five of the present governor, 35,4147.; being an increase of 97861. 10. Fines levied by Courts of Justice.-These afford some clue to the progressive state of crime. In Sir Ralph Darling's time the fines amounted to The last of these five years shows a decrease on the first of 791. Under Sir Richard Bourke the fines have yielded ditto...... 1025 2667} Ditto 1836... The last of these five years shows an increase on the first, of no less a sum than 25931.; as compared with the first year under Sir Ralph Darling, it shows an increase of 18587. The fines during the last five years of the Darling government amounted to 33307.; during the first five of the present government, to 50837.; being an increase of 17531. 11. This item "Proceeds of the Sales of Government Property"not forming part of the fixed and permanent revenue, is not worth our notice. 12. Water supplied to Shipping.-This is supplied from the dockyard, out of Mr. Busby's pipes; but it appears that no revenue was derived from it prior to the year 1833, when, we presume, the pipes were first brought into operation. The proceeds have been In 1833.. 1834.. 1835.. 1836..... £161} Decrease on the year 125 13. Church and School Estates.-The "rents and profits" of these estates were first, to use a phrase now very current in Parliament, "appropriated by the State"-in other words, merged in the Public Revenue -in the year 1834. Their amounts have been This is a paltry income to flow from estates so large, and comprising an immense proportion of the choicest lands in the colony. We should have expected from them at least ten times this amount; and it is impossible not to believe that they must have been most grossly mismanaged. We attach no blame to the agent appointed under the Act of Council, for his duty is confined to collecting; but blame, and great blame too, attaches to some quarter. 14. Rents of Pews in Churches.-These also were first thrown into our Consolidated Fund in 1834. Their produce-the produce, observe, of all the pews of all the Episcopalian Churches in the colony-has been 15. Repayment of Loans forms no part of the fixed revenue; but, 16. Repayments by Emigrants of advances made to them in England, in pursuance of the plan for encouraging emigration to New South Wales by means of our land revenue, are not unworthy our notice. VOL, I.-NO. I. F But, in order that we may the more justly appreciate the workings of this part of the scheme, it is necessary that we inquire to what extent cash advances had been made. By a return laid last year before the Legislative Council, we find that the sums advanced, from the year 1832, when the bounty system was first introduced, were as follows: Total advanced in the four years No repayments appear to have been made until the year 1834, and the sums are thus stated in the public accounts In 1834. 1835 1836 Total repaid..... .... £ S. d. 71 17 96 4 1965 6 10 £174 12 0 We have thus a balance unrepaid of 30,853l. 14s. 9d. The impossibility of getting back the advances, as they are now managed, became so evident to the government, that the attempt was soon relinquished, and the loans were converted into gifts. But these returns suggest another inquiry-namely, what proportion does the outlay in the cause of emigration bear to the income applicable to that cause? We have shown that the gross revenue derived from the sale of Crown lands during the last six years, amounted to.. £308,830 Amount expended in the encouragement of emigration, as shown above, during the whole of that period.. Balance unapplied... 31,028 £277,802 Thus we arrive at the fact, that of the revenue raised for the express and exclusive purpose of promoting useful emigration, and consecrated to that purpose by the solemn pledge of the King's Ministers, upwards of a quarter of a million sterling has been kept back-in part diverted from its legitimate uses, but principally left to rust in idleness. Having now gone through the more important items, it remains for us to trace the progress of The total Revenue. It will be interesting to carry back our review of the gross amount much further than the year 1826. We have before us a regular series of the annual revenue accounts from 1813 to 1822, a period which embraces nearly the whole of Governor Macquarie's administration; but those of Sir Thomas Brisbane's time we cannot at this moment procure. Under Macquarie, the revenue was |