The Statesman's Year-book

celebrate marriage in January, 1904, and the number of adherents of the various denominations according to the census results of 1901 :—

Education is under State control, and instruction is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 14 years; children unable to pay the school fee of threepence per week are educated free.

There were in 1903, 2,862 Government schools, divided into 3,084 departments, and classified as follows:-High schools 4; public and half-time schools 2,317; provisional schools 476; house-to-house schools 24; evening schools 41; total 2,862 schools.

During 1903 there were 243,516 children enrolled, and an average attendance of 154,382, with 5,540 teachers.

In 1903 the expenditure on Government schools was :-Gross State expenditure 861,5447.; less school fees 82,9067.; net expenditure 778,6387. Besides the Government schools, the Sydney Grammar School (649 pupils), three Reformatories and one Industrial School (643 pupils), and one school for the deaf and dumb, and the blind (95 pupils), receive subsidies from Government.

Of private schools there were 841, with 58,258 pupils and 3,368 teachers, of which 350 were Roman Catholic Denominational Schools having 1,778 teachers, and 40,989 pupils.

The University of Sydney, opened in 1852, receives from Government a yearly subsidy, amounting, with special aid, to 15,5337. in 1903. The total revenue for 1903 was 45,3731. There were 777 students and, in addition to 10 honorary lecturers and demonstrators, 68 professors, lecturers, &c. There are 3 theological colleges and a college for women, unsectarian. technical college, with branch schools, comprising classes in agriculture, physics, applied mechanics, &c., had a total enrolment of 16,561 in 1903.

The

The free public library at Sydney had 162,566 volumes in 1903. Most of the country towns have schools of art, mechanics' institutes, &c., with libraries attached, or municipal libraries. The Australian Museum, founded in 1836, is endowed by the State. There is a National Art Gallery at Sydney, a Technological, an Agricultural and Forestry Museum, also a Mining and Geological Museum.

Justice and Crime.

There are Courts of Magistrates, of Quarter Sessions, and the Supreme Court, with a chief justice and six puisne judges. All prisoners charged with offences bearing sentences of more than six months' imprisonment are tried by a jury of twelve persons, either at Quarter Sessions, or before the Supreme

Court. Prisoners charged with capital crimes must be tried before the Supreme Court.

Circuit courts are held at the principal towns in the State twice a year.

In the metropolitan district police courts are presided over by stipendiary magistrates; in the country districts, police magistrates and honorary justices of the peace adjudicate. The licensing of houses for the sale of spirituous and fermented liquors is transacted by magistrates specially appointed for that purpose.

In 1903 there were 51,379 convictions before magistrates; and 896 at Quarter Sessions and at Central Criminal and Circuit Courts; total convictions 52,275.

The police force of the State is 2,270 strong.

There are in all 61 gaols. On December 31, 1903, there were 1,822 prisoners in confinement.

2 Includes import and excise duties for six months ended December 31, 1900, only. 3 Including, for 1901, 883,2731., for 1902, 2,385,9051., for 1903, 3,053,1331., and for 1904, 2,683,4171., balance of revenue collected within the State by the Federal Government and returned.

Under the heading 'Services' is included revenue from railways, tramways, post, and telegraphs, water supply and sewerage, &c.

The control of the customs and excise having passed to the Commonwealth Government on January 1, 1901, the taxation is obtained from stamp duties, which realised during the year ended June 30, 1904, 462,570l., land tax, 322,2461., income tax, 193,2407., and licences, 122, 1377., total, 1,100,1937.

The following table shows the net expenditure exclusive of expenditure from loans:

The amount of the Public Debt on June 30, 1904, was 80,033,5817., with mean rate of interest 3.55 per cent. Of this amount fully 80 per cent. has been spent on the construction of railways, tramways, telegraphs and water supply, and sewerage controlled by Boards. The net return from these services for the year 1901-2 was equal to 3.21 per cent. of the cost of construction; or 2.59 per cent. of the existing Public Debt, exclusive of treasury bills in aid of deficiency of revenue. In June, 1904, the amount still to be raised on which the authority had not been withdrawn was 14,967,7977.

The expenditure of loans, exclusive of redemptions, up to June 30, 1904, has been: Railways and tramways, 47,903,7587.; telegraphs and telephones, 1,294,8877.; water supply and sewerage, 11,245,4791.; other works and services, 18,839,4137.; total, 79,283,5377.

The financial statistics of the incorporated boroughs and municipal districts are as follows for the municipal year 1903-1904 :

City of Sydney 1

Suburbs

44,834,400 273,747
51,337,200 245,092

Metropolis
Country

£ 2,291,780 3,377,890 5,669,670 96,171,600 518,839 496,740 2,339,742 2,681,750 38,046,700 315,335 331,031

246,749 1,585,000

249,991

754,742

591,769

Total.

8,351,420

134,218,300 834,174 827,771 2,931,511

1 Year ended December 31, 1903. 2 Year ended February 1, 1904.

3 Year ended February 2, 1903.

The estimated wealth of the State at the census of 1891, and at the close of the year 1901, when the latest estimate was made, was as follows:

For defence, see under Commonwealth of Australia. A naval establishment, the main works of which are at Garden Island, Sydney, has been completed. Sydney is the headquarters of the squadron in Australian waters, and has a dockyard, naval coaling station, and victualling and other stores. The cost of the defence of the State is borne by the Commonwealth Government.

Production and Industry.

I. AGRICULTURE.

In 1903-4 there were 2,542,919 acres under crop. About one fourth of the total area of the State is under forest. The cultivated land is principally to be found in small holdings of less than 500 acres. The State is divided legally, in accordance with its natural apportionment, into three parts, viz., the Eastern, Central, and Western divisions, and land is obtain. able under the following conditions:-1st, as a conditional purchase," in the two first-mentioned divisions, at the rate of 17. per acre, payable under a system of deferred payments, with interest at per cent. on outstanding balances. A "conditional lease may be taken in conjunction with a "conditional purchase," and with it is carried the right of conversion into "conditional purchase," at any time after confirmation of the application. In the Eastern division the minimum area to be conditionally purchased is 40 acres, and the maximum 640 acres ; a similar maximum limiting the area which may be conditionally leased; in the Central the maximum is 2,560 acres, which may be taken up either as a conditional purchase, or as a partlypurchased and partly-leased area. 2nd, by additional purchases under like conditions after the completion of the condition of residence upon the original selection, provided that the total area does not exceed the maximum acreage. 3rd. In the Central division the Land Act of 1895 provides for the acquisition of land on easy terms, but with stringent residential conditions attached, either as "homestead selections or as settlement leases," the maximum area of the former being 1,280 acres, and of the latter a similar extent of agricultural land, or 10,240 acres of grazing land. The obligations attached to a homestead selection are the payment of an annual rental based on the capital value and perpetual residence. The term of a settlement lease is twenty-eight years, with continuous residence during that period. 4th, by purchasing at 21. per acre, without the condition of residence, the maximum area being 320 acres. 5th, Government land is also sold at auction, the upset prices being 87. for town, 27. 10s. for suburban, and 17. 5s. per acre for country lots. The area sold is not to exceed 200,000 acres annually, and the maximum area for purchasers is for town lots

acre, for suburban lots 20 acres, and for country lots 640 acres. In the Western division the land is leased by the State to pastoral tenants under various forms. Land of more than ordinary value in each of the three divisions may be declared to be a special area, the price per acre not being less than 30s., and the maximum area that may be selected 320 acres in the Eastern division, and 640 in the Central and Western divisions.

In December, 1901, a new land bill had passed both houses of the Legislature, its main features being :-(1) Tenure of Western leaseholds extended to forty-two years, subject to resumption of one-eighth of the total area; (2) occupation licences similarly extended, but subject to open tender; (3) improvements become the property of the Crown at the end of the lease; (4) rent-minimum, 2s. 6d. per square mile; maximum, 7d. per sheep on the carrying capacity of the land.

The total land alienated or in process of alienation at the end of 1903 was 48,851,524 acres. The total land occupied under leases of various kinds was 127,901,840 acres. The following table gives the statistics of holdings of 1 acre and upwards for the past ten years ending March 31:

Acreage

1 to 15 acres. 16 to 200

201 to 400

401 to 1,000. 1,001 to 2,000 2,001 to 10,000

10,001 and upwards

1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904

12,301 13,101 14,082 15,179 15,882 16,631 17,266 18,207 18,956 19,774 25,707 26,529 27,627 28,404 28,546 28,971 29,225 29,260 29,493 30,117 8,299 8,315 8,579 8,679 8,587 8,780 8,851 8,930 9,069 9,391 7,569 7,423 7,517 7,623 7,827 8,132 8,351 8,553 8,634 8,762 2,475 2,436 2,557 2,631 2,650 2,728 2,811 2,908 2,961 3,046 2,013 2,046 2,109 2,108 2,123 2,162 2,232 2,252 2,276 2,308 656 679 672 674 671 694 703 719 738

730