the Legislative Assembly require no property qualification, and are elected by universal manhood suffrage, and no man may vote in more than one district, nor twice in the same district. Clergymen of any religious denomination are not allowed to hold seats in either the Legislative Council or the Legislative Assembly. Members of the Legislative Assembly are entitled to reimbursement for expenses at the rate of 3007. per annum, and members of both Houses have free passes over all the railways. In 1903-04 the number of electors on the roll of the Legisla tive Council was 134,016; the number of electors on the roll of the Legislative Assembly was 259,773. Of the former all but 294, and of the latter all but 45,720, are ratepayers. Governor. Major-General the Hon. Sir Reginald Talbot, K.C.B. Lieutenant Governor.—Hon. Sir John Madden, K.C.M.G. In the exercise of the executive he is assisted by a Cabinet of responsible ministers. The Ministry, October, 1904, is as follows: Premier, Treasurer and Minister of Railways.-Hon. T. Bent. Chief Secretary and Minister of Labour.-Hon. Sir Samuel Gillott. Minister of Public Instruction.-Hon. A. O. Sachse. Minister of Lands and Agriculture.—Hon. John Murray. Minister of Mines. -Hon. D. MacLeod. Without Portfolio.-Hons. W. Pitt, J. E. Mackey and T. Langdon. Under the Constitution Act 15,500l. was set apart for salaries of ministers, but owing to retrenchment the amount has been reduced to 8,4007.--the Premier receiving 1,4007. and the other ministers 1,000l. each. At least four of the ministers must be members of either the Legislative Council or the Assembly, but not more than two shall be members of the Council, nor more than six be members of the Assembly. Agent-General for Victoria in Great Britain.-Hon. J. W. Taverner, Offices, 142 Queen Victoria Street, E. C. LOCAL GOVERNMENT. For purposes of local administration the state is divided into urban and rural municipalities. The former, called cities, towns, and boroughs, ought not to be of a greater area than nine square miles, and in being constituted must contain at least 500 householders, and rateable property capable of yielding 3007. upon a rate of one shilling in the £. The latter, called shires, are portions of country, of undefined extent, containing rateable property capable of yielding a revenue of 1, 5007. on a rate of one shilling in the £. In 1904 there were 60 urban and 148 rural municipalities, only 650 square miles in the State not being included within their limits. Every ratepayer has one or more votes, according to the amount of his rates. Area and Population. The State, first settled in 1835, formed for a time a portion of New South Wales, bearing the name of the Port Phillip district. It was erected in 1851-by Imperial Act of Parliament, 13 & 14 Vict. cap. 59-into a separate colony, and called Victoria. The State has an area of 87,884 square miles, or 56,245,760 acres, about part of the whole area of Australia. The State is divided into 37 counties, varying in area from 920 to 5,933 square miles. 1 The growth of the population, as shown by census returns, is exhibited in the following table: The average density of the population is nearly 14 persons to the square mile, or one person to every 47 acres. The population in 1891 included 9,377 Chinese and 565 aborigines; in 1901, 7,349 Chinese and 652 aborigines. At the date of the census of 1901, 98 per cent. of the population were British subjects by birth; native Victorians numbered 876,003, or 73 per cent. of the population; natives of the other Australasian states, 65,094; of England and Wales, 117,108; of Ireland, 61,512; of Scotland, 35,751. Of the total population (exclusive of Chinese and aborigines) in 1901, there were 533,977 bread-winners and 662,206 dependants, while 4,887 were not accounted for. Of the bread-winners there were-professional, 35,221; domestic, 66,804; commercial, 79,047; industrial, 146,213; engaged in transport, 31,516; primary producers, 165,110 (including agricultural, 100,366; pastoral, 32,379; fisheries, 918; mining, 31,447); indefinite, 10,066. About three-fifths of the total population of Victoria live in towns. At the end of 1903 it was estimated that the town population numbered 708,630, out of a total population of 1,208,854. Inclusive of the suburbs the estimated population in December 1903 of Melbourne was 501,460, or two-fifths of the population; and the populations in 1903 of the undermentioned towns were as follow:-Ballarat, 51,320; Bendigo (Sandhurst), 42,540; Geelong, 25,801; Warrnambool, 6,600; Castlemaine, 8,003, and Stawell, 5,200. The following are the births, deaths, and marriages in the state for five years: 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 state; but since 1874 State-assisted immigration has ceased. The recorded immigration into and emigration from the state of Victoria by sea were as follow in each of the five years : Of the immigrants in 1903, 33,275 were males and 19,481 were females, and of the emigrants 40,803 were males and 25,356 females. In the two years, 1899 to 1900, there was an excess of emigrants over immigrants amounting to 1,563 in 1899, and 1,527 in 1900, chiefly in consequence of departures to the gold fields of Western Australia, but in 1901 the immigrants exceeded the emigrants by 2,981. In 1902, however, the emigrants again exceeded the immigrants by 10,376, and in 1903 by 13, 403. 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 census of 1901 about 74 per cent. of the population were Protestants, 22 per cent. were Roman Catholics, and a half per cent. were Jews. The following were the enumerated numbers of each of the principal divisions in 1901 :-Episcopalians, 432,704; Presbyterians, 191,503; Methodists, 180,272; other Protestants, 91,625; Roman Catholics, 263,710; Jews, 5,907; Buddhists, Confucians, &c., 4,993; others (including unspecified), 30, 627. 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, and the building was opened on October 3, 1855. The Institution received in 1902-1903, by way of endowment, 13,5007. out of the general revenue. 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. The School of Mines at Ballarat is also affiliated to the University. From the opening of the University to the end of 1903, 4,895 students matriculated, and 3,074 direct degrees were conferred. In 1903 the students who matriculated numbered 111, the direct graduates numbered 135, and there were 628 students attending lectures. Public instruction is strictly secular; it is compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 13, and free for the subjects comprised in the ordinary course of instruction. In 1903 there were 1,988 State schools, with 5,037 teachers, a total enrolment of 251, 655 scholars, and an average attendance of 150,268, or about 60 per cent. of the numbers on the roll. Practically all the children of school age living in the State are being edu cated, and about 85 per cent. of them at State schools. Amongst persons aged 15 years and upwards at the census of 1901, 95 per cent. were able to read and write, and only 2 per cent. were entirely illiterate. In 1902-3 the total cost of public (primary) instruction, exclusive of expenditure on buildings, was 674,0767.-all paid by the State. Although the education given by the State is strictly primary, it awards 20 exhibitions and 60 scholarships, while 110 scholarships were awarded by the leading private colleges to the ablest scholars to enable them to complete their education at the University, and at the private grammar schools, respectively. Secondary education is entirely under the control either of private persons or proprietary bodies, usually connected with some religious denomination. There were in 1903 798 private schools in Victoria, with 2,369 teachers, and a net enrolment of 45,650 scholars. Nearly one-fourth of these schools, about one-third of the teachers, and over half of the scholars were estimated to be 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 other educational establishments embrace 18 technical schools under the control of the Education Department, viz., 3 working men's colleges, 5 schools of arts, and 10 schools of mines. There were also an agricultural and a horticultural college. In 1903 there were 138 teachers attached to the technical schools, irrespective of agricultural colleges, and the gross enrolment of pupils was 3,173. The public library of Melbourne has about 170,017 volumes on the shelves (excluding duplicates). The leading towns have either a public library or a mechanics' institute. For 1903, 414 furnished returns. The total number of volumes in the libraries, exclusive of Melbourne, was about 677,562. 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 : There are 10 prisons in Victoria, besides police gaols. At the end of 1903 there were confined in these prisons 849 males and 129 females. Finance. The actual revenue and expenditure of the State in each of the five years ended June 30 were: The following table shows the actual amounts of State revenue and expenditure under the principal heads during 1902-03 1 Transferred to Commonwealth. 2 Including proportion of surplus revenue returned by Commonwealth amounting to 2,105,450l. |