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year's expenditure is for administrative charges, comprising salaries of judges, &c., civil establishments, defences, police, gaols, and prisons.

The public debt of the State, dating from 1852, amounted, on June 30, 1903, to 29,300,0957. Over half of the public debt has been spent on railways, water-works, and telegraphs. The railways show a profit over working expenses of about 37. 10s. per cent. per annum.

The real property of the State in 1901 was valued at 56,060,0007., and personal property is estimated at 28,056,2947.

Production and Industry.

Of the total area including Northern Territory (578,361,600 acres) 8,274,414 acres were alienated at the end of 1903. The area under forest is 13,655 acres. The freehold and leasehold land in S.A. proper amounts to 98,569,060 acres, of which 3,291,083 acres were under cultivation in 1903-4.

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In 1903, 561,830 gallons of wine were exported. Fruit culture is extensively carried on in gardens (9,964 acres), and orchards (18,725 acres), both fresh and dried fruit being exported. The chief fruit crops, besides grapes, being currants, apples, apricots, peaches, almonds, oranges, lemons, olives (yielding about 12,000 gallons of oil). The live stock of South Australia in March, 1904, consisted of 176,648 horses, 244,610 cattle, and 5,298,720 sheep, besides 15,763 horses, 291,970 cattle, and 51,538 sheep in Northern Territory. In 1903, the area of 116,974 square miles was held under 521 pastoral leases.

The mineral wealth as yet discovered consists chiefly in copper, silver and gold. The value of the copper ore produced and exported in 1903 was 54,9227., and of copper, 417,0377.; the output of gold amounted to 27,829 ounces, and the total value of all minerals produced and exported including Northern Territory was 583,9267.

In 1902 there were 1,275 factories in the State, employing 18,780 people. There were 39 iron and brass furnaces, employing 2,572 people, and 31 manufacturers of agricultural implements, &c., to 283 people.

Commerce, Shipping, and Railways.

The Commerce of South Australia, exclusive of inter-State trade, is comprised in the statement of the Commerce of Australia given under the heading of the Commonwealth.

The total value of imports and exports, inclusive of inter-State trade, in each of the last six years, was as follows:

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The chief exports of the State are wool, wheat, wheat-flour, and copper. The registered shipping in 1903 consisted of 216 sailing vessels of 19,560 tons, and 113 steamers of 38,036 tons; total, 329 vessels of 57,596 tons.

In 1903, 1,047 vessels of 2,060,547 tons entered, and 1,023 vessels of 2,025,607 tons cleared the ports of the State.

The State possesses 2,684 miles of metalled made roads. It had 1,882 miles of railway open for traffic in December 1903 (1,736 miles in South Australia and 146 in the Northern territory). Revenue in 1903, 1,076,6127.; working expenses in 1903, 624,5117. Of 502 miles the gauge is 5ft. 3in., and of the remainder 3ft. 6in. The railways pay about 3 per cent. profit to the Government. A railway across the continent to connect Adelaide with Port Darwin is projected.

Banks.

There are 7 banking associations. In 1903 their total liabilities were 6,472,8877., and assets 6,547,4477. The average note circulation was 380,1167. and deposits 5,926,1147.

The Savings Bank is managed by a board of trustees appointed by the Government, and has 154 branches. On June 30, 1904, there were 141,572 depositors, with a total balance of 4,217,8367.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning

Annual Statistical Register.

South Australia.

Census of South Australia, taken on March 31, 1901. Adelaide, 1902. Blackmore (E. G.), The Law of the Constitution of South Australia. Adelaide, 1894. Brown (H. Y. L.), A Record of the Mines of South Australia. 3rd ed Adelaide, 1899. Conigrave (J. F.), South Australia: a Sketch of its History and Resources. A Handbook compiled for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London, 1886. Adelaide, 1886.

Finniss (B. T.), The Constitutional History of South Australia (1836-1857). London, 1886

Gordon (D. J.), The Central State. South Australia: Its History, Progress, and Resources. Adelaide, 1903.

Gouger (R.), The Founding of South Australia. Edited by E. Hodder. London, 1898. Harcus (William), South Australia: its History, Resources, Productions, and Statistics. London, 1876.

Hodder (Edwin), The History of South Australia. With Maps. 2 vols. 8 London, 1893. Newland (S.), The Far North Country. Adelaide, 1887.

Pascoe (J. J.) (Editor), History of Adelaide and its Vicinity, with a Gencral Sketch of the Province of South Australia and Biographies of Representative Men. Adelaide, 1901. Rees (W. L.), Sir George Grey, K.C B.: His Life and Times. 2nd edition. 2 vols. 8. London, 1892.

Woods (J. D.), The Province of South Australia, with a Sketch of the Northern Territory by H. D. Wilson. Adelaide, 1894.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Constitution and Government.

Western Australia was the last of the colonies on the continent to obtain responsible government. In 1890 the administration, which had before been vested in the Governor, assisted by a Legislative Council, partly nominated and partly elective, was vested in the Governor, a Legislative Council, and a Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council was, in the first instance, nominated by the Governor, but it was provided that in the event of the population of the Colony reaching 60,000, it should be elective. In 1893 this limit of population being reached, as set forth in a proclamation dated 18th July of that year, the Colonial Parliament passed an Act (57 Vict. No. 14) amending the constitution.

By the Constitution Acts Amendment Act, 1899, it is provided that the Legislative Council shall consist of 30 members representing 10 electoral provinces and holding their seats for six years. Members must be 30 years of age, resident in the State for two years, and either be natural-born British subjects or naturalized for 5 years and resident in the State for 5 years. Every elector must have resided in the State for 6 months, and must possess within the province freehold estate of the clear value of £100, or be a householder occupying a dwelling house of the clear annual value of £25, or holder of a lease of the value of £25 per annum, or the holder of a lease or license from the Crown of the annual rental of £10, or have his name on the electoral list of a Municipality or Roads Board in respect of property in the province of the annual rateable value of £25. The Legislative Assembly consists of 50 members, each representing one electorate, and elected for 3 years. Members must be 21 years of age, have resided in Western Australia for twelve months, and be either natural born subjects of the Crown or naturalized for 5 years. Electors must be 21 years of age, natural-born or naturalized subjects of the Crown, and must have resided in the State for 6 months and be on the roll, and must either be resident in the district, or hold freehold estate in the district of the clear value of £50, or be householders occupying a dwelling house of the annual value of £10, or holders of a lease of the annual value of £10, or holders of a lease or license of Crown lands at an annual rental of £5, or have their names on the electoral list of a municipality or Roads Board in respect of property within the district. Electors for both Houses may be of either sex. No person can be registered as a voter in more than one province or district. Members of the Legislature are paid 2007. a year, and travel free on all Government railways, and by courtesy are allowed the same privilege on private lines. The entire management and control of the waste lands of the Crown in Western Australia is vested in the Legislature of the State.

Governor.-Admiral Sir F. G. D. Bedford, G. C. B.

The salary provided for the Governor is 4,000l. per annum. He is assisted in his functions by a cabinet of responsible ministers, as follows (September, 1904):

Premier and Colonial Treasurer. also Minister for Education.-Hon. H. Daglish.

Minister for Mines and Justice.-Hon. R. Hastie.

Minister for Lunds.-Hon. J. M. Drew.

Minister for Works.-Hon. W. D. Johnson.

Colonial Secretary.-Hon. G. Taylor.

Minister for Railways and Labour.-Hon. J. B. Holman.

Minister without Portfolio.-Hon. W. C. Angwin.

Agent-General in London.-Hon. Walter Hartwell James, K. C.
Secretary.-R. C. Hare.

Offices.-15, Victoria Street, Westminster.

Area and Population

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 from Cape Londonderry in the north to Peak Head (south of King George Sound) in the south is 1,480 miles, and its breadth from Steep Point near Dirk Hartogs Island, on the west, to the 129th meridian, on the east, about 1,000 miles. According to the latest computations, the total estimated area of the State is 975,920 English square miles, or, 624,588,800 acres. It is divided into 37 magisterial districts.

Western Australia was first settled in 1829, and for many years the population was small.

The enumerated population in the various census years was as follows:

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The population in 1901 (not included in the table).

contained 5,261 pure and 951 half-caste aborigines Of the total population, 52,663 were returned as born in Western Australia. The number of married persons was 59,106 (32,063 males and 27,043 females); widowers, 2,932; widows, 3,112; divorced, 111 males and 42 females; unmarried, 77,546 males and 41,004 females. The number of males under 21 was 35,890, and of females 33,552. Of the males over 21, 41,624 had never been married, and of the females over 21, 8,176. Perth, the capital, had a population of 27,553; Fremantle, 14,704. The principal towns with census population of 1901, and the population according to a rough enumeration of 1903, are :

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The movement of population in 5 years is given as follows:-
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In 1902 there were 247, in 1903 315 illegitimate births.

Religion.

The religious division of the population was as follows at the census of 1901-Anglicans, 75,617; Wesleyans, 17,823; other Methodists, 6,717; Presbyterians, 14,707; Congregationalists, 4,404; Baptists, 2,914; other Protestants, 6,683; Roman Catholics, 40,584; Catholics (Greek and undefined), 1,481; other Christians, 561; Jews, 1,259; Mahometans, 1,191; other nonChristians. 992; indefinite, 3,437; no religion, 1,675; not stated, 4,079.

Instruction.

Of the total white population of 15 years and upwards in 1901 3.65 per cent. were stated to be unable to read or write. Education is compulsory. The following table shows the average cost per head and attendance in Government schools and in assisted schools in three years :

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The grants to private schools ceased from 1895, but compensation was made to the schools that had so far received subsidy, the sum of £15,000 being divided amongst them in proportion to the grants received by them during 1895.

The total sum spent on education and schools during the financial year ended June 30, 1904, was 134,3377.

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