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The chief items of expenditure during 1883-4 were as under :Interest on public debt, 677,0501.; endowments to municipalities, 43,3247.; endowments to divisional boards, 98,8891.; police, 400,9147.; public instruction, 154,0157.; colonial treasurer's department, 156,0331.; secretary of public lands department, 101,6541.; cost of working railways, 409,505l.; posts and telegraphs department, 252,6447. The total expenditure on public works from loans was 1,665,823., of which the following are the principal items-On immigration, 294,2897.; on electric telegraphs, 44,8531.; on railways, 1,103,1987.; on harbours and rivers, 123,1127.

The estimated revenue for 1884-5 is 2,748,500l., and the estimated expenditure 2,703,3591. The rateable value of the alienated land of the colony in 1883 was approximately 26,124,4667. This includes the value of land in process of alienation under deferred payments, and of lands leased for pastoral purposes, 3,053,1137. The public debt of the colony amounted, on June 30, 1884, to the sum of 16,570,8507.

Area and Population.

Queensland comprises the whole north-eastern portion of the Australian continent, including the adjacent islands in the Pacific Ocean and in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The territory is of an estimated area of 668,224 English square miles, with a seaboard of 2,250 miles. The colony formed, under the name of Moreton Bay, a part of New South Wales until it was erected into a separate colony, with the name of Queensland, by an order of Her Majesty in Council, which took effect on December 10, 1859, upon the arrival of the first Governor, Sir G. Bowen. Of the total area of the colony, 6,583,571 acres, or 2 per cent., have been alienated by the Government up to 1883, yielding a return of 4,532,0191. The greatest area which can be selected by an individual with a view to purchase from the Crown is 1,280 acres.

The first settlement of the colony was by convicts sent from Great Britain, the earliest of them arriving in 1825. In 1842 the country was thrown open to free settlers, and an enumeration taken in 1846 showed the total population, free and felon, to number 2,257. In 1851, the total population had increased to 8,575, and in 1856 to 18,544. The population amounted to 24,870 on December 31, 1859; to 29,074 in 1860; to 34,367 in 1861; to 45,077 in 1862; to 107,427 in 1868, to 125,146 in 1871, while on May 1, 1876, there was a total population of European descent of 173,283, of whom 105,009 were males, and 68,274 females. The census of April 3, 1881, gave the population as 213,525-125,325 males, 88,200 females. The number included 11,229 Chinese, of whom only 23 were females, principally engaged in the gold mines; and 6,348 Polynesians,' 5,975 of whom were males. No return is

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made of the aborigines, but police reports estimate their number at 20,585-10,719 males and 9,866 females. The estimated population on June 30, 1884, was 301,577.

Queensland is divided into 17 municipalities, 5 boroughs, 2 shires, and 85 divisions. The municipalities have local government somewhat similar to that which prevails in England. The largest

municipality as regards population is Brisbane. It contains the city of Brisbane, the capital of the colony, and the seat of government, with a population of 36,109 on Dec. 31, 1882. The three next largest towns of the colony are Rockhampton, with an estimated population of 7,435; Maryborough, with 10,700; and Ipswich, with 6,100 inhabitants in 1882.

The immigration into the colony has been mainly from the United Kingdom, and more recently to a considerable extent from China and the Pacific Islands. The immigration and emigration have been as follows during the five years 1879-83 :

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The bulk of the population are natives of the United Kingdom or the Australian colonies, there being, at the census of 1881, 36,695 of other nationalities. Of the total population 39 per cent. were born in Queensland, 18 per cent. in England, 5 per cent. in Scotland, 13 per cent. in Ireland. The following table shows the births, deaths, and marriages for 1879-83:

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Of the births, 362 or 3.66 per cent. in 1883 were illegitimate. In 1883, 97 persons were tried before the higher courts, and 72 convicted.

At the census of 1881 it was found that 33,267 persons were directly occupied with agriculture, 33,117 in industry, 10,742 in commerce, 4,325 in professions, and 122,438 were classed as domestic (wives, children, servants, &c.).

Trade and Industry.

The total value of the imports and exports of Queensland, in the five years from 1879 to 1883, is given in the following table:

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The commercial intercourse of Queensland is chiefly with the other Australasian colonies, and, next to them, with the United Kingdom. The leading exports besides gold are wool, valued at 2,277,8781. in 1883; hides and skins, 155,9981.; sugar, 539,2381.; and tin. The leading imports are textiles and apparel, metal goods, liquors, provisions, grain, and flour. The subjoined tabular statement gives, according to the Board of Trade returns, the value of the exports, exclusive of gold, from Queensland to the United Kingdom, and of the imports of British and Irish produce and manufactures into Queensland in each of the five years 1879 to 1883:

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The staple article of export from Queensland to the United Kingdom is wool, the value of which was 816,1587. in 1879, 839,1307. in 1880, 881,2557. in 1881, 1,087,8117. in 1882, and 1,302,7627. in 1883. The only other notable articles of export to Great Britain are preserved meat, of the value of 60,8967., and tallow, valued 79,5421. in 1883. Among the imports of British produce into Queensland in the year 1883, the chief were apparel and haberdashery, of the value of 248,0421.; iron, wrought and unwrought, of the value of 606,3261.: cottons, of the value of 193,6027.; and woollens, of the value of 104,8997.

In 1883, 936 vessels of 455,985 tons entered, and 867 of 426,506 tons cleared, the ports of the colony; of the former, 913 vessels of 445,028 tons were British, and of the latter, 847 of

415,360 tons. This does not include, as was the case in former years, vessels entering and clearing more than one port.

There are 7 banks established in Queensland, of which the following are the statistics for the end of 1883 :-Notes in circulation, 596,8967.; deposits, 6,162,951.; coin and bullion, 1,135,9007.; advances, 8,353,1277.

About one-half the area is under forest, though little has been done hitherto to develop the forestry of the colony. A large proportion of the area is leased in squatting runs for pastoral purposes, amounting to 486,763 square miles, or 311,528,320 acres, yielding in 1883 a rent of 238,0571.; the number of runs was 9,243. The live stock in 1883 numbered 236,154 horses, 4,246,141 cattle, 11,507,475 sheep, and 51,009 pigs. The total area under cultivation in 1883 was 167,476 acres, and of this 157,243 acres were under crop. The leading grain crop is maize. The growth of sugar-cane has in recent years been successful in 1883 there were 47,897 acres under this crop; of this the produce of 26,667 acres yielded 36,767 tons of sugar, valued at 997,0297. In 1883, 316 acres were under cotton, yielding 70,020 lbs. of clean cotton, valued at 2,9761.

There are several coal mines in the colony, the produce of which amounted to 104,269 tons in 1883, valued at 44,9271. Gold-fields were discovered in 1858, the produce of which in the year 1877 amounted to 373,266 ounces, valued at 1,306,4317.; in 1882 it was only 230,090 ounces, valued at 829,6557.; in 1883, 193,994 ounces were exported, valued at 698,1387. Tin, copper, and lead are also mined to some extent, the value of the tin raised (55,619 tons) in 1883 being 588,0127.

At the end of 1883 there were 1,038 miles of railway open for traffic in the colony, and 454 miles more in course of construction or authorised. The railways are all in the hands of the Government, and the cost of construction up to the end of 1883 has been 7,431,1427. The revenue from railways during 1883 was 548,1167., and the expenditure in working them 291,3477.

The post-office of the colony in the year 1883 carried 7,260,079 letters, 5,868,575 newspapers, and 650,685 packets. There were 538 post and receiving offices in the colony at the close of 1883. The post-office revenue was 75,6477. and the expenditure 167,4571.

At the end of 1883 there were in the colony 6,654 miles of telegraph lines, and 10,617 miles of wire, with 201 stations. The number of messages sent was 917,605 in the year 1883, and 100,745 received from places outside the colony. The receipts of the Department during that year were 70,5831., and the working expenses 76,2621. Agent-General for Queensland in Great Britain. The Hon. James Francis Garrick, Q.C.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

Constitution and Government.

THE Constitution of South Australia bears date October 27, 1856. It vests the legislative power in a Parliament elected by the people. The Parliament consists of a Legislative Council and a House of Assembly. The former (according to a law which came into force 1881) is composed of twenty-four members. Every three years the eight members whose names are first on the roll retire, and their places are supplied by two new members elected from each of the four districts into which the colony is divided for this purpose. The executive has no power to dissolve this body. It is elected by the whole colony voting as one district. The qualifications of an elector to the Legislative Council are that he must be twenty-one years of age, a natural-born or naturalised subject of Her Majesty, and have been on the electoral roll six months, be sides having a freehold of 50l. value, or a leasehold of 201. annual value, or occupying a dwelling-house of 251. annual value. The qualification for a member of Council is merely that he must be thirty years of age, a natural-born or naturalised subject, and a resident in the province for three years. The President of the Council is elected by the members.

The House of Assembly consists (1884) of fifty-two members elected for three years. The qualifications for an elector are that of having been on the electoral roll for six months, and of having arrived at twenty-one years of age; and the qualifications for a member are the same. There were 58,561 registered electors in 1883. Judges and ministers of religion are ineligible for election as members. The elections of members of both Houses take place by ballot.

The executive is vested in a Governor appointed by the Crown and an Executive Council, consisting of the responsible ministers and specially appointed members.

Governor of South Australia.-Sir William C. F. Robinson. K.C.M.G.; born 1832; Governor of the Falkland Islands, 1866-70: Governor of Prince Edward Island, 1870-3; Governor of the Leeward Islands, 1873-4; Governor of Western Australia, 1874-7 Governor of the Straits Settlements, 1877-80; again Governor of Western Australia, 1880-2. Appointed Governor of South Aus tralia, November 1882.

The Governor, who is at the same time commander-in-chief of the troops, has a salary of 5,000l. per annum. The ministry

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