Page:EB1911 - Volume 02.djvu/1004

 strength of the flocks, great improvements in the quality and weight of fleeces, this item is likely to show permanent advancement. The exports of breadstuffs—chiefly to the United Kingdom—exceed six millions per annum, butter two and a half millions, and minerals of all kinds, except gold, six millions. Gold is exported in large quantities from Australia. The total gold production of the country is from £14,500,000 to £16,000,000, and as not more than three-quarters of a million are required to strengthen existing local stocks, the balance is usually available for export, and the average export of the precious metal during the ten years, 1896–1905, was £12,500,000 per annum. The chief articles of import are apparel and textiles, machinery and hardware, stimulants, narcotics, explosives, bags and sacks, books and paper, oils and tea.

Lines of steamers connect Australia with London and other British ports, with Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, China, India, San Francisco, Vancouver, New York and Montevideo, several important lines being subsidized by the countries to which they belong, notably Germany, France and Japan.

Railways.—Almost the whole of the railway lines in Australia are the property of the state governments, and have been constructed and equipped wholly by borrowed capital. There were on the 30th of June 1905, 15,000 m. open for traffic, upon which nearly £135,000,000 had been expended.

The railways are of different gauges, the standard narrow gauge of 4 ft. 8 in. prevailing only in New South Wales; in Victoria the gauge is 5 ft. 3 in., in South Australia 5 ft. 3 in. and 3 ft. 6 in., and in the other states 3 ft. 6 in. Taking the year 1905, the gross earnings amounted to £11,892,262; the working expenses, exclusive of interest, £7,443,546; and the net earnings £4,448,716; the latter figure represents 3·31% upon the capital expended upon construction and equipment; in the subsequent year still better results were obtained. In several of the states, New South Wales and South Australia proper, the railways yield more than the interest paid by the government on the money borrowed for their construction. The earnings per train-mile vary greatly; but for all the lines the average is 7s. 1d., and the working expenses about 4s. 5d., making the net earnings 2s. 8d. per train-mile. The ratio of receipts from coaching traffic to total receipts is about 41%, which is somewhat less than in the United Kingdom; but the proportion varies greatly amongst the states themselves, the more densely populated states approaching most nearly to the British standard. The tonnage of goods carried amounts to about 16,000,000 tons, or 4 tons per inhabitant, which must be considered fairly large, especially as no great proportion of the tonnage consists of minerals on which there is usually a low freightage. Excluding coal lines and other lines not open to general traffic, the length of railways in private hands is only 382 m. or about 2% of the total mileage open. Of this length, 277 m. are in Western Australia. The divergence of policy of that state from that pursued by the other states was caused by the inability of the government to construct lines, when the extension of the railway system was urgently needed in the interests of settlement. Private enterprise was, therefore, encouraged by liberal grants of land to undertake the work of construction; but the changed conditions of the state have now altered the state policy, and the government have already acquired one of the two trunk lines constructed by private enterprise, and it is not likely that any further concessions in regard to railway construction will be granted to private persons.

Posts and Telegraphs.—The postal and telegraphic facilities offered by the various states are very considerable. There are some 6686 post-offices throughout the Commonwealth, or about one office to every 600 persons. The letters carried amount to about 80 per head, the newspapers to 32 per head and the packets to 15 per head. The length of telegraph lines in use is 46,300 m., and the length of wire nearly three times that distance. In 1905 there were about 11,000,000 telegraphic messages sent, which gives an average of 2·7 messages per inhabitant. The postal services and the telegraphs are administered by the federal government.

Banking.—Depositors in savings banks represent about twenty-nine in every hundred persons, and in 1906 the sum deposited amounted to £37,205,000 in the names of 1,152,000 persons. In ordinary banks the deposits amounted to £106,625,000, so that the total deposits stood at £143,830,000, equivalent to the very large sum of £34, 18s. per inhabitant. The coin and bullion held by the banks varies between 20 and 24 millions sterling and the note circulation is almost stationary at about 3 millions.

Public Finance.—Australian public finance requires to be treated under the separate headings of Commonwealth and states finance. Under the Constitution Act the Commonwealth is given the control of the postal and telegraph departments, public defence and several other services, as well as the power of levying customs and excise duties; its powers of taxation are unrestricted, but so far no taxes have been imposed other than those just mentioned. The Commonwealth is empowered to retain one-fourth of the net revenue from customs and excise, the balance must be handed back to the states. This arrangement was to last until 1910. Including the total receipts derived from the customs, the Commonwealth revenue, during the year 1906, was made up as follows:—

The return made to the states was £7,385,731, so that the actual revenue disposed of by the Commonwealth was less by that amount, or £4,493,612. The expenditure was distributed as follows:—

The states have the same powers of taxation as the Commonwealth except in regard to customs and excise, over which the Commonwealth has exclusive power, but the states are the owners of the crown lands, and the revenues derived from this source form an important part of their income. The states have a total revenue, from sources apart from the Commonwealth, of £23,820,439, and if to this be added the return of customs duties made by the federal government, the total revenue is £31,206,170. Although the financial operations of the Commonwealth and the states are quite distinct, a statement of the total revenue of the Australian Commonwealth and states is not without interest as showing the weight of taxation and the different sources from which revenue is obtained. For 1906 the respective revenues were:—

The revenue from direct taxation is equal to 15s. 10d. per inhabitant, from indirect taxation £2 : 4 : 6, and the total revenue from all sources £35,699,782, equal to £8 : 16 : 2 per inhabitant. The federal government has no public debt, but each of the six states has contracted debts which aggregate £237,000,000, equal to about £58, 8s. per inhabitant. The bulk of this indebtedness has been contracted for the purpose of constructing railways, tramways, water-supplies, and other revenue-producing works and services, and it is estimated that only 8% of the total indebtedness can be set down for unproductive services.

Information regarding Australian state finance will be found under the heading of each state.

The origin of the natives of Australia presents a difficult problem. The chief difficulty in deciding their ethnical relations is their remarkable physical difference from the neighbouring peoples. And if one turns from physical criteria to their manners and customs it is only to find fresh evidence of their isolation. While their neighbours, the Malays, Papuans and Polynesians, all cultivate the soil, and build substantial huts and houses, the Australian natives do neither. Pottery, common to Malays and Papuans, the bows and arrows of the latter, and the elaborate canoes of all three races, are unknown to the Australians. They then must be considered as representing an extremely primitive type of mankind, and it is necessary to look far afield for their prehistoric home.

Wherever they came from, there is abundant evidence that their first occupation of the Australian continent must have been at a time so remote as to permit of no traditions. No record, no folk tales, as in the case of the Maoris of New Zealand, of their migration, are preserved by the Australians. True, there are legends and tales of tribal migrations and early tribal history, but nothing, as A. W. Howitt points out, which can be twisted into referring even indirectly to their first arrival. It is almost incredible there should be none, if the date of their arrival is to be reckoned as only dating