Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/441

Rh NEW SOUTH WALES 411 after. Oysters abound in all tidal waters. There appear to be three varieties, the mud oyster, the drift, and the rock or foreshore oyster. The drift and rock oyster are in season all the year round in some fisheries, and in quality almost, if not quite, equal the natives &quot; of Whitstable. Lobsters also abound on the coast, espe cially where there is good cover afforded by kelpy rocks. Shrimps are not found, but prawns of large size and excellent quality are abundant. Commerce. Sydney, the capital, seated on the magnificent har bour of Port Jackson, is well posted to gather the commerce of the Southern Pacific, its position corresponding with that of San Francisco on the opposite coast of the Northern Pacific. _ The fiscal policy of the colony has been generally, though not rigidly, one of free trade, and this has greatly helped to make Sydney the chief emporium of Australasia. TVi +&quot; +o1 i&quot; ^ &amp;lt;-li tvarlp in 18S9 The total value of the trade in 1882 as very nearly 38,000,000, the imports exceeding the exports by 4,500,000. The intercolonial trade accounts for about one-third of the imports, and that with the United Kingdom for nearly one- half, the import from foreign states being about one-tenth. The export trade with foreign states is below one-thirteenth of the whole. The great items of export consist of wool, skins, leather, hides, and tallow. To the neighbouring colony of Victoria there is a very large export of sheep and cattle. Next to the produce of the pastoral industry comes the produce of the mining industry, con sisting of gold, coin, tin, copper, and coal. Other articles are of minor importance. Railways. These, with one small and detached exception, are entirely in the hands of the Government, and nearly all the capital has been raised in England. They are under the management of a commissioner, subject to the general superintendence of the minis ter for public works. The whole system is divided into three groups, the southern, the western, and the northern, with their respective branches. Telegraph and Postal Service. The telegraph and postal systems are entirely in the hands of the Government. Every important place in the colony is within the range of both services, and New South Wales unites with New Zealand in subsidizing the mail route between Sydney and San Francisco. Banks. There are thirteen joint-stock banks, five of them being Anglo-Australian, four intercolonial, with their headquarters in Sydney, three branches of intercolonial banks, having their head- ?uarters elsewhere, and two belonging exclusively to the colony, n 1882 the average note circulation was about 1,500,000, and the coin and bullion held about 3,000,000. There is a savings bank with its branches, under Government management, besides a savings bank department attached to the post-office, and the total deposits in 1882 amounted to 2,600,000, the depositors numbering over 70,000. Shipping. The coasting and intercolonial trade sustains a dozen steamship companies, and the trade of nearly all the great ocean lines of steamers converges at Sydney, where the convenience for coaling is greatest. JMort s Dock is capable of accommodating most of the large steamers that visit the port. The Government possesses another dock of equal size at Biloela, and is constructing another capable of taking in the largest ironclad. There are several private slips, and repairs of any kind can be executed. The headquarters of the imperial navy are in Port Jackson, where the admiralty has a dep6t. Administration. The political constitution of New South Wales is that of a self-governing British colony, and rests on the provisions of the Constitution Act. The governor is appointed by the crown, the term of office being generally for five years, and the salary 7000. The governor is the official medium of communication between the colonial Government and the secretary for the colonies, but at the same time the colony maintains its own agent-general in London, who not only sees to all its commercial business, but communi cates with the colonial office. In the legislative assembly there are more than one hundred members. The number is not fixed, because the Electoral Act provides that electorates in which the votes have increased beyond a stipulated number shall be per manently entitled to additional representation. The principle adopted in distributing the representation is that of equal electoral districts, modified, however, by a preference given to the distant and rural constituencies at the cost of the metropolitan electorates. The suffrage qualification is a residence of six months, or the pos session of a small landed property. The upper house or legislative council consists exclusively of persons nominated for life by the governor, with the advice of the executive council. The number is not fixed, but it is understood that, except in cases of emergency, the number shall not exceed one-half of that of the legislative assembly, and that no appointments shall be made during the sitting of parliament. The parliaments are triennial. Revenue. The revenue is officially classed under three principal heads, as derived from taxation, from public services, and from land, of which the first yields the least. This is nearly all derived from the custom-house, and principally from the duties on alcoholic liquors, tobacco in its various forms, and groceries. Stamps and licences are the only form of direct taxation. The municipal sys tem, being of voluntary adoption, has been only partially applied, a very large proportion of works of improvement being executed by the general Government. The receipts from land are large ; the policy which should regulate the alienation of land is a standing subject of political controversy. At the end of 18 52 nearly 36, 000, 000 acres had been alienated, the unsold portion being leased by the Government to graziers. Education. The educational system was originally that of subsi dizing the four principal churches, to which were made grants of land for school purposes, as well as annual endowments. Subsequently a national system in imitation of the Irish system was established, and the two were separately worked by a national board and a de nominational board respectively. These two boards were abolished in 1866, and a public school board appointed to superintend all schools, both national and denominational. Finally this board was abolished, and in 1880 all primary schools were placed under the immediate control of a minister for education, and it was arranged that grants to denominational schools should cease at the end of the year 1882. There is one grammar school for boys only in Sydney, sustained by the state, but by a recent Act high schools for both sexes are to be established all over the colony. The university, which was built by the state, and which receives an endowment of 10,000 a year, gives lectures and confers degrees in arts, laws, medicine, and science. Adjoining the university is the Prince Alfred Hospital, the medical teaching in which is partly under the control of the university senate. Attached to the university are three affiliated colleges, one belonging to the Church of England, one to the Church of Rome, and one to the Presbyterian Church. In addition to the examinations for degrees, the senate holds a senior and a junior examination each year for the use of schools for both sexes. Private munificence has supplied many bursaries and scholarships. Mechanics institutes and schools of art receive an annual subsidy in proportion to their subscriptions, and an extensive scheme for technical classes is being organized. Population. The official estimate of the population at the close of 1882 was 817,000. The previous census was taken on April 3, 1881, and the population was then 751,468 (411,149 males and 340,319 females), an increase since 1871 of 247,487, or 48 per cent. The persons born in the colony numbered 465,559, while 208,512 had come from Great Britain, Ireland, and other British possessions. The Catholics were about two-sevenths of the population, being 207,606 as against 516,512 Protestants. Nearly every religious sect is represented, and the estimated attendance at public worship on Sunday was 221,031. There is no state church. History. The early history of New South Wales was for many years that of Australasia, and it has little more interest than what pertains to the philosophy of penal settlements. It was a distant prison maintained at the imperial cost. The commercial epoch began when Captain Macarthur found that the climate was suited to the growth of fine wool. The first sheep came from the Cape, mixed with a few from India. He got together a flock of 1000, and noticed that even in his mongrel flock careful culling and breeding led to a, great improvement in the wool, and this set him on considering the importance of having good rams. The fortunate arrival in the colony from the Cape of some fine-woolled sheep of the Escurial breed gave him the opportunity of adding three rams and five ewes to his flock, which he subsequently further improved on a visit to England, by purchasing some of King George III. s stock at Kew. The stud flock he thus formed, and which was kept at Camden for fifty years, laid the basis of an expansive industry. From that time the colony had an export. The growth of live-stock quickly overtook the demands of the local population for meat, and then another colonist, Mr O Brien, made the dis covery that if sheep were worth nothing for meat they were worth something for tallow, and boiling down became the destiny of all the surplus stock. This waste of meat was suddenly stopped when the next great epoch in the history of the colony was opened up by the discovery of gold. Victoria soon outstripped the mother-colony by its superior attractions in this respect, but New South Wales gained the enormous advantage of having its pastoral industry stimulated and made more profitable. The unoccupied country became worth taking up, till every portion of the territory that was at all occupiable was leased. The political government was at first necessarily a strictly military one, but as the number of the freed men and their children increased, and the number of free settlers increased also, the demand for some form of representative government arose, and became irresistible. A legislative council was established, partly nominative and partly elective. Coinci- dently with this grew tip a demand that transportation should cease, and the agitation on this question has been the only serious con flict between the colony and the mother-country. It was ended by the mother-country yielding, and transportation was somewhat reluctantly abolished in 1853. At about the same time the mixed legislative council was superseded by the existing parliamentary system of two houses and responsible government, under which the colony has prospered contentedly ever since. (A. GA.)