Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/613

 PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRY 265

membership of 1,751 men, who were formed into a reserve corps. The naval force is composed of 579 men, making the total defence force 9,516. These forces were divided as follows : —

Headquarters and General, Permanent, Honorary, and Naval Defence Force Staff, 135 ; Lancers, 385 ; Mounted Rifles, 373 ; Artillery, 1,065 ; Field Engineers, 118 ; Submarine Miners, 102 ; Electricians, 75 ; Infantry, 6,493 (including Reserves) ; Medical Staff Corps, 123 ; Army Service Corps, 68 ; Naval Defence Force Staff, 4 ; Naval Brigade, 328 ; Naval Artillery, 242; torpedo boats, 5 ; total, 9,516. A naval establishment, the main works of which are at Garden Island, Sydney, has been completed, and, in addition to shore works, torpedo and other boats have been provided. Sydney is the headquarters of the s(iuadron in Australian waters, and has a dockyard, naval coaling station, and victualling and other stores. The cost of the defence of the colony during the year 1897-98 was 264,427/., inclusive of 31,183Z. from loans.

Production and Industry. I. Agriculture.

In 1897-8 there were 1,821,829 acres, or about 09 per cent, of the area of the colony, under crop. About one fourth of the total area of the colony is under forest. The cultivated land is principally to be found in small hold- ings of less than 500 acres. The colony is divided legally, in accordance with i1fs natural apportionment, into three parts, viz., the Eastern, Central, and Western divisions, and land is obtainable under the following conditions : — 1st, as a "conditional purchase," by free selection before survey in the two first- mentioned divisions, at the rate of 11. per acre, payable under a system of deferred payments. A "conditional lease" may l)e taken in conjunction with a " conditional purchase," and with it is carried the right of conversion into a " conditional purchase," at any time after confirmation of the applica- tion. In the Eastern division the minimum area to be conditionally purchased is 40 acres, and the maxinmm 640 acres ; a similar maximum limiting the aiea which may be conditionally leased; in the Central the maximum is 2,560 acres, which may be taken up either as a conditional purchase, or as a partly- purchased and partly-leased area. 2nd, by additional purchases of the same areas and under like conditions after the completion of the condition of resi- dence upon the original selection. 3rd. In the Central division the Land Act of 1895 provides for the acquisition of land on easy terms, but with stringent residential conditions attached, either as "'homestead selections " or as " settle- ment leases," the maximum area of the former being 1,280 acres, and of the latter a similar extent of agricultural land, or 10,240 acres of grazing land. The obligations attached to a homestead selection are the payment of an annual rental based on the capital value and perpetual residence. The term of a settlement lease is twenty-eight years, with continuous residence during that period. 4th, by purchasing at 21. per acre, without the condition of residence, the maximum area being 320 acres. 5th, Government land is also sold at auction, the upset prices being 81. for town, 21. 10s. for suburban, and 1/. OS. per acre for country lots. The area sold is not to exceed 200,000 acres annually, and the maximum area for purchasers is 640 acres in one block. In the Western division the land is leased by the State to pastoral tenants under various forms. Land of more than ordinary value in each of the three divisions may be declared to be a " special area," the price per acre not being less than 30^., and the maximum area that may be selected 320 acres in the Eastern division, and 640 in the Central and Western divisions.