Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/660

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THE BRITISH EMPIRE: — VICTORIA

tionof the colony ; Ballarat, 46,137 ; Bendigo (Sandhurst), 43,075 ; Geelong, 24,807 ; AVarmambool, 6,600 ; Castlemaine, 6,932, and Stawell, 5,556.

The following are the births, deaths, and marriages in the colony for five years : — i

Year

Total Births

Illegitimate

Deaths

Marriages

7,004 7,033 7,146 7,625 7,568

Surplus of Births

1893

1894 1895 1896 1897

36,552 34,258 33,706 32,178 31,310

1,997

1,886 1,795 1,812 1,696

16,508 15,430 15,636 15,174 15,126

20,044 18,828 18,070 17,004 16,184

In the 37 years from 1838 to the end of 1874, more than 167,000 immi- grants received assistance from the public funds for defraying their passage to the colony ; but since 1874 State-assisted immigration has ceased. No account is taken of migration overland across the borders, but the recorded immigration into and emigration from the colony of Victoria by sea were as follow in each of the last five years :-

Year

Immigration (by sea)

Emigration (by sea)

1893 1894 1895 1896 1897

74,047 84,261 81,199 84,872 90,847

80,460 90,110 88,886 99,419 97,301

Of the immigrants in 1897, 63,123 were males and 27,724 were females ; and of the emigrants 64,706 were males and 32,595 females. In the last five years there was an excess of emigrants over immigrants, amounting to 6,413 in 1893, 5,849 in 1894, 7,687 in 1895, 14,547 in 1896, and 6,454 in 1897, chieHy in consequence of departures to the gold fields of Western Australia.

Religion.

There is no State Church in Victoria, and no State assistance has been given to religion since 1875, Prior to that period a sum of 50,000^. had been set apart annually out of the general revenue for the advancement of the Christian religion in Victoria, and this amount had been distributed propor- tionately amongst the various denominations. At the date of the census of 1891 about 75 per cent, of the population were Protestants, 22 per cent, were Roman Catholics, and a half per cent, were Jews. The following were the enumerated numbers of each of the principal divisions in 1891 : — Episcopalians, 417,182 ; Presbyterians, 167,027 ; Methodists, 158,040 ; other Protestants, 94,608 ; Roman Catholics, 248,591 ; Jews, 6,459 ; Buddhists, Confucians, &c., 6,746; others (including unspecified), 41,752

Instruction.

Educational establishments in Victoria are of four kinds, viz., the University with its three affiliated colleges, State schools (primary), technical schools or colleges, and private schools. The IVIelbourne University was established under a special Act of the Victorian Legislature, and the build- ing was op3ned on October 3, 1855. The Institution at present receives, by way ofeudo'.v merit, 12 250^. out of the general revenue. It is both an ex- amining and a teaching body, and in 1859 received a royal charter empowering it to grant decrees in all Faculties except Divinity.