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 AUSTRALIA 133 largest cities and towns of Australia are Mel- bourne (Victoria), pop. 190,000 ; Sydney (Xew South Wales), 135,000; Ballarat (Victoria), 74,000; Sandhurst (Victoria), 34,000; Ade- laide (South Australia), 27,000; and Geelong (Victoria), 22,000. In the early days of the Australian colonies clergymen were (nerely chaplains to the convict establishments. Sub- sequently an act was passed for the support of Episcopal churches and schools, to which one seventh of the crown lands was to be devoted. Sir Richard Bourke prevailed upon the English government to assist all denominations of Christians in building places of worship and supporting their ministers. In Queensland an act was passed in 1860 abolishing state aid to religion altogether, and the other colonies are likewise more or less approaching the volun- tary system. Thus the most populous colony, Victoria, has reduced the state aid to an an- nual subsidy of 50,000. ' The number of Ro- man Catholics in 1871 was estimated at 250,- 000; of Jews, 5,500; of Mohammedans and pagans, about 42,000. A few thousand belong to no religion ; the remainder are Protestants, more than one half being connected with the church of England. This church has nine bishops, namely, of Sydney, Newcastle, Bath- urst, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Goulburn, and Grafton and Armidale. The Roman Catholic church in 1871 had one arch- bishop (in Sydney) and ten bishops. The cause of education has made great progress. Each of the colonies has its board or council of education, consisting of a number of mem- bers appointed by the government. The system of public education is more or less assimilated to the national system in Ireland. The gov- ernment provides, under conditions which dif- fer in the several colonies, for the establish- ment of common schools, and also grants aid to schools not established by the government on their complying with certain regulations. The state also assists the formation and main- tenance of educational establishments of a more advanced character. In several colonies education lias been made compulsory. In 1871 the number of schools under the control of the government boards amounted to about 3,640, with 255,000 pupils under 6,600 teachers. Nearly all the colleges, of which there are many, bear a denominational character. Syd- ney and Melbourne have universities. The revenues of the colonies are chiefly derived from duties, public lands, the post office, rail- roads and telegraphs, stamp duties, and li- censes. The public debts have been chiefly contracted for the establishment of railroads, COLONIES. Importi. Exports. New South Wales. . 7 757 281 7 991 088 Victoria 12 468 757 12 470 014 2029798 2 419 487 Western Australia 232 590 204447 Queensland,. ... ., 1 586,799 2006685 Total 24,010 220 25 091 621 COLONIES. Revenue. Expenditure. Public Debt. New South Wales... Victoria 2,442,640 8 070 959 2,602,979 261K018 9,6*1,180 1 :'*') 900* South Australia Western Australia.. Queensland 6(U,ft 08,181 748063 786,160 112,905 771 991 1,9*4,700 No debt. 8459 750*
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ports, and other public works. The forego- ing table exhibits the revenue, expenditures, and public debt of each of the colonies in 1870. Gold still constitutes the chief article of ex- port. The aggregate value of precious metals exported from Australia amounted in 1869 to 10,870,000. Next to gold the most impor- tant article of export is wool, the value of which in 1869 was estimated at 8,161,000. South Australia exports large quantities of wheat (866,870 in 1869) and copper (622,681). The breeding of cattle has become an impor- tant occupation of the colonists. The colonies had in 1871 about 22,100,000 sheep, 2,600,000 horned cattle, and 732,000 horses. The follow- ing table exhibits the imports and exports of the colonies in 1870 : The merchant navy of the colonies consisted on Jan. 1, 1871, of 1,192 vessels, with an ag- gregate of 169,000 tons. The entries and clearances in the Australian ports in 1869 rep- sented an aggregate of 3,774,909 tons. All the colonies had railroads at the close of 1871, with the exception of "Western Australia, where their introduction was expected at an early date. The greatest progress in this re- spect has been made in New South Wales, which in 1871 had 431 m. of railroads. The aggregate length of the Australian railroads at the close of 1871 was about 1,110 m., and a very considerable extension of the railroad sys- tem was about taking place in several colonies. The electric telegraph has been introduced into each of the colonies. The length of the wires in 1871 was 5,053 m. in New South Wales, 3,368 in Victoria, and about 13,400 in all the colonies. All the colonies except Western Aus- tralia are connected with each other by tele- graph, and since 1869 by a submarine cable with Tasmania. Telegraphic connection be- tween Australia and England, by means of a submarine cable connecting Java and Port Dar- win, was nearly completed at the beginning of 1872. The government in each colony con- sists of a governor appointed in England, a legislative council, and a legislative assembly elected by universal suffrage. Australia first became known to Europeans in the beginning of the 17th century. Though a vague out- line of land in this portion of the southern ocean appears upon the map of some Por- tuguese navigators dated 1542, the first real discovery was probably made by the Dutch in 1606, when the captain of the yacht Duyfken, sent out from Bantam to explore a part of the coast of New Guinea, saw the northern shore of the continent at a distance. In the same