Page:The three colonies of Australia.djvu/258

 railways, imports, rents, wages, have all rested on the yield of the Burra Burra.

The government was vested in the governor and commander-in-chief, assisted by an executive and legislative council, composed of the governor, the colonial secretary, the advocate-general, the surveyor-general, and the assistant commissioner, to whom were subsequently added four nominees from among the non-official colonists.

Of the progress of South Australia since the discovery of mines and the dissolution of the South Australian Commission, the following figures will afford some idea:—

The exports of the year ending April, 1850, amounted to £453,668 12s. Of this sum £11,212 was in wheat, £20,279 in flour, £63,729 in copper in ingots, £211,361 in copper ore, £8,188 in tallow, and £113,259 in wool.

The imports for the same period were 887,423, part of the excess arising from imports of railway and mining machinery, and other productive investments. In the same year 64,728| acres were in cultivation—wheat, 41,807 acres; potatoes, 1,780; gardens, 1,370; vineyards, 282; hay, 13,000.

The population was 63,900, of which 7,000 were Germans.

Live Stock:—Cattle, 100,000; sheep, 1,200,000; horses, 6,000.