Page:The three colonies of Australia.djvu/342

 1840, the sales were £1,035,196 5s., and the duty was £15,527 18s. 10d.; in 1841 the duty was £12,811 0s. 1d.; in 1842, £8,900 8s. 2d.; in 1843, £5,865 15s. 5d.; from which it sank down by 1847 to £4,834 6s. After that year the auction duties were taken off articles of colonial produce, and the sales in 1848 were £649,815 16s. 8d., duties, £3,249 1s. 7d.; in 1849, sales £545,797 10s., duties, £2,728 18s. 9d.; in 1850, sales £1,143,649 3s. 4d., duties £5,718 4s. 11d.; in 1851, sales £467,575, duties £2,337 17s. 6d.

SALE OF CROWN LANDS.

The sale of Crown lands is also a return of interest, as it is now separated from the Port Phillip sales. In 1837, the amount sold was £116,474 18s, 5d.; in 1838, £79,130 6s. 10d.; in 1839, £92,968 1s. 9d.; in 1840, £97,498 10s. 11d.; in 1841, £19,235 15s. 7d.; in 1842, £11,844 17s. 8d.; in 1843, £5,311 2s.; in 1844, £6,745 14s. 8d.; in 1845, £11,563 13s. 10d.; in 1846, £11,249 19s. 3d.; in 1847, £2,929 19s. 2d.; in 1848, £7,624 6s. 6d.; in 1849, £20,113 12s. 3d.; in 1850, £33,757 6s. 11d.; in 1851, £64,425 17s. 6d. In the last three years, at least one-third of the amount went to the credit of the general revenue, being the produce of the sale of the land on the site of the Circular Quay and old Military Barracks.

COIN IN THE COLONY.

The next return is of coin in the colony, contained in the military chest, and in the banks; and in 1845, when the amount was greatest, it was £855,166; in 1846, £827,306; in 1847, £634,186; in 1848, £633,803; in 1849, £643,458; in 1850, £670,852; in 1851, £540,766.

GENERAL REVENUE.

The amount of the general revenue collected in the year 1851 was £277,728 18s. 1d.; the territorial revenue was £204,508 7s. 2d.; the Church and School Estates fund, £4,460 18s. 9d.; being a total revenue of £486,698 4s.

The total expenditure of the general revenue was £290,361 6s. 3d.; of the territorial, £153,747 3s. 7d.; total, £444,108 9s. 10d.

THE POST-OFFICE.

The Post-office return is very interesting. In the year 1849, the year before the Uniform Postage Act came into operation, the number of post-offices in the colony was 88; the number of persons employed, 115; the number of miles travelled by the mails, 586,675; the number