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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 44

From the "Scotsman," Sept. 4th, 1878

From the "Scotsman," Sept. 4th, 1878.

It is always interesting, though it may not always he profitable, for a parent to look into the books and balance-sheets of the sons that he has started in business. If they are doing well, he must have pleasure; if they seem a little doubtful, he must have anxiety; if things are all against them, he cannot be comfortable. What is true of father and sons is true of the mother-country and the colonies. At home we desire to know how they are getting on, and whether they promise to be as successful as the mother country has been. Every now and then one or other of these colonies gives an account of itself. Some colonist, desirous to further the interests of his new home, will tell us a flattering tale of its prospects, and he is gladly listened to. Still, it is well to look into the matter a little for ourselves—to confirm, if possible, his statements by undoubted facts, and to satisfy ourselves that all is well. From the Australian group of colonies many promising accounts have come, and recently New Zealand gave a particularly favourable account of herself. It may be well to see, from authentic sources, whether this account is borne out; and in order to do so a comparison may be made between New Zealand and the other Australian colonies.

The total area of all the Australian Colonies is 3,173,310 square miles, while that of the United Kingdom is only 120,830 square miles; so that they are more than twenty-six times as big as we are. No doubt a good deal of the area is not likely to be productive at any time; but it may be doubted whether, comparatively, there is as much of their surface in that condition as there is of the surface of the United Kingdom. How much elbow-room they have page 48 may be seen by the fact that, while upon our 120,830 square miles we have a population of not less than 33,000,000, upon their 3,173,310 square miles they had only a population of 2,401,715 in 1876. That is to say, they had not one inhabitant per square mile, while we had more than 273. Plainly, then, they have plenty of room to grow, and they are growing rapidly. Their population which, as just stated, was 2,401,715 in 1876, was only 1,264,954 in 1861. That is an increase in 15 years of close upon 90 per cent. In the same time, taking our population now at 33,000,000, our increase was only a little more than 13 per cent. Where the growth arose may be seen in the following table:—
1861. 1876.
New South Wales 358,273 629,776
Victoria 540,322 840,300
South Australia 126,830 213,271
Western Australia 15,691 26,709
Tasmania 89,977 105,484
New Zealand 93,971 399,075
Queensland 34,885 187,100

It will be seen that, while New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia have increased rapidly, the rate of their increase has been small compared with New Zealand and Queensland. In New South Wales, the increase was something over 75 per cent., and that was the largest of the three first named. But the increase in New Zealand was a little over 303 per cent., and that of Queensland was rather over 436 per cent. This is little short of marvellous, and speaks volumes for the vigour with which the Governments of New Zealand and Queensland have pushed the claims of their countries. It will be found, however, that there is a material difference between the two colonies when their condition is further examined.

Of course the Australian colonies have to raise money and to spend it; and all of them have gone further, and indulged themselves with a National Debt. Taking them altogether their gross public revenue, which was £8,166,816 in 1862, was £16,012,288 in 1876, so that it had very nearly doubled. In the same period, their public expenditure had gone up from £7,769,619 to £16,749,923. Not only, therefore, had it more than doubled, but, whereas in 1862 the expenditure was well below the income, in page 49 1876 the income was sadly below the expenditure. A s a natural consequence, the public debt had increased. It was only £16,097,070 in 1862; it had become £59,380,862 in 1876. The question will naturally be asked which colony contributed most to this growth; and the following table will give the answer:—

Colony. Revenue. Expenditure. Debt. 1862. 1876. 1862. 1876. 1862. 1876. N. S. Wales ... ... 2,273,170 5.033.828 2,135,518 4,749.013 5,802,980 11,759,519 Victoria ... ... ... 3,269,079 4.325,156 3,039,497 4,572,844 7,992.740 17,011,382 S. Australia ... ... 567,709 1,320,204 613,681 1.323,337 853,300 3,837,100 W. Australia ... ... 69,407 162,189 72,268 179,484 11,750 135,000 Tasmania ... ... ... 371,596 327,349 355.865 336,388 486,500 1,520,600 New Zealand ... ... 1,269,424 3,580.294 1,185,473 4,305,337 886,000 18,678,111 Queensland ... ... 346,131 1,263,263 367,317 1,283,620 123,800 6,439,250

There again we have New Zealand and Queensland distinguishing themselves. Roughly speaking, New South Wales has rather more than doubled her revenue, her expenditure, and her debt. Victoria has not grown at so great a rate in her revenue and expenditure, but has exceeded it in her debt. South Australia has rather more than doubled revenue and expenditure, and more than quadrupled her debt. But when we come to New Zealand, we find revenue increased more than 182 per cent., expenditure more than 263 per cent., and debt more than 2,134 per cent. Queensland has, however, done more than this. Her revenue has increased more than 264 per cent., her expenditure more than 249 per cent., and her debt more than 5,101 per cent. Really these colonies are magnificent in the way of debt.

What have they to set against it? The inquirer will naturally look to the trade returns, and rightly. There he will find an answer which cannot be regarded as unsatisfactory. He will find that the total imports of the Australian colonies, which were £31,623,093 in 1862, had grown in 1876 to £45,505,083, while the exports had grown from £26,542,713 in 1862 to £43,093,920. It is plain from these figures that the Australian colonies do not yet indulge in many luxuries; and another lesson which might be brought out from the figures is, that Protection has not done much for them. But it may be well to take the colonies separately:— page 50
Imports.
1862. 1876. Increase. p. Cent.
New South Wales 9,334,645 13,672,776 46·5
Victoria 13,487,787 15,705,354 16·4
South Australia 1,820,656 4,576,183 151·3
Western Australia 172,991 386,037 123·1
Tasmania 857,423 1,133,003 32·1
New Zealand 4,626,082 6,905,171 49·2
Queensland 1,323,509 3,126,559 136·2
Exports.
1862. 1876. Increase. p. Cent
New South Wales 7,102,562 13,003,941 83
Victoria 13,093,422 14,196,487 8·8
South Australia 2,145,796 4,816,170 124·4
Western Australia 119,314 397,293 232·9
Tasmania 919,649 1,130,933 22·9
New Zealand 2,422,734 5,673,465 134·1
Queensland 793,236 3,875,581 388·5

Here again we have Queensland showing well in front in increase, though South Australia conies Dear to it, and Western Australia and New Zealand are also exceptionally strong. The apparently small increase in Victorian exports is accounted for by the decrease in the quantity of gold exported. Thus in 1862, of the total exports from that colony £7,611,636 was bullion, while in 1876 the amount was only £3,701,242. New Zealand sent out about £260,000 less bullion in 1876 than in 1862, but Queensland rose from £1,028 in 1862 to £1,448,731 in 1876. Plainly, then, the Australian colonies had a fair growth of trade in the 15 years between 1862 and 1876, and Now Zealand comes out very well.

But it will be wise to look a little deeper. The Australian colonies are and must be to a great extent pastoral and agricultural for many years to come; that is to say, they must look chiefly to the growth of their flocks and herds, and of their agricultural produce. Here it will be seen that their opportunities are almost boundless, and they have taken fair advantage of them. Their staple export is now wool, and it is worth while seeing how enormously that export has grown.

page 51
1862. lb. 1876. lb. Increase p. cent.
New South Wales 17,307,202 100,736,330 476·2
Victoria 25,245,778 106,265,877 320·8
South Australia 14,497,244 43,068,795 197
Western Australia 806,008 2,831,174 251·2
Tasmania 5,241,650 6,848,517 23·4
New Zealand 9,839,285 59,853,454 508·3
Queensland 8,063,612 22,918,560 184·2
The teaching of these figures is, that New Zealand has developed one of her staple productions more than any other colony. Let us see what New Zealand does in the way of agriculture. The following table shows the product of wheat, barley, oats, and potatoes in each of the colonies:—
Wheat. Bushels per Acre. Barley Bushels. per Acre. Oats. Bushels per Acre. Potatoes. Tons per Acre.
Now South Wales 16 4 23·6 21·1 3
Victoria 13·1 21·1 19·9 3·3
South Australia 5·4 10·6 10·6 2·8
Western Australia 11·9 15 15 3
Tasmania 19·2 23·5 24·2 3·4
New Zealand 23·6 28·9 31·2 5·4
Queensland 16·4 23·6 21·1 3

Here there is no mistake about which colony is most suited for agriculture. New Zealand gets as much of wheat per acre as is got in this country, and she far surpasses every other colony. With a soil so fertile, and with such unbounded resources, her people must have a brilliant future before them. There is, perhaps, no one of the colonies that agriculturists would despise—no one that cannot look forward with confidence to the future. But New Zealand stands out before them all as possessed of a soil, a climate, and resources which seem to guarantee prosperity.