The Extent of Great Britain's Financial Interest in Australasia.

In the preceding article, in referring to New Zealand, it was shown that the difference between the years when capita was flowing most rapidly into that colony, and the last three years, when that flow had stopped, actually represented stunt thing like £45 to every average family of five persons. We do not know of any fact that will give a clearer idea of the dominating influence in Australasian affairs of British capital than this one simple fact. Before going into detail with regard to the three eastern colonies, Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, it will be well to get a firm grasp of the aggregate financial interest possessed by Great Britain in Australasia. In 1883 the Economist published an estimate of British investments page 11 in the colonies, and in 1887 the same journal published a revised estimate calculated up to date. We give the two side by side, showing the increase in every case:—