The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 62
[introduction]
The extent of land in cultivation (including sown grass land and land broken up but not in crops) amounted in March 1891 to 8,462,495 acres. There has been a large area of Crown land taken up for settlement during the year ending March 1892, as many as 3797 persons taking up 1,728,983 acres, being an average of 458
acres for each person, and at no time in the history of the colony has so much land been brought into cultivation by small settlers as during the last year. The following tables show (1) the acreage of land under cultivation, and (2) the different yields of crops in New Zealand and Australia for the year 1890-1891:—
Acreage of Land in Crop. | Acreage of Land broken up, but not under Crop. | Acreage of Land in Sown Grasses. | Total Acreage of Laud in Cultivation. | |
---|---|---|---|---|
New Zealand | 1,285,768 | 210,509 | 6,966,218 | 8,462,495 |
New South Wales | 872,344 | 260,627 | 385,504 | 1,518,475 |
Victoria | 2,031,935 | 385,572 | 235,241 | 2,652,748 |
Queensland | 224,993 | 14,625 | 22,252 | 261,870 |
South Australia | 2,093,515 | 534,152 | 21,431 | 2,649,098 |
Western Australia | 69,676 | 52,356 | 23,344 | 145,376 |
Tasmania | 157,376 | 158,738 | 201,060 | 517,174 |
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(2.) Yields of Principal Crops.
This table shows the great superiority of New Zealand from an agricultural point of view. The yield per acre, given in the table, is the average yield for a period of ten years.
It will be observed that the oat crop in New Zealand comprised nearly 63 per cent., and the area under oat crop 56 per cent., of that for the whole of Australasia.