"AUSTRALIAN'S" FIGURES.

Evening Star, Issue 7496, 14 April 1888, Page 4

"AUSTRALIAN'S" FIGURES.

TO THE EDITOR. Sik,—Protectionists maintain that the apparent prosperity of New South Wales was due to the enormous expenditure of borrowed money by the Government and the thriftless sale of the public estate. I have already pointed out how " Australian " concealed the first, and I will now show how he tries to mislead the public with regard to the last. The following is the amount of land sold by the Government of New South Wales and of Victoria during the year 188G:

These figures speak for themselves ; but the following tell of reckless or criminal extravagance : Lands alienated or in process of alienation at the end of 1SS8: Victoila, 22.-159.383 acres; Now South Wales, 41,285,461 acres. “Australian” goes on to say: “ I here were in New South Wales in 1886_ 42,289 males employed in her manufactories and works, as against 41,542 in "Victoria.” Shame ! “Australian.” Shame ! to make no mention of the 8,000 females employed in Victorian factories ! Are the gentler sex worthy of no mention in your letter? “ Australian ” has taken these figures second hand from Pulsford, and they are written with the evident intention to mislead the public. “ Australian ” says ; “ New South Wales employed in her manufactures and works.” Here is the fallacy, Victoria gives the exact number empoyed in her manufactories of all kinds; New South Wales in her manufactories and works without any classification ; and no one can attempt to make a comparison except with the intention of misleading. Hear what Hayter, the greatest authority in Australia says (‘Year Book, 1883-4, page 43): —“ In consequence of the peculiar manner in which the occupations in New South Wales are classified it has been found impossible to make any regular comparison between them andthe occupations pursued in the other colonies. The treatment of the subject in the mother colony is meagre in the extreme, and the mode of grouping such as might, perhaps, have answered sufficiently well forty or fifty years since, but is quite out of date at the present time. The _ survival of the old system is apparent in the fact that agricultural and pastoral pursuits, which were the only occupations of any great importance in the early days of Australian settlement, are given in considerable detail, whilst no provision is made for showing the numbers engaged on railways, m carrying otherwise than on railways, or in coaching, or in telegraph service ; and, what is of still more importance, especially for the purpose of making comparisons with Victoria, no attempt is made to show the_ numbers engaged in manufacturing pursuits. Ihe groupings are but few, as compared with those in the other colonies, and the descriptions are so indefinite that it is impossible to know what occupations the respective groups contain. Incomplete, however, as the descriptions are, incongruities appear on the face of them which leave room for the supposition that others exist which do not meet the eye. The following are specimens of some of the anomalies referred to. One combination contains, with other occupations, such incongruous callings as printers and watchmakers; another bookbinders, barbers, and upholsterers ; another shipbuilders and wheelwrights; another cutlers and farriers —nothing being stated us to how many each group contains of these, or of the followers of other trades named in the description, or of those not so named covered by the sign, etc. Moreover, there is a group headed ‘ Miscellaneous Occupations,’ numbering 19,780 persons ot the callings pursued, by whom no explanation whatever is given.” 1 have done sullicient to show that the figures of “Australian” are totally unreliable and misleading, and concerned more in the spirit of partisanship than that of truth. The statement that Victoria in 1878 paid the passage of her unemployed to New South Wales is equally unreliable, and requires weightier authority than that of an anonymous correspondent to confirm it.—l am, etc,, New Zkalanijkk, Dunedin, April 13.

Colony. Area. Amount of purchasemoney. Average price per aero. Alienated or in process of alienation. Victoria.. NSW. ., Acres. 19,281 288,038 £ 100,937 439,322 £ e. d. 0 4 9 1 10 6 Acres. 208,597 1,203,698