AUSTRALASIAN STATISTICS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8963, 30 January 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

AUSTRALASIAN STATISTICS

Mr. H. H. Hayrun, Government Statist of Victoria, has issued a brief summary of the statistics of Australasia for ISBG. Ho states that the figures are compiled from " official returns," and though his information is rather more thau a year old, it is still interesting. The total population at that dote is set down at 3.420,56*2, the colonics of Victoria and New South \V«les being each slightly above » million. For long there.has been a hard race between these two colonies as to which of them should first contain a million inhabitants. The boast of being the most populous colony in the group has now forever passed away from Victoria; for while .New South Wales baa a vast extent of country to fill up, the area of Victoria is comparatively restricted. New Zealand, some six or seven years hence, will doubtless be the next in the group which will have a million or upwards settled within her borders. The disproportion of the sexps is still considerable, for at the close of 188(3 it has been ascertained that there wore 11884 males to every 1( 0 females in the group. The total births in the croup in 188G were 110,259, and the deaths 48,C1i0. The excess of births over deaths varies greatly in each of the colonies. .New Zealand being at the top of the tree in this respect, with 13,101 excess of births over deaths in that year, against Victoria 15,872 frcm nearly twico the total of population. The total length of railways open at that data wan SSSI miles, with 1992 miles in course of construction. The length of electric telegraph in operation was 38,638 miles, with 70,311 miles of wire in use lor telegraph and about 5000 miles for telephone purposes. The total area under tillage was 8,307,437 acres, equal to 2"42 acres per head of population. Wheat and hay wero the two crops to which the largest area 3 of land were devoted, being 3,(552,045 acres and 1,147,254 acres respectively. ,in area of 22,90(3 acres was devoted to vineyard purposes, The returns of stock assumed largo figures. Horses numbered 1.372,756 ; cattle, 5.2G4.775; sheep, 86,352.020 ; and pigs, 1,144,966,—making a grand total of farm stock of 133.520. The wool production in ISSI3 was 398,541,5281b, of a total value of £1(3,218,84(3, equal to an average of £4 lGs 4d per head of the population.