The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1892.

Thames Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 7336, 29 October 1892, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1892.

The -wonderful productiveness of these colonies has always been a matter for favorable comment, and is once more brought into prominence by an excellent article in the Australasian, which is noted for keeping a close eye on the financial aspects of colonial affairs in the southern seas. Our contemporary says :—" We may assert boldly, we think, that the colonies, which produced between 1851 and 1889 £235,906,011 worth of gold, must be built up on something else than loan money, without any reference to other products from the soil and the manufactures in which some of them are making very considerable progress indeed. But apart from the past and prospective wealth of the colonies from gold and other sources of metalliprous wealth, the Australasian statistics recently issued are freely quoted from to show that even if the goldfields gave out altogether, the pastoral and agricultural wealth are simply inexhaustible, while the industries that would grow up by the manufacture of the products of the country, would also become a source of perennial and inexhaustible wealth. It is cited from those returns that in 1891 these colonies imported commodities from various parts of the world to the value of £71,966,456, and exported their own products to the value of £72,574,880. The fact that they exported more than they imported may be taken, we think, ■ as-a proof that they send away some money or goods to pay their debts, and this appears to have been notably the case in New Zealand, where the exports exceeded the imports for the year by over three millions."

In 1891 these colonies (says the writer) were found to contain no fewer than 124,347,635 sheep, 11,583,474 1,774,516 horses, and 1,152,704 pigs. Any country which possesses so much live stock must be wealthy ; but the live stock is but a portion of what is obtained from the soil, even if we leave quite out of account the still vast amount of mineral wealth that is annually produced. These same colonies produced last year no less than 35,955,888 bushels of wheat, 16,729,7b2 bushels of oats, 1,874,806 bushels of barley, and 1,138,778. tons of potatoes. Taking the population of 3,899,036, the latest estimate, we find that the proportion of agricultural and pastoral wealth to the number of the people is very larga indeed, apart from all other sources of wealth whatsoever. The Australasian says in conlusion, "Much as may be said as to the tendency of the population of Australasia to seek the cities, it must be admitted that country industries are not neglected, or such a record could not be produced. If we turn to the pastoral statistics, we 'shall find that the actual wealth per head is even greater, for it appears that there are over 30 sheep for every man, woman, and,, child in these colonies, another fact which may give our critics a clue to a right conclusion. We have not referred to other statistics which would show our resources in oven a better light, but we have merely taken those recently issued, which are of only certain branches of our productive industry. The things with which they deal represent not only permanent wealth, but wealth destined to increase year by year, and which have no connection in any form with our public loans,"