11

F.-2.

offers greater inducements and promises more certain results than any other similar enterprise. The Central and South American trade cannot be compared with it in these respects. It is, moreover, a trade which, once taken hold of, will pay without subsidies. 13. It is impossible in this paper to follow closely the progressive British communities at the antipodes, their development being so rapid. It is proper, however, to say that in population, wealth, trade, and social importance, Australia and New Zealand have made more rapid strides during the last ten or fifteen years than any other section of the globe. For example, New South Wales recently sot on foot a system of assisted emigration from New York, in the belief that the country would benefit by the introduction of skilled labour from the United States. In 1876 it had 437 miles of railroad open for traffic ; and 254 miles in course of construction then, are almost, if not entirely, completed now. Railroad construction cost the Government £7,831,781 to the close of 1875, or nearly |>40,000,000. Eight thousand and fourteen miles of telegraph were then in operation, costing the colony £212,255. A loan of four millions sterling has recently been negotiated in London by New South Wales for public works extension and colonization purposes, and this year it opens an International Exhibition at Sydney, at which the United States and European and Asiatic countries will be represented. Victoria has long since ceased to promote immigration by State aid, having adopted a strictly protective policy. Its population, however, is nearly one million, and it is by far the most advanced and wealthy colony of the group. In 1875 it was operating 586 miles of railroad, of which seventeen miles belonged to a private company, but have since been bought by the Government; and 374 miles were then being built. These are well forward to completion, and a comprehensive plan of railroad extension has been projected, and the funds appropriated by Parliament. A Victorian public works loan was one of the financial operations of this summer in London. Up to December, 1875, the Victorian railroads cost £12,411,672 or $62,000,000. At the same date there were 4,981 miles of telegraph in operation, owned by the Government, and 500 miles were being constructed. Since then telegraph extension has been steady. Victoria also appropriates about §120,000 annually of its land revenue for railroad construction. An International Exhibition will open at Melbourne in 1880, the United States being represented. South Australia operated 252 miles of Government railroad at the close of 1875, and authority had been granted to construct 214 additional miles. Four thousand miles of telegraph were open, and the Government in 1872 constructed an overland telegraph 2,000 miles across the Australian continent, connecting that country with the British Australian cable, and the world at large. South Australia has a free emigration bureau in Germany and Great Britain, and promotes colonization upon a liberal and progressive scale. Tasmania, the island colony of the Australian group, has about 150 miles of railroad open and in course of construction; also 468 miles of telegraph; and a submarine cable to Australia, opened in 1869. Queensland in 1875 had 4,609 miles of telegraph in operation ; also 263 miles of railroad open, and 152 miles under construction. This colony has had a successful system of free immigration from Europe since its establishment in 1859. New Zealand stands in the van of progress. It has expended (plus local, district, and municipal disbursements —a very large amount), during the last ten years, on

or a trifle under $100,000,000; and it proposes to spend the further sum of £8,350,000 (nearly $43,000,000), according to the estimates approved by Parliament in 1878, in railroad construction during the next five years. From 1871 to 1876 inclusive, the New Zealand Government assisted 74,475 emigrants from Europe to the colony, and found them employment on public works prior to their absorption into the industrial population. Up to the close of 1878, not fewer than 90,000 immigrants had arrived, dating from 1870, wholly or in part at the charge of the Government. One thousand miles of railroad have been opened, and railroad construction is progressing; 3,500 miles of telegraph are in use, and a cable over 1,200 miles in length connects it with Australia and the telegraph system of the world. This cable was laid on a joint subsidy with the Sydney and other Australian Governments. 14. There is no population in the world so rich as that of Australasia, in which I include New Zealand. Official statistics show that the average annual income per head of the population of New Zealand is £117 ($585) ; in Australia and Tasmania it is lower, but far in excess of the average earnings of the population in older communities. In round numbers, the population of Australasia may be set down at two and a-half millions, of which half a million may be credited to New Zealand, exclusive of aborigines. Next ten years will find it almost doubled, owing to the natural, social, and political attractions of these territories. Land is cheap, of boundless extent and fertility ; the climate is genial; the colonies are governed by ministers responsible to popular chambers; and, above all, Australasia is too far removed from the Old World to be seriously affected by either war or revolution. The mineral wealth is vast, consisting of the precious metals, coal, copper, iron, tin, lead, chrome, &c. New South "Wales exports large quantities of coal to California; tin is likewise sent thither. Auckland sends kauri gum to New York, a special product, used in manufactures. Wool and gold are, however, the chief exports ; but Australian and New Zealand wheat is also quoted at Mark Lane. 15. The trade of the Australian continent and the Dominion of New Zealand (for such it practically is, dominating the Fiji and neighbouring archipelagoes in the South Pacific) is a legitimate prize to be contended for by Americans. I have already indicated the policy by which the British

Kauroad construction Harbours, lighthouses, roads, &c... Immigration Purchase of land from Natives ... Suppression of Native rebellion ... £8,667,637 4,400,000 3,500,000 1,300,000 2,000,000 Being a total of £19.867.637