COMMERCE-INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS 281. It is difficult to ascertain the exact value of the trade in respect of any one country, the custom still prevailing to refer all exports to the port towhich the vessel has cleared for, and imports to the last port of clearance. It is estimated that the true extent of inter-colonial trade in itself does not greatly exceed 25 per cent. of the whole, the balance being principally trade with England. The total value of the exports from Tasmania to the United Kingdom, and of the imports of British produce into Tasmania direct, in 1884-89 was as follows, according to the Board of Trade returns: Exports from Tasmania. 371,773 304,493 248,409 296,795 239,272 319,792 Į Imports of British pro duce. 523,232 455,480 559,661 425,338 482,330 490,530 The staple articles of export from Tasmania to the United Kingdom are minerals and wool. The value amounted to 256,5337. in 1885, to 214,2157. in 1886, to 274,6497. in 1887, to 201,4317. in 1888, to 280,0487. in 1889. In 1884 tin of the value of 19,2037. was exported to Great Britain; in 1886, 3,7477.; in 1887, 1,0157.; in 1888, 11,2527.; in 1889, 10,5877. The principal imports from Great Britain are apparel and haberdashery, of the value of 82,6317. in 1889; iron, wrought and unwrought, 57,4217.; cottons, 41,8127.; woollens, 46,8521. Shipping and Navigation. In 1889, 842 vessels of 458,247 tons entered (42 of 87,236 belonging to the United Kingdom), and 819 of 453,999 tons (46 of 90,654 tons belonging to the United Kingdom) cleared Tasmanian ports. Of the former 297 of 248,397 tons cleared, and of the latter 333 of 261,454 tons entered Hobart; the remainder falling to Launceston. The number of registered vessels belonging to Tasmania in 1889 was 211 of 17,127 tons, 42 of which were steamers of 8,822 tons. Internal Communications. At the end of 1889 there were open for traffic 371 miles of railway completed, consisting of a main line connecting the two principal ports, Hobart and Launceston, and a line connecting Launceston and Formby ; and lines, 98 miles in length, were in course of construction in 1890. Tasmania has a telegraph system, belonging to the Governinent, through all the settled parts of the colony. At the end of 1889 the number of miles of line in operation was 1,980, and 2,590 miles of wire; the number of stations 178. The number of telegraphic messages sent was 280,559 in the year 1889. On May 1, 1869, telegraphic communication was established with the continent of Australia by a submarine cable, which carried 77,526 messages in 1889. There are also 346 miles of telephone wire, with exchanges at New Norfolk, Hobart, and Launceston. The revenue of the Government telegraph and telephone system was 15,2097., and the expenditure 17,0527., in the year 1889. The number of letters carried by the Post Office in the year 1889 was 4,703,334; of packets, 651,706; of newspapers, 5,424,657; and post-cards, 110,905. The Post Office revenue in 1889 was 39,5367., and the expenditure 44,2837. There were 293 post-offices in 1889, 502 officers, 2,868 miles of post roads, and 826,510 miles travelled. Agent-General in London.-Hon. E. N. C. Braddon. Books of Reference. Annual Statistical Register and Blue Book. Official Record, 1890. Census of Tasmania, 1881. Hobart, 1883. Tasmania: Progress of the Colony, 1871-80. Hobart, 1882. Fenton (James), History of Tasmania. Hobart, 1884. Just (T. C.), Tasmaniana: a Description of the Island and its Resources. Launceston, 1879. Lloyd (Geo. Thomas), Thirty-three Years in Tasmania and Victoria. 8. London, 1862. VICTORIA. Constitution and Government. The Constitution of Victoria was established by an Act passed by the Legislature of the colony in 1854, to which the assent of the Crown was given, in pursuance of the power granted by the Act of the Imperial Parliament of 18 & 19 Vict. cap. 55. The legislative authority is vested in a Parliament of two Chambers: the Legislative Council, composed of forty-eight members, and the Legislative Assembly, composed of ninety-five members (1889). According to an Act which came into force in 1881 members of the former must be in the possession of an estate of the annual value of 1007.; and electors must be in the possession or occupancy of property of the rateable value of 107. per annum if derived from freehold, or of 251. if derived from leasehold or the occupation of rented property. No electoral property qualification is required for graduates of British universities, matriculated students of the Melbourne University, ministers of religion of any denomination, certificated schoolmasters, lawyers, medical practitioners, and officers of the army and navy. About one-third of the members of the Legislative Council must retire every two years. The members of the Legislative Assembly require no property qualification, and are elected by universal manhood suffrage, for the term of three years. Clergymen of any religious denomination are not allowed to hold seats in either the Legislative Council or the Legislative Assembly. In 1889-90 the number of electors on the roll of the Legislative Council was 151,856; the number of electors on the roll of the Legislative Assembly was 253,589. Of the former all but 1,077, and of the latter all but 34,631, are ratepayers. The executive is vested in a Governor appointed by the Crown. Governor.-The Right Hon. the Earl of Hopetoun. Appointed VICTORIA CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT 283 Governor of Victoria 1889; assumed the government November 28, 1889. The Governor, who is likewise commander-in-chief of all the colonial troops, has a salary of 10,000l. a year. In the exercise of the executive he is assisted by a Cabinet of ten ministers, composed as follows: Premier and Treasurer.-Hon. James Munro. Attorney-General and Minister of Railways.-Hon. William Shiels. Chief Secretary, Commissioner of Trade and Customs, and Minister of Public Health.-Hon. G. D. Langridge. Minister of Lands and Agriculture.-Hon. Allan McLean. Minister of Mines.-Hon. A. R. Outtrim. Minister of Defence and Public Instruction.-Hon. Lieut.-Colonel Sir F. T. Sargood, K.C.M.G. Minister of Public Works.-Hon. J. H. Wheeler. Minister of Water Supply.-Hon. George Graham. Portfolios without Office.-Hon. Simon Fraser, M.L.C.; Hon. C. J. Ham, M.L.C.; Hon. F. Stuart, M.L.A.; Hon. A. J. Peacock, M.L.A. The Premier and Chief Secretary have each a salary of 2,000l., and the other ministers from 1,400l. to 1,6007. At least four out of the ten ministers must be members of either the Legislative Council or the Assembly. LOCAL GOVERNMENT. For purposes of local administration the colony is divided into urban and rural municipalities. The former, called cities, towns, and boroughs, ought not to be of a greater area than nine square miles, and in being constituted must contain at least 300 householders. The latter, called shires, are portions of country, of undefined extent, containing rateable property capable of yielding a revenue of 500l. In 1889 there were 59 urban and 130 rural municipalities, all but a very small portion of the whole area of the colony being included within their limits. Every ratepayer has one or more votes, according to the amount of his rates. Area and Population. The colony, first settled in 1835, formed for a time a portion of New South Wales, bearing the name of the Port Phillip district. It was erected in 1851-by Imperial Act of Parliament, 13 & 14 Vict. cap. 59-into a separate colony, and called Victoria. The colony has an area of 87,884 square miles, or 56,245,760 acres, about part of the whole area of Australia. The colony is divided into 37 counties, varying in area from 920 to 5,933 square miles. The growth of the population, as shown by the censuses of successive periods, and by the estimated population on December 31, 1889, is exhibited in the following table The average density of the population is 127 persons to the square mile, or one person to every 50 acres. The following table gives a summary of the population of Victoria, according to the census taken on April 3, 1881 : During the last decade there has been a large decrease in the number of the Chinese and aborigines. At the date of the last census 96 per cent. of the population were British subjects by birth; native Victorians numbered 499,199, or 58 per cent. of the population; natives of the Australian colonies, 39,861; of England and Wales, 147,453; of Ireland, 86,733; of Scotland, 48,153. Of the total population in 1881, 108,919 were directly engaged in agriculture; in pastoral pursuits, 13,731; commercial, 23,559; mining, 36,066; in 'entertaining or clothing,' 41,712; contractors, artisans, and mechanics, 46,883; domestic servants, 24,723; public business,' 9,901. More than one-half of the total population of Victoria live in towns. At the end of 1889 it was estimated that the town population numbered 654,580, out of a total population of 1,118,028. Inclusive of the suburbs the estimated populations of the principal towns were as follow in 1889 :-- Melbourne, 445,220, or two-fifths of the population of the colony; Ballarat, 42,547; Sandhurst, 36,630; Geelong, 21,380; Castlemaine, 9,220. The following are the births, deaths, and marriages in the colony for each of the five years from 1884 to 1889: AREA AND POPULATION-INSTRUCTION 285 In the 37 years from 1838 to the end of 1874, more than 167,000 immigrants received assistance from the public funds for defraying their passage to the colony; but since 1874 State-assisted immigration has ceased. No account is taken of migration overland across the borders, but the recorded immigration into and emigration from the colony of Victoria by sea were as follow in each of the five years from 1885 to 1889:- Of the immigrants in 1889, 56,163 were males and 28,419 were females; and of the emigrants 46,679 were males and 21,739 females. The excess of immigrants over emigrants in 1889 was 16,164, of which 10,287 was due to immigration from the United Kingdom, 5,868 from the neighbouring colonies, and 9 from foreign countries. Religion. There is no State Church in Victoria, and no State assistance has been given to religion since 1875. Prior to that period a sum of 50,000l. had been set apart annually out of the general revenue for the advancement of the Christian religion in Victoria, and this amount had been distributed proportionately amongst the various denominations. At the date of the last census about 73 per cent. of the population were Protestants, 24 per cent. were Roman Catholics, and a half per cent. were Jews. The following were the estimated numbers of each of the principal divisions in 1889 :-Episcopalians, 398,761; Presbyterians, 169,714; Methodists, 138,748; other Protestants, 84,592; Roman Catholics, 260,404; Jews, 5,542; Buddhists, Confucians, &c., 10,710; others (including unspecified), 35,829. Instruction. Educational establishments in Victoria are of four kinds, viz. the University with its three affiliated colleges, State schools (primary), technical schools or colleges, and private schools. The Melbourne University was established under a special Act of the Victorian Legislature (1858), and the building was opened on October 3, 1855. The Act, which was amended in 1880, provides for its endowment by the payment of 9,0007. annually out of the general revenue; but, besides this sum, an additional endowment of 7,5007. is now annually voted by Parliament, making a total endowment of 16,500l. It is both an examining and a teaching body, and in 1859 received a royal charter empowering it to grant degrees in all Faculties except Divinity. Affiliated to the University are three colleges-Trinity, Ormond, and Queen's-in connection with the Church of England, Presbyterian, and Wesleyan Churches respectively. From the opening of the University to the end of 1889, 2,908 students matriculated, and 1,238 direct degrees were conferred. In 1889 the students who matriculated numbered 189, |