Possession Isles, Qd., situated off the N.E. point, were named by Capt. Cook in 1770, as it was there that he took posses-northern parts of Queensland. The mail sion of the entire coastline of Eastern Australia in the name of George III. Possession Point, W.A., was dis-out to Australia being by way of the

in consequence of the Crimean War, new and agreeable route, which was and Australia was again dependent for inaugurated by the Macgregor, which its European mail on the Cape route. was the pioneer, and took the first But by this time there were regular mail from Sydney to San Francisco, lines of clipper ships which made the touching at Auckland, on Dec. 20th, 1873. passage in about 70 days to Melbourne, Since that date the service has always and occasional steamers, such as the been kept open by the Australian Steam Great Britain, the Royal Charter, the Navigation Co., the Pacific Steam NaviLondon, etc., etc. In 1856 the Colonial gation Co. of New York, or by private Legislature offered liberal grants for the owners, and now by the Union Steamship re-establishment of mail communication Co. of New Zealand, a much reduced via the Red Sea, and in 1857 the service subsidy being paid by the governments was renewed via Point de Galle, first by of New South Wales and New Zealand. a company called the European and In 1880 a new mail line was commenced, Australian, and finally by the P. and O. which, although of little advantage to the Co., the mails being first dispatched southern colonies, is a great boon to the monthly, next fortnightly, and, finally, northern ports of Queensland. The when the Orient Company came into the Queensland Royal Mail line in conjunction field, weekly, and the time occupied in with that of the British India Co. runs transit was reduced until the mails to- from England via Batavia, touching at day do not occupy more than 32 days in Thursday Island, Cooktown, Townsville, the transit via Adelaide and Brindisi. Bowen, Mackay and Rockhampton, on Several changes have been made in the its way to Brisbane. The southern ports route. Brindisi is now the European of New Zealand obtained direct comterminus instead of Marseilles, the munication with England by the steamers steamers touch at Colombo instead of the New Zealand Steamship Co. and of Point de Galle or Mauritius; the the Shaw Savill Line, and a service mails pass through the Suez Canal has been established by the Messageries instead of being forwarded by railway Maritimes from Marseilles to Sydney across Egypt, and the steamer stops at all with a branch to New Caledonia, touching the Australian ports instead of, as at one at Seychelles, and by the North German time, going direct from King George's Lloyd to Bremen, touching at SouthampSound to Melbourne, and compelling ton, with a branch from Sydney to Samoa Adelaide to obtain its mail by a branch and Tonga. All the various novelties steamer from King George's Sound, or, and improvements that are known in as was the system at one time, by a line other countries have been introduced from Kingscote in Kangaroo Island; into the Australasian post offices, such finally the mails are put on board at as the use of post-cards, post-office Adelaide and forwarded to their destina-savings banks, the employment of ladies, tion by railway. The service via the Red Sea was for a long time looked upon with great disfavour in New South Wales and New Zealand, and in 1859 Mr. Merewether visited England with the view of opening up a line via the Isthmus of Panama. The service was eventually commenced, via Sydney and Wellington and Panama, the mails being conveyed across the isthmus by rail, and finally from Aspinwall to Southampton; but the advantages in point of time were much less than were expected, and although heavily subsidised by the governments of New South Wales and New Zealand, the service was finally abandoned. The completion of the overland railway across the American Continent, with its western terminus at San Francisco, opened up

the parcel-post, etc., etc. By a recent alteration in the law the uniform rate of postage from Great Britain to any part of Australasia and vice versa is 24d., and it was arranged at the recent Postal Conference held at Vienna in May 1891, that the Australasian colonies should join the Postal Union in October of that year. The rate of intercolonial postage is 2d. In New South Wales town letters are charged 1d.; inland letters 2d. per halfounce. On Jan. 1st, 1890, the number of post-offices was 1261; number of letters carried in 1889, 53,971,300; newspapers, 36,530,800; packets and book parcels, 7,809,400; post-cards, 630,100. În Victoria, inland postage, 1d.; number of post-offices in 1890, 1600; letters and postcards, 48,097,268; newspapers, 20,662,732.

a

Powell's Creek (Northern Territory),8.A. A station on the Overland Telegraph, 1467 miles from Adelaide.

Praed, Winthrop Mackworth, was the author of the prize poem on Australia which gained the Chancellor's Medal at Cambridge in 1822, beating W. C. Wentworth and 25 others.

In South Australia, the inland postage the latter, a great fighting chief, was rates are uniformly 2d. In 1890 there killed. were 600 post-offices; letters and postcards carried, 16,420,167; newspapers, 9,165,098; packets, 1,119,070. In Western Australia the rates for town letters are 1d., and country 2d. In 1890 there were 182 post-offices; letters, 2,737,034; newspapers, 1,392,825; and packets, 247,681. In Queensland the postage on town letters is 1d., and inland, 2d. In 1890 there were 368 postoffices and 466 receiving offices; letters, 13,070,083; newspapers, 10,937,339; packets, 1,941,495. In Tasmania, town letters are charged 1d., and inland, 2d.; number of post-offices in 1890, 293; letters, 7,782,315; newspapers, 9,244,921; packets, 1,014,821. In New Zealand all inland letters, town and country, are now charged 1d.; number of post-offices, Jan 1st, 1890, 1167. In 1889 there passed through the Australasian post-offices 42,301,233 letters, 16,721,016 newspapers, 1,850,160 post-cards and 5,381,493 book packets.

Pottinger, N.S.W. One of the new counties intersected by the North-Western railway and the Turabeile creek, and containing the Liverpool Plains.

Pounds exercised an important influence over the earlier history of the squatting system, when the country was all open, and horses and cattle strayed in some cases hundreds of miles, more especially when they were bred in one district and afterwards driven to another. Pounds were established in different places, and the poundkeepers, who were under the jurisdiction of the local magistrates, were persons of importance and even wealth. In most cases squatters who found stray horses or cattle on their runs, had them driven to the nearest pound, and the marks and brands of these animals were published in the Government Gazette, a course which gave their owners an opportunity of reclaiming them, or at least obtaining the proceeds of their sale, if they had been already sold. As the country became fenced in, the pounds declined in importance. The first pound at Sydney was established on August 24th, 1811, and at Melbourne, March 31st, 1839. Poverty Bay, N.Z. A bay on the E. coast of the North Island, near the town of Gisborne, which was the first landing place of Cook, and the scene of his encounters with the Maoris, in which one of

Prahran, Vict. An important suburban city, 3 miles S.E. of Melbourne, and railway station. Population 39,703. Newspapers, Prahran Telegraph and Chronicle. Prebbleton, N.Z. A railway station 8 miles S. of Christchurch. Population 150.

Presbyterians. The first church erected in Australia was at Portland Head, Hawkesbury, in 1809. Divine worship was conducted by James Mein, a layman; the church was erected by the subscriptions of a dozen free immigrant families, who had received 100-acre grants of lands. Rev. Archibald Macarthur preached his first sermon at Hobarton Jan. 12th, 1823, the first stone of the Presbyterian Church in that city was laid March 21st, 1824, and the building was opened Sept. 12th, 1824. Rev. John Dunmore Lang, D.D., first minister to New South Wales, arrived at Sydney, May 8th, 1823; preached his first sermon June 8th. Foundation stone of St. Andrew's Church, Sydney, laid by Governor Brisbane, July 1st, 1824. The Rev. J. M'Garvie arrived at Sydney May 23rd, 1826, and the Rev. James Forbes, the first Presbyterian clergyman at Melbourne, 1838. The foundation stone of a Scotch church was laid in Melbourne on Jan. 22nd, 1842. Presbyterianism in Australia has in most matters followed its prototype in the mother country. Previous to the landing of Dr. Lang there had been no Presbyterian minister in New South Wales, but after his arrival the Church made rapid strides. Governor Brisbane resolutely refused state aid to Presbyterians, and maintained his position till he was directed by the Earl of Bathurst, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, to advance £600 for the erection of a Scotch church, and pay a stipend of £300 a year to its minister. Sir Richard Bourke informed Lord Stanley in 1831, that there were at that time four paid ministers of the Church of Scotland in

and Townsville; 53 charges; 41 ministers. The Presbyterian population in 1886 was 37,765, but the number of church adherents is not given.-South Australia. Moderator for 1890-91, Rev. A. Law, Monarto; 3 presbyteries, Adelaide, Onkaparinga and Belalie; ministers, 14; charges, 20; presbyteries, 3; churches, 24; other buildings used for public worship, 12; sittings, 6003; communicants 1726; Sabbath schools, 28; teachers, 246; scholars, 2265.—Tasmania. Moderator, Rev. Hugh S. Anderson, Beaconsfield; ministers, 14; charges, 12; presbyteries, 2. The Free Church of Scotland preserves its autonomy in Tasmania. Moderator, Rev. C. H. Talbot, Hobart, and 7 members. The Presbyterian population of Tasmania was in 1889, 13,815, but no record is given of church adherents.- Victoria. Presbyterian Church of Victoria, moderator, Rev. W. J. Gillespie, Coleraine. Ministers, 207; churches, 406; school-houses, 87; sitting accommodation for 91,000; average attendance, 74,000. The General Assembly meets on the second Tuesday in November, and the Commission of the General Assembly on the first Tuesday of May in each year. The Free Presbyterian Church of Victoria has, ministers, 6; churches, 12; sitting accommodation for 3465; average attendance at services, 1290. The Presbyterian population was reckoned in 1881 at 132,591.—Western Australia. The Rev. David Shearer, M.A. arrived at end of 1879; since then a church has been erected at Perth with 330 sittings. The Rev. Mr. Hankin arrived in 1886, and commenced his labours at Fremantle. Present statistics: ministers, 3; places of worship, 5; sittings, 630; Sunday schools, 6; teachers, 38; scholars, 376. Government grant, £128 per annum.-New Zealand. The Presbyterian population, according to the census of 1886, was 130,550, and it is divided into the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, which has 104 ministers, and the Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland, with 74. The two bodies have 217 churches, 117 school-houses, 33 occasional buildings, 57,630 sittings, and 39,728 attendants.

New South Wales, and in consequence of his recommendations a sum of £1300 per annum was devoted to stipends and church building, which in 1842 had grown to £6500. In 1841 the Presbyterian population of New South Wales, including Port Phillip, was 13,513. The system of state aid gradually grew, and was extended to all the Australian colonies. In 1847 the amount granted in New South Wales to Presbyterians was £2373, and in Victoria in 1855, £4560, which in 1856 had increased to £7708. The history of state aid and its abolition all over Australia will be found under the head ANGLICAN CHURCH. At first all sections of the Scotch churches, except the small body called the United Presbyterians, accepted state aid; but a change was made by the disruption which resulted in the formation of the Free Church of Scotland. Eventually, and after the abolition of state aid in Australia, the differences between the various sections of the Presbyterian body were bridged over, and each colony, excluding Western Australia and Tasmania, has now a separate and distinct Presbyterian Church, with its own independent ecclesiastical judicatories. They all hold the same doctrinal standards, and have the same church policy. These churches, in addition to the Presbyterian Church of Tasmania, united together in a Federal Union, and held the first Federal Assembly at Sydney in July 1886. Each church preserves its autonomy in respect of its funds and its property-a course necessary by the different laws which prevail in each colony. Attention is being paid to the assimilation of working the several schemes of the churches, to obtaining a common standard in theological education, as well as to common efforts in the direction of missionary enterprise. The Presbyterian Church of New South Wales in 1890-91 consists of the moderator, the Rev. T. E. Clouston, B.A., Penrith; 142 ministers; 130 charges; 13 presbyteries; 280 churches; 54,469 church sittings; estimated number of adherents, 31,422; total revenue, £54,975; Sunday schools, 222; teachers, 1,460; scholars, Preservation Inlet, N.Z., is the most 11,640; average attendance, 8,898. There southerly of the sounds on the W. coast, are 2 Chinese catechists.-Queensland. being 216 miles from Port Chalmers; Moderator, 1890-91, Rev. A. M. Gould, at Cuttle Cove, 8 miles from the ocean Townsville; 5 presbyteries, Brisbane, entrance, the inlet branches off into Toowoomba, Maryborough, Rockhampton Long Sound, which is 16 miles in length.