i9+ ' Catalogue of the British Section.
Rates of Labour on Stations. —The average rate of wages on squatting stations is:—Stockmen, per annum, 45/. 6 s. 6 d.\ shepherds, per annum, 35/.: hutkeepers, per annum, 28/. $s. 6 d.\ married couples, per annum 51/.; females, per annum, 26/. i+j. ; station labourers, per week, i6.y.; sheepwashers, per week, i8j. : shearers, o?r 100 sheep shorn, 13$. $d. This is also subject to variation in different districts.
Live Stock on Farms and Stations. —The number of live stock on farms and stations in 1870 was estimated at—horses, 161,830; milch cows, 179,661 ; cattle, 512,857 ; sheep, 9,923,663 ; pigs, 111,464; total, 10,889,475.
Extent and Value of Gold Workings. —A return made during the year 1869 gave—number of distinct quartz reefs proved to be auriferous, 2,881 ; extent in square miles of auriferous alluvial and quartz ground worked upon, 905^; estimated value of gold mining claims, 8,539,241/.
A full and classified catalogue of the contributions from Victoria has been printed by order of the Commissioners for the Colony, and may be obtained at the Exhibition.
NEW ZEALAND.
The Colony of New Zealand consists of three principal islands, called respectively the North, the Middle, and the South (or Stewart’s) Island, and several small islets (mostly uninhabited); the chief of which are the Chatham Isles and the Auckland Isles. The three principal islands extend in length 1,100 miles, but their breadth is extremely variable, ranging from 46 miles to 250 miles; the average being about 140 miles.
Statistics of New Zealand. —The census of 1871 showed that the population of New Zealand (exclusive of the Aborigines), amounted in the February of that year to 256,393 ; having increased from 99,021 in 1861. The revenue, the trade, and the other elements of material prosperity have increased during the same period in nearly equal proportions. Thus the revenue was in 1861, 691,464/., and in 1871, 1,342,116/. The population of the chief towns, (including their suburbs) was in 1871, in round numbers, as follows:—Wellington, (the seat of the General Government), 8,000; Dunedin, 21,000; Auckland, 20,000; Christchurch, 12,000; Nelson, 6,000.
Revenue, (Ordinary and Territorial). —1860, 464,739/.; 1870, 1,384,639/.; 1871, 1,342,116/. Public Debt of New Zealand in 1872 was, 9,983,341/.
Imports and Exports. — i860, Imports, 1,548,333/.; Exports, 588,953/. 1870,
Imports, 4,639,015/.; Exports, 4,822,756/. 1871, Imports, 4,078,192/.; Exports, 5,282,084/.
Land and Crops. {Land and cultivations of aboriginal natives not included .')—The extent of holdings in the Colony in February, 1871, was returned as 22,774,498 acres, against 18,762,057 acres in December, 1867, viz. : freehold, 5,637,838 acres, against 5,068,440 acres in 1867, and leasehold, 17,126,660 acres in 1871, (against 13,693,617 acres in 1867. The total number of acres fenced was 6,778,773, against 3,455,588 in 1867. The quantity of land broken up but not under crop, was, in 1871, 116,204 acres, against 94,311 acres in 1867. The total quantity of land under crop, as shown by the Census of 1871, (including sown grasses) was, 1,042,042 acres, against 676,909 acres in 1867. Inthis total were 77,082 acres of wheat, against 47,786 acres in 1867; 123,135 acres of oats, against 101,563 acres in 1867; 23,071 acres of barley, against 13,136 acres in 1867. 12,901 acres of potatoes, against 14,372 acres in 1867; 776,402 acres of sown grasses, against 472,893 acres in 1867. In other crops there were 29,450 acres, against 27,159 acres in 1S67.