Nuhou, Volume II, Number 12, 22 August 1873 — The Progress of Australia. [ARTICLE]

The Progress of Australia.

| Last year"e statistics of Vietoria, the !<>=».lin £ ! Colony of Australia, have been publiehed, and ' they indicate a condition prosperous in īts main . features. The gold minee there, as in California, j vielded about $60,000,000 in 1853, when at their j highest productivene6B, and have sincc been deJ clining. The export of gold in 1872 was 1,317,1 102 ouncef, or about $25,000,000, preserving j the superiority loug held over this State, whieli jnow yields about $20,000,000 annua%. The number of meu employed iu the Yictoriau gold mines is 51,657, or about 20,000 more than those in the mines of California, and the productiou to thc «īan is less there tliau here. The wages of | minere aro also less, forthe highest sum paid there is- £3, or $15 per wepk, \vhereas here uuderground miners espeet at least $3 pcr day, and many get $3.50 and $4. The meehauiea and eommon laborere general!jf ca.ru from t\veiity-five to thirty-three per ceut. less than in this State, an<l houwmaids from 40 to C0 per cent. le«s. Women servdnt£ who īiere get §25 per uiouUi, thero rwive $150 per jear, to $12.50 jpcr iiiionHi. The faet that thcj ure cugage<lby the jjear impliee that the servauis are far less iiiJcpcndpnt there t!ian hore. The PaeiCe Coast still retame īts= preemmenee' as haviug t!ie liigliest labor rates in the world,:and we maj elaim iu ad-

dition ior California fchsjt maoy of the necessari£S of life, ineluding grain ,and frult, are here excej.tiobally eheap. The populaiion of Yietoria is ab«j>ut and the Australasian t<.- ; geiher—South Austrajla } Western AustraH':. s i Viptoria, New South ales and Queensland > In | Ai|straha } Tasmania Dleman*s Land) and Zealand—have mpre than 2*000,000. Ail lof are steadily in wealth aod pop'u* but they are a| a great disadvautage 'iu j coneequencc of their j>ositiun in the Southerh separate<} by long distances and j coetly voyages from tl|e great eentres of wealieh j and energy.-—j. j jTwo millions of would offer us qui;e a I m<p*kec. It might l>e as good as what the Paelfie ■co|ist hae.to ofibr to u»i]