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' VICTORIAN YEAR-BOOK FOR
1888—9.'
We acknowledge the receipt from the
Government Statist of Victoria (Mr. H. H.
Hayter. C.M.G.,) of the first part of the
Victorian Tear-book for the year 1888—9,
which deals with a portion of the general
statistics of Victoria and the other Austra
lian Colonies. A decided improvement has
been made in the publication of this inter
esting and valuable work, by bringing it
out in two volumes instead of three, as was
done the previous year. The volume under
review — wieh is admirably printed by
Messrs. Sands. & McDongall— contains In
troductory Remarks, and deals with. Pop
ulation, Finance, Interchange, and Accum
ulation. Towards the end are appendices
containing twelve tables of Australian
Statistics, tables or Revenue and Expendi
ture, and Labour Reports brought on to the
latest date ; and these are followed by a
General Index to the contents of the vol
ume. Of the mass ef statistics before us
we turn first to those dealing with pop
ulation, which clearly explain what
progress the colonies had made up to the
end of last year. Victoria is now
said to exceed New South Wales in popula
tion, though the contrary was asserted by
Sir Henry Parkes in a speech he delivered
at Albury last month. In 1887 the popula
tion of New South Wales was estimated to
be 6,800 in excess -of that-of Victoria, -but
at the end of last year Victoria claims to
have had 5,513 more inhabitants than the
Mother Colony. The population of Vic
toria is estimated in S years — i.e., from 1881
to 1888— to have increased from 880,218 to
1,090,869; that of New South Wales from
778, to 1,085,356; that of Sauth Australia
(exclusive of the Northern Territory) from
286£24 to 313,065 ; that ef Queensland
from 22G,968 to 387.463 ; that of Western
Australia from 30,013 to 42,137 ; that of
Tasmania from 118,923 to 146,149,- and
that of New Zealand from 500,910 to
607,380. The order in which the seven
colonies stand with reference to density of
population is: — Victoria, New Zealand,
Tasmania, New South Wales, Queensland,
South Australia, Western Australia. , The
sexes are more equal in South Australia
han in any other colony, there being 96-63
females to every 100 males. Queensland
stands last in this comparison, as she
has only 71*81 females to each 100
males ; and there is a slightly greater pro
portion of females to males in Victoria than
in New Sonth Wales ; while in Tasmania
there are 87*30 females to eac;i 100 males.
In Victoria, New South Wales, Western
Australia, and Tasmania the population of
males preponderates over that of females in
a higher degree now than it did in 1881 ;
but in Queensland, South Australia, and
New Zealand the tendency since the last
census has been for the sexes to approach
nearer to equality. At the end of 1888
there were on the Continent of Australia
over 2,900,000 inhabitants ; and in Aus
tralasia — including not only the continental
colonies but also Tasmania and New Zea
land — there were close upon 3,673.000. We
shall continue the review of this interesting
work as soon as we receive the second
volume.
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