to a man, voted with, and for the moment saved, the Ministry. A few years back the sugar growers of New South Wales declared that, unlike their Queensland competitors in the business, they could make the industry a success without the help of coloured labour; but that principle is being slowly abandoned, and black labour is largely employed. It is a question, however, by no means settled in the minds of the planters themselves whether, with expensive machinery to maintain, white labour is not in the long run the cheaper. Under the Commonwealth it is very probable that, both in New South Wales and in Queensland, they will either have to settle the question in the affirmative or—abandon the industry.
New South Wales is the colony of wide acres; the total area of land alienated up to the end of 1896 being nearly 46,000,000 acres, while 126,000,000 acres are under lease, and about 25,000,000 remain in possession of the State; the total area of the colony being nearly 200,000,000 acres. The returns as to live stock grazing on New South Wales pastures are interesting—viz., 490,000 horses, 2,050,000 cattle, and about 50,000,000 sheep; though the recent drought, as we have seen, has affected these figures to an extent which it is hard to estimate with exactness. The total wool clip of 1896, the latest for which official figures are obtainable, was 255,000,000 lbs.—an increase of about 16,000,000 lbs. on the previous year. Amongst wool-growers there has for some time past been a keen controversy as to the merits of the Vermont or American types of sheep, crossed with the Australian merino, as against the old Australian type; and the flock owners of New South Wales have taken the lead in advocacy of the American cross. The co-operative methods of dairying which proved so successful in Victoria have been largely
