INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS — BOOKS OF REFERENCE 295
of arrival and departure. In the coasting trade 6,646 vessels of 3,579,255 tons entered, and 6,552 of 3,583,524 tons cleared.
Internal Communications.
At the end of 1897 there were 2,609 miles of railway open for traffic in the colony. The railways are all in the hands of the Government, and the cost of construction up to December 31, 1897, was 18,016,150, including that on lines not yet open, amounting to 98 miles. The revenue from railways during 1897 was 1,122,637^., and the expenditure in working them 688,033^. The total expenditure to December 31, 1897, including apportionment of cost of floating loans, losses on sales of stock, &c,, has been 19, 587,368Z.
The Post Office of the colony in the year 1897 carried 18,370,937 letters, 11,496,656 newspapers, 4,767,783 packets, and 202,248 parcels. There were 1,126 post and receiving offices in the colony at the close of 1897. The post- office revenue was 167, 998^.
At the end of 1897 there were in the colony 10,090 miles of telegraph lines, and 18,472 miles of wire, with 367 stations. The number of messages sent was 934,326 in the year 1897, and 121,239 received from places outside the colony, besides 109,569 official messages. The receipts of the Department during that year were 83,846^., and the working expenses of the joint department of Post and Telegraph was 313,944Z.
Banks.
There are eleven banks established in Queensland, of which the following are the statistics for the end of 1897 : — Notes in circulation, 392,423Z., of which 388,833^. are Treasury notes issued by the Government through the banks ; deposits, 11,869,982^. ; total liabilities, 12,370, 467^. ; coin and bullion, 2,095,598?. ; advances, 13,282,501Z. ; landed property, 721, 833?. ; total assets, 16,842,439Z. There is a Government savings bank with 140 branches ; on January 1, 1898, there were 63,310 depositors, with 2,568,477?. to their credit.
Agent-General for Q%Leensland in Great Britain. — Sir Horace Tozer, K.C.M.G.
Secretary. — Charles Shortt Dicken, CM. G.
Books of Reference.
statistical Register of Queensland, Annual. Brisbane, Queensland, Past and Present. Annual. Brisbane.
Census of the Colony of Queensland, taken on the 3rd April, 1891. Fol, Brisbane, 1882. Annual Report from the Registrar-General on Vital Statistics. Brisbane. Report of the Department of Agriculture. Annual. Brisbane. Report on Agricultural and Live Stock Returns. Annual. Brisbane, Report of Commissioner for Railways. Annual. Brisbane. Report of the Department of Mines. Annual. Brisbane. Report of the Department of Public Lands. Annual. Brisbane. Report of the Department of Public Instruction. Annual. Brisbane. Year-Book of Queensland. Annual. Brisbane.
Bicknell (A. C), Travel and Adventure in Northern Queensland. London, 1895, Pugh'8 Queensland Almanac. Court Guide, Gazetteer, die. Annual. Brisbane. Rowaii (Mrs.), Australian Sketches. [Queensland and New Zealand,] London, 1887 iju««eli (H. S.), The Genesis of Queensland. 8. Sydney. 1888,
Sernon (R.), Im australischen Busch und am den Kiisten des Korallenmeeres. Leipzig, 189(5.
Weedon (T.), Queensland Past and Present. Brisbane, 1896.
