PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRY — COMMERCE
299
Years ending June 30
Revenue
Expenditure
1894 1895 1896 1897 1898
& 2,526,705 2,433,689 2,521,409 2,628,049 2,566,611
£ 2,525,606 2,533,245 2,509,468 2,635,860 2,598,939
The revenue for 1898-99 is estimated at 2,649,899^., and expenditure 2,619,220/. ; customs revenue, 1898-99, 584,386/.
The greater part of the revenue of the colony is derived from customs duties, inland revenue, posts and telegraphs, railways, and territorial receipts, while the main portion of the expenditure is on account of public works, railways, and interest on public debt. The total revenue averages 11. 7s. M. per head, of which customs'and other sources of taxation contribute 21. lis. 0|rf. About one third of the expenditure is for administrative charges, compris- ing salaries of judges, &c., civil establishments, defences, police, gaols, and prisons.
The public debt of the colony, dating from 1852, amounted, on Decem- ber 31, 1897, to 24,408,000/. Three fourths of the public debt has been spent on railways, water-works, and telegraphs. The railways show a profit over working expenses of 3/. 10s. per cent, per annum.
The real property of the colony in 1897 was valued at 49,919,900/., and personal property is estimated at 28,056,294/.
Production and Industry.
Of the total area including Northern Territory (578,361,600 acres), 7,694,347 acres were alienated at the end of 1897. The area under forest is 12,428 acres. The freehold andleasehold land amounts to 34,655,774 acres, of which 2,604,122 acres were under cultivation in 1896-97. Of this 1,522,668 acres were under wheat, 449,167 under hay, 13,054 under orchards, 18,761 vineyards, and 507,484 fallow. The gross produce of wheat in 1893-94 was 13,618,062 bushels ; in 1897, 4,014,852 bushels. In 1896-97, 1,473,216 gallonsof wine were made, and 391,238 exported ; and in 1897-98, 1,283,094 gallons were made, and 515,714 gallons exported. The live stock in 1897 numbered— horses, 164.820 ; cattle, 274,255 ; sheep, 5,032,541 ; and in the Northern Territory— horses, 14,972 ; cattle, 265,894 ; sheep, 59,537. In 1897, of the total area 156,763 square miles were hold under pastoral leases, and the number of leases was 788.
The mineral wealth as yet discovered consists chiefly in copper and silver. The value of the copper ore produced and exported in 1897 was 4,640/., and of copper, 238,277/.; and the total value of all minerals produced and exported including Northern Territory was 366,975/.
In 1897 there were 738 factories in the colony, employing 12,685 people. There were 28 iron and brass furnaces, employing 1,543 people, and 18 manu- facturers of agricultural implements, &c., to 184 people.
Commerce.
The total value of South Australian imports and exports, inclusive of bullion and specie, from and to various countries, in each of the last six years, was as follows ;—
