CHAP. XIV ECONOMIC FEATURES 137 There were about 11,000 houses in Port Phillip, of which some 5000 were of stone or brick, and the remainder of wood. Of the more substantial class, nearly four-fifths were in Melbourne and Geelong. The live stock of the community comprised about six and a half million head, of which about seven-eighths were "beyond the settled districts," i.e. in the great squatting localities of Gippsland, Murray, Portland Bay, Westernport, and Wimmera. Six million head were sheep, as might have been expected from their locality, and about 378,000 were cattle. The total revenue for the year 1850 amounted to close upon £260,000, of which £123,000 was "general" and upwards of £136,000 "territorial." The chief items of the general revenue were customs (£76,000), assessment on stock (£12,000), and "licences" (£10,000). The principal heads of the territorial revenue were sale of Crown lands (£29,000), land and immigration deposits (£92,000), and leases and licences to occupy (£12,000). The area of Crown land actually granted during the year was 40,000 acres, making a total of 354,000, or about 554 square miles, since the first settlement; 2 but it is impossible to make a fair estimate of the sale value per acre upon these figures, inasmuch as the receipts often represent deferred payments and deposits. The expenditure from the general revenue was about £95,000, and from the territorial about £96,000. Of the latter item £81,000 represents immigration-far more than the due proportion, but probably the large amount is due to debts of previous years. Upon the whole the revenue exceeds the expenditure by £69,000-considerably over 30 per cent. The industrial pursuits of the community were represented by forty-six factories actually at work-nineteen in Melbourne, and fifteen others in the county of Bourke. There were, of these, fourteen breweries, thirteen tanneries, and eight salting establishments. The imports of the community amounted in value to £745,000, the principal heads being-clothing, malt liquors and spirits, cottons and haberdashery, hardware, and tobacco. Of these imports nearly £700,000 value came from Great 1 I.e. presumably publicans' licences. 2 This total, however, does not include the free grants for public purposes. Britain. The exports were just over a million sterling, chiefly, of course, wool, though tallow counted for something substantial. The exports, with trifling exceptions, all went to Great Britain. The shipping, inwards and outwards, for the year 1850 amounted to about 500 vessels, with a burden of something less than 100,000 tons. More than four-fifths of these were British vessels. The convictions for crime during the year had amounted to 111, but of these 102 were for felonies, and we cannot help suspecting either that the convictions for lighter offences were not fully reported, or that the administration of justice in minor cases was somewhat intermittent. The picture of Port Phillip which these figures draw is very different from the Victoria of to-day. At the time of separation Port Phillip was a great pastoral province, whose wealth lay in its flocks and herds. One quarter of its male population was actually engaged in pastoral and agricultural pursuits, and less than one-fifteenth in manufactures. This is a strange picture for one accustomed to think of Victoria as a great country of artisan interests, striving to build up a giant system of mechanical industries, and viewing all things from the point of view of town life. In fact, Port Phillip in 1850 was on the verge of a compound revolution, which was to change not only her political machinery, but her social and industrial life.1 1 The figures in this chapter have been taken mainly from two contemporary sources of information-the returns in V. and P. (N. S. W.), 1851, vol ii., and in Victorian Government Gazette, 1851. They have also been compared with the valuable tables contained in Mr. Hayter's Victorian Year Book for 1886-87. CHAPTER XV 1 THE NEW CONSTITUTION 1 THE 13 & 14 Vic. c. 59 received the royal assent on the 5th August 1850. It is entitled "An Act for the better Government of Her Majesty's Australian Colonies," and we must therefore be careful to remember that it was not concerned solely, or even mainly, with the colony of Victoria. Still, it will be better for us to analyse first the sections which deal specially with Victoria, passing then to the provisions affecting also other colonies, and reserving comment for the end of the chapter. The first section, after a somewhat lengthy summary of the statutory history of government in New South Wales from the 9 Geo. IV. c. 83 downwards, enacts that after certain provisions have been made by the Governor and Legislative Council of New South Wales, and upon the issuing of the writs for the first election in pursuance thereof, the District of Port Phillip shall be separated from the colony of New South Wales, and shall be erected into a separate colony under the title of the colony of Victoria. The new colony is described as being "bounded on the north and north-east by a straight line drawn from Cape How to the nearest source of the River Murray, and thence by the course of that river to the eastern boundary of the colony of South Australia." There is to be in the new colony of Victoria a Legislative Council, consisting of such number of members as the existing 1 From this point the references to the volumes of Votes and Proceedings, Hansards, Colonial Statutes, and Government Gazettes will indicate those of Victoria, unless otherwise qualified. 2 Cf. also § 5. |