The chief exports of the State are wool, wheat, wheat-flour, copper and other minerals, meats, butter, honey, wine, fruits (fresh and dried), skins and hides, tallow, leather, and manures.

In 1919-20, 806 vessels of 2,638,727 tons entered, and 806 vessels of 2,625,818 tons cleared the ports of the State.

The State possesses about 44,000 miles of made roads. There are (1921) 3,400 miles of railway in the State, including the Transcontinental Railway which has been built from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, and which, in connection with various State lines, completes a through rail connection between Brisbane, on the east coast, and Fremantle on the west coast. Of the Transcontinental line, which is of 4ft. 8 in. gauge, 600 miles are within the borders of South Australia,

There are several good harbours, and the river Murray (navigable for 2,000 miles) is used for conveying the produce grown on the irrigation settlements along its banks. In the city and suburbs are 114 miles of electric tramways.

Banks.

There are 9 banking associations in addition to the Commonwealth Government Bank. In 1921 their total liabilities were 22,762,2877. (including Perpetual Inscribed Stock), and assets 20,421,3847.

The Savings Bank is managed by a board of trustees appointed by the Government, and has 31 branches and 300 agencies. On June 30, 1921, there were 317,983 depositors, with a total balance of 14,284,8577. The Commonwealth Savings Bank (not included above) had 43,972 depositors and 1,991,2617. deposits at the same date. Penny Savings Banks, agencies at schools, 629, depositors, 34,999, deposits, 39, 1477.

The total banking deposits, 38, 414,7207, averaged 777. per head. Over 80 per cent. of the population have savings bank accounts.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning
South Australia.

Annual Statesman's Pocket Year Book.

Annual Statistical Register.

Handbook of South Australia. Adelaide, 1914.

Blackmore (E. G.), The Law of the Constitution of South Australia. Adelaide, 1894. Blacket (John), The Early History of South Australia. Adelaide, 1907.-History of South Australia. 2nd edition. Adelaide, 1911.

Brown (H. Y. L.), A Record of the Mines of South Australia. 3rd ed. Adelaide, 1899. Gordon (D. J.), The Central State. South Australia: Its History, Progress. and Resources. Adelaide, 1903.-The Nile of Australia: Nature's Gateway to the Interior. Adelaide, 1996.-Official Year Book of South Australia. Adelaide, 1913.

Gouger (R.), The Founding of South Australia. Edited by E. Hodder. London, 1898. Hodder (Edwin), The History of South Australia. With Maps. 2 vols. London, 1893. Pascoe (J. J.) (Editor), History of Adelaide and its Vicinity, with a General Sketch of the Province of South Australia and Biographies of Representative Men. Adelaide, 1901. Rees (W. L.), Sir George Grey, K.C.B.: His Life and Times. 2nd edition. 2 vols. London, 1892.

Ryan (V. H), South Australia, a Handbook of Information for Settlers, Tourists and Others. Adelaide, 1914.

Searcy (Alfred), In Northern Seas. 1904.-In Australian Tropics. Adelaide, 1909. Vivienne (May), Sunny South Australia. Adelaide, 1908.

See also under Australia.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

411

WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Constitution and Government.

In 1791 Vancouver, in the Discovery, took formal possession of the country about King George Sound. In 1826 the Government of New South Wales sent 20 convicts and a detachment of soldiers to King George Sound and formed a settlement then called Fredericks Town. In 1827 Captain James (afterwards Sir James) Stirling surveyed the coast from King George Sound to the Swan River, and in May, 1829, Captain Fremantle (afterwards Sir Charles Fremantle, G. C. B.) took possession of the territory. In June, 1829, Captain Stirling founded the Swan River Settlement, now the Commonwealth State of Western Australia, and the towns of Perth and Fremantle, and was appointed Lieutenant-Governor. Western Australia thus became a British settlement in 1829.

Large grants of land were made to the early settlers, and agricultural and pastoral occupations were pursued by a small population with varying success, until, in 1850, the State was in a languishing condition, and the inhabitants' petition that it might be made a penal settlement was acceded to. Between 1850 and 1868, when transportation ceased, 9,718 convicts were sent out. The Imperial convict establishment was transferred to the Colonial Government on March 31, 1886.

In 1870 partially representative government was instituted, and in 1890 the administration was vested in the Governor, a Legislative Council, and a Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Council was, in the first instance, nominated by the Governor, but it was provided that in the event of the population of the Colony reaching 60,000, it should be elective. In 1893 this limit of population being reached, as set forth in a proclamation dated July 18, of that year, the Colonial Parliament passed an Act (57 Vict. No. 14) amending the constitution.

By the Constitution Acts Amendment Act, 1899, further amended by the Constitution Acts Amendment Act, 1911, it is provided that the Legislative Council shall consist of 30 members representing 10 electoral provinces and holding their seats for six years. Members must be 30 years of age, resident in the State for two years, and either be natural-born British subjects or naturalized for 5 years and resident in the State for 5 years. Every elector must have resided in the State for 6 months, and must possess within the province freehold estate of the clear value of £50, or be a householder occupying a dwelling-house of the clear annual value of £17, or holder of a lease of the value of £17 per annum, or the holder of a lease or licence from the Crown of the annual rental of £10, or have his name on the electoral list of a Municipality or Roads Board in respect of property in the province of the annual rateable value of £17. The Legislative Assembly consists of 50 members, each representing one electorate, and elected for 3 years. Members must be 21 years of age, have resided in Western Australia for twelve months, and be either natural-born subjects of the Crown or naturalized for 5 years. Electors must be 21 years of age, natural-born or naturalized subjects of the Crown, and must have resided in the State for 6 months and be on the roll, and must be resident in the district for at least one month when making their claims. Members of and electors for both Houses may be of either sex. No person can be registered as a voter in more than one district or more than once in each Province for which he holds a sufficient qualification. Members of the Legislature are paid 4007. a year, and travel free on all Government railways. The entire management

and control of the waste lands of the Crown in Western Australia is vested in the Legislature of the State. By the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act, 1920, it has been enacted that a woman shall not be disqualified by sex or marriage for being elected to or sitting and voting as a member of the Legislative Council or the Legislative Assembly.

State of political parties (1921):-Legislative Council: "Non-party,” 14 ; Country Party, 7; National Labour, 4; Labour Party, 5. Legislative Assembly: "Non-party," 2; Country Party, 16; Nationalist, 10; National Labour, 5; Labour Party, 17.

Governor.-Rt. Hon. Sir F. A. N. Newdegate, K.C.M.G. (April, 1920). The salary provided for the Governor is 4,000l. per annum. He is assisted in his functions by a cabinet of responsible ministers, as follows:

-

Premier, Treasurer, and Minister for Lands and Repatriation.-Hon. Sir Jas. Mitchell, K. C. M.G., M. L.A.

Minister for Education, Justice, and the North-Western Territory-Hon. H. P. Colebatch, M.L.C.

Minister for Works, Water Supply, Trading Concerns, etc.-Hon. W. J. George, C. M.G., M. L.A.

Minister for Mines, Railways, Industries, etc.-Hon J. Scaddan, M.L.A. Colonial Secretary and Minister for Public Health.-Hon. F. T. Broun, M.L.A.

Minister for Agriculture.-Hon. H. K. Maley, M.L.A.

Agent-General in London.-Hon. Sir J. D. Connolly, K.B.
Offices. Savoy House, Strand.

Area and Population.

As defined by Royal Commission, Western Australia includes all that portion of the continent situated to the westward of 129° E. longitude, together with the adjacent islands. The greatest length of this territory from Cape Londonderry in the north to Peak Head (south of King George Sound) in the south is 1,480 miles, and its breadth from Steep Point near Dirk Hartogs Island, on the west to the 129th meridian, on the east, about 1,000 miles. According to the latest computations, the total estimated area of the State is 975,920 English square miles, or, 624,588,800 acres. It is divided into 38 magisterial districts.

Western Australia was first settled in 1829, and for many years the population was small.

The enumerated population in the various census years was as follows:

There were enumerated in 1911, 6,369 pure and 1,475 half-caste aborigines

(the former not included in the table) in the settled districts and virtually in the employment of the settlers. The number of wild natives is not known, but the total number of aborigines has been roughly estimated at about 30,000.

As in all countries where the white man has settled among races that cannot in a large measure adapt themselves to his forms of civilisation, the natives, in so far as they existed in the present centres of settlement, are dying out, a natural consequence of the loss of their original hunting. grounds. They are of quick intelligence, but disinclined for the civilised modes of life. The Government has taken the best measures available for their protection.

Of the total population in 1911, 104,208 were returned as born in Western Australia. The number of married persons was 96,482 (50,702 males and 45,780 females); widowers, 4, 180; widows, 5,785; divorced, 187 males and 103 females; unmarried, 106,060 males and 68,807 females. The number of males under 21 was 58,838, and of females 56,203. Of the males over 21, 47,323 had never been married, and of the females over 21, 13,609. The estimated population on September 30, 1914 (excluding full-blooded aboriginals) was: males, 182, 682; females, 143,522; total, 326,204; on January 31, 1917, the figures were males, 158, 598; females, 148,608; total, 307,206. The decrease since 1914 was due to enlistments for the war. The total enlistments during the war numbered 34,353, of whom 23,670 had returned on October 31, 1920. The population on September 30, 1921, was estimated to be males, 178, 269; females, 156,904; total, 335, 173.

:

Perth, the capital, at the time of the 1921 census, had a population, within the 10-mile radius area of the Metropolitan district, of 155,129. This, however, includes the chief port of the State, Fremantle, with its suburbs, the population of which, at the census, was 25,526. The other principal municipalities, with census population of 1921, are:

The movement of population for the State in 5 years is given as follows:

In 1914 there were 388; in 1917, 327; in 1918, 287; in 1919, 292; and in 1920, 318 illegitimate births.

Religion.

The religious division of the population was as follows at the census of 1911-Church of England, 109, 435; Methodists, 34,348; Presbyterians, 26,678; Congregationalists, 6,203; Baptists, 4,801; other Protestants,

18,189; Roman Catholics, 56,616; Catholics (Greek and undefined), 5,754; other Christians, 1,736; Jews, 1,790; Mahometans, 1,517; Buddhists, 1,795; other non-Christians, 748; indefinite, 1,555; no religion, 1,260 ; not stated, 9,689.

Instruction.

Of the total white population of 15 years and upwards in 1911, 107 per cent. were stated to be unable to read. Education is compulsory and free.

The following table shows the average cost per head and attendance in Government schools and in private schools in three years:

No.of Schools No. of Scholars Av. Attendance

Cost per Head of av. Attendance

Education is free throughout from the kindergarten to the University and comprises ample provision also for secondary education, technical schools, continuation classes, scholarships, etc. During the financial year ended June 30, 1921, the total sum spent on education and schools, including a grant of 15,000l. to the University of Perth, was 505,1607.

Justice and Crime.

The following table gives the number of offences, apprehensions, and convictions for five years:

The total number of distinct persons committed to prison in 1920 was 1,254; the number of commitments totalled 1,947-viz.: adult males, 1,707, adult females, 240.

All the above figures are exclusive of aboriginal crime.

Pauperism and Old Age Pensions.

There are two charitable institutions, one situated at Claremont, and one at Fremantle, both supported by public funds, with 642 inmates on December 31, 1920. Twenty-five Government hospitals, also a Government sanatorium for consumptive patients, at Wooroloo, and two hospitals for the insane, are wholly supported by public funds, as is also a depôt for diseased natives at Port Hedland, whilst three public and twentyseven other assisted hospitals exist, partly supported by private subscriptions and partly out of public funds, in addition to the numerous