ply is found. The number of Chinese among the mining laborers is rapidly decreasing. The total gold product of the Commonwealth doubled dur- ing the last decade of the Nineteenth Century, and was almost as great as that of either the United States or the Transvaal, her only rivals. The rich deposits of iron ore which are gen- erously distributed over the continent have as yet been little worked; but an effort is being made to stimulate both iron manufactures and iron mining. The greatest advance has been in New South Wales, where rich ores are found in close proximity to coal and limestone. Other metals mined in small quantities are antimony, bismuth, manganese, platinum, and lead, the last-named being produced only in connection with silver raining. Building stone and commer- cial clays are abundant, and are drawn upon as local needs require. Diamonds and numerous other precious stones are found, but not exten- sively. The mineral fuels of Australia consist principally of bituminous coal. Over 90 per cent. of the total has been produced by New South Wales. Only in the United States is a larger amount of coal mined per capita. The value of the annual production of the Common- wealth is close to $10,000,000. The accompany- ing table shows the total mineral production by States in successive decades.
Although gold still constitutes the chief min- ing product, its relative importance in the min- ing industry is declining. Silver and silver-lead mining first became important in 1882. Its pro- duction has been almost wholly confined to New South Wales, the maximum output ($18,000,000) being attained in 1891, when it exceeded the value of gold produced. But it has since fallen off almost one-half. For a few years past silver mining has rapidly developed in Tasmania. Cop- per ranks almost on a par with silver, and has been extensively mined for a much longer period. Seventy per cent. of the total copper product of the country is produced in South Australia, where it is the only mineral extensively mined. New South Wales has produced about 16 per cent. of the total output. Owing to the deprecia- tion in price, the production in both of these colonies greatly decreased after 1884; but there has recently been a revival in the industry, and the figures recorded above for 1899 are the high- est reached in 15 years. Still, South Australia is no longer preëminent in the copper-mining industry, Tasmania having had a remarkable development in the last five years, surpassing the former State in 1897, and in 1899 exceed- ing her three to one. Tin is the only other metal mined in large quantities, the most important producers being Tasmania, New South Wales, and Queensland, in the order named. The min- ing of this metal varies greatly from period to period, in consequence of the great fluctuations in prices. Thus far the mining has been con- fined almost wholly to the alluvial deposits, al- though there are lodes of unusual richness.
Agriculture. The agricultural development of Australia has been governed by the remote- ness of the continent from the rest of the civilized world, by the recent date of its settlement, and naturally by the peculiarities of its physical and climatic conditions. Its latitude and its contour are such that it is nowhere subject to extremes of cold, and is well adapted to the production of tropical and temperate zone products. But a very small portion of its area is occupied by mountains and thus rendered uncultivable. The absence of mountains, however, is probably more of a loss than a gain, for it is responsible for a light rainfall in a very large portion of the continent, and also for the occasionally destruc- tive hot winds. In the western half of Australia, save at favored points along the coast, the rain- fall is too scant to justify cultivation. The value of the rainfall is greatly lessened, moreover, by the fact that it falls in torrents, and is mostly carried away at once by the watercourses. But the western desert has lost many of its horrors, as it has become more intimately known and methods of overcoming its disadvantages have been discovered and applied. Surface streams for irrigation are not plentiful, but there are an unusually large number of subterranean cur- rents ; also many artesian wells have been bored, particularly in South Australia, and western New South Wales and Queensland, and numerous localities have thus been brought under success- ful cultivation. But as yet most of the western half of Australia lies untouched, while most of the eastern half resembles our western plains of half a century ago, being given over entirely to grazing.
This latter region has proved second to none anywhere in adaptability to sheep raising. Even the forest areas afford excellent pasturage; and the winters are so mild as not to interfere with grazing the year round. The only serious drawback is an occasional drought. For several years Australia has led the world as a wool producer, and her sheep have been her greatest source of wealth. The number of her sheep is nearly twice that of the United States, and the colony of New South Wales alone at one time outranked us, having, in 1891, nearly 62,000,000 head, or three-fifths of the total in Australia. Sheep increased steadily until 1891, when over 106,000,000 were reported, since when there has been an equally remarkable decrease in three of the States — New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia. Sheep are raised mainly for the wool, the total amount of which, in 1899, was 467,800,000 pounds. While the wool crop has been continually declining during the last decade, there was no corresponding decrease in value, for the scarcity had caused a rise in price. The breed of sheep is steadily improving, as is shown in the increase of the average weight of clip per sheep from less than 4 pounds in 1861 to nearly 6¼ in 1899, about one-quarter pound less than in the United States. Formerly little or no mutton was exported, due to the breed of sheep and the distance from European markets. But with the improvement of the breed and the discovery and application of a process of cold storage of the meat for transportation, an export trade is being established which promises to become of great importance.
Cattle are no less favored by the Australian climate than sheep. Queensland is the great cattle-raising State. There this industry takes precedence of sheep-raising, and is greater than in all the other Slates combined. The number of cattle in the Commonwealth increased steadily from 3,846,000 in 1861, to 11,029,000 in 1891, since when the number has decreased, being only 9,838,000 in 1899. The exportation of cold-storage beef is much greater than of mutton, and is constantly increasing. Dairy farming has been
