South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2552, 26 May 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, MAY 26, 1881.

There is an acirmonious discussion now going on in Victoria on the result of the recent census. The Government statist estimated the population at 920,000. This was calculated on the number of births over deaths, and the excess of arrivals over departures. However, it turned out that according to the recent enumeration the population was only 855,790, or some seventy thousand less than the estimate. The discrepancy was certainly startling. It is evident that there ' was something very loose in the Registrar-General's department. It may be that the missing 70,000 disappeared mysteriously over the border, and have been absorbed by New South Wales and South, Australia, but it is very far from likely. The matter appeared to be folly explained in a cablegram received this morning, which states that the total returns give the population of Victoria at 940,080, being about 20,000 over the Government statist’s estimate. It does not do, however, to place implicit faith in the messages sent by Reuter,especially where figures! are involved. The other week people were surprised to learn of the enormous increase of the population of New South Wales, and the fact had been freely commented upon by the New Zealand Press as showing the advance which had been made under a Free Trade policy. A few days after the first cablegram there came another which gave the population of New South Wales at 100,000 less than previously wired. There is nobody here knows which is correct, Reuter’s agent not having taken the trouble to correct the. error. Now, the same thing has occurred in regard to the population of Victoria, and those who take an interest in Australian progress will have to await the arrival of the mail for accurate information. Meanwhile it is curious to note how the returns have been seized upon by the Conservative party of Victoria to show that the colony was fast going to ruin under the guidance of Mr Graham Berry. The very important fact is overlooked that there has been an enormous decline in the gold yield of Victoria. In the course of twenty years the number of miners has fallen from a hundred thousand to less than forty thousand. The gold yield declined at an equal rate. In the Tory journals. of Victoria we fail to find it mentioned that the declining gold supply had anything to do with the comparatively slow increase of population. Gold was the great colonizer of Australia, and Victoria was imr excellence the golden colony. In one year eighty thousand persons landed in Melbourne from the neighboring colonies and the Home Country, attracted by the enormous finds of the precious metal. Between 1851 and 18G1 the population increased from 70,000 to about 550,000. Since the latter date the increase has been gradual. The goldfields of New Zealand and Queensland have drawn thousands annually from Victoria. To an impartial observer the wonder is 1 that Victoria has been able to hold

her own under such adverse circumstances. Political causes have had very little to do with retarding or advancing the material progress of Victoria. When the Melbourne Exhibition, was first decided upon, there, were, not wanting prophets of evil’who predicated that jt would turn out a failure owing to the protective policy of the colony. What would Jbe the use,.it was of sending exhibits to Melbourne, when the;-Customs tariff shut out competition ? The Exhibition turned out to be a grand success—a success beyond the anticipations-of its promoters. The fact of the matter is, that from the time the -first McCulloch Ministry assumed the reins of power some seventeen or eighteen years ago there has been one long Conservative wail that the country was going to the dogs through the policy of the Liberals. The Melbourne Chamber of Commerce is, as might be expected, a Free Trade body. In times past it has taken upon itself to pass strong resolutions condemnatory of many acts of Victorian Ministries. The protective policy, it was urged, would ruin Melbourne. Heavy protective duties have been levied, and it is questionable if they have been advantageous to the colony as a whole, but there can be no dispute that since the adoption of the system Melbourne has increased enormously in wealth and population. Wo are glad to see that a broader view of affairs is being taken by the mercantile community of Melbourne—that the prosperity of the colony does not hinge upon the doings of any particular set of politicians. Mr Jeffrey, the late President of the Chamber of Commerce, in his retiring address, denied that the policy of Victoria had led to the population leaving the colony to the extent shown in the census returns. He said the adventurers were sure to leave lo develop sparsely settled countries. In all the colonies, especially in those where gold mining is followed, there is a large floating population who are ever ready to move ivhen it appears to them there is the slightest prospect of their bettering their condition. The time has not yet arrived in the colonies for the people to be tied to the soil by association.