THE GROWTH OF MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2209, 2 June 1891, Page 4

THE GROWTH OF MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY.

The increase in the population of the cities of Melbourne and Sydney during the last ten years has been phenomenal. The population of Melbourne and suburbs according to the last census is 489,165, and that of Sydney and suburbs 386,400, lu 1881 the former city had a population of 282,947, so that the increase in the decade has been 206,288. The latter city (Sydney) had in 1881, 237,043 peeple, so there has been an increase of. 169,857 i during the ten years. Comparing the two cities the population of Melbourne exceeds that of Sydney by 102,785. In the previous history of Australia, as a contemporary points out, there is nothing that will supply any comparison for the increase Which these‘figures represent. “ The whole range ot the .British Empire might bo searched in vain for a parallel, and,,, it may be doubted whether in any of the larger cities of America the rate of growth during the same period exceeds that which is here registered.” Whether these figures disclose a wholesome state ot things is another matter. It may be argueo that people Congregate in Melbourne and ovduey because they can afford to do so, and because tuoy prefer the advantages of a city life to those ol the country. If me growth of these capitals was the result ol uaturai progreoS there woulu no uoubt bo a complete answer. But when it i» remembered that both colonies, hare been spending huge sums ot borrower! money annually, and that the effect or that expenditure is largely felt in the cities, we can only regard the enormous growth disclosed as the outcome oi unnatural stimulus. In the case ot Melbourne, for instance, the increase between 1871 and 1881 was at the rate at 37 per Cent; whereas between 1881 and 1891 it was 130 per cent it the population increases ai the same rate during the next ten years that city will at ihe close ot the decade have a population of 1,250,000. the disproportion between the population of the capital of Victoria and the whole population of the colony is a matter of serious anxiety, both from a social ard political point of view ; and to a lesser extent the same difficulties must arise in the case of Sydney and .New South Wales.