Statistics of Victoria

1858. VICTORIA. AGRICULTURAL AND LIVE STOCK STATISTICS OF VICTORIA, FOR' THE YEAR. ENDING 31sT MARCH, 1858. PHESENTED TO BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT BY HIS EXCELLENCY'S COl\HIAND. tiy l!utuority: JOHN .FERRES, GOYERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNJ<J, No. 11. ... ,• ' / 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I l1 l1 l1 l 1 l 1 l 1 l 1 l 1 l 1 l 1 l 1 l 1 l 1 l 1 . l 1 l 1 l 1 l 1 1 REPORT. -,q;- Registrar General's Office, SIR, ~felbourne, September 30th, 1858. H::tving recently submitted for general information an abstract of the Agricultural Statistics for the year 1858, shewing the aggregate results for the several counties and pastoral districts of the Colony, I now t..'tke leave to present some Supplementary Tables shewing in detail the cultivation, the classification of the holdings, with the distribution and description of the Live Stock · These Tables are replete with matter of the highest interest to the public, and are well deserving of an attentive analysis, considering especially the important position which ' agriculture is rapidly attaining in this country. It appears that in March, 1858, the additional quantity of purchased land of which the occupiers had entered into possession during the preceding twelve months, amounted to 580,785 acres. .As the population had increased during that period 58,871 persons, or from 410,766 to 469,637, it follows that for every individual added to the gross population very neurly ten acres were occupied for agricultural purposes, either of grazing or tillage. The proportion, however, will in reality be found ~o be ~nch higher, if the Cl1inese arrivals be excluded from the general increase to the population. Of the total quantity of land, town, suburban, and country, sold up to the 31st December, 1857, amounLing to 2,748,415 acres, being at the. rate of 6·4 acres per head of the European and native-born population, 2,113,134 acres, or 76 per cent., were occupied at the commencement of the year 1858 with a view to the production of food. " ' The proportionate extent of the holdings to the general population of the Colony has risen from 3·7 acres for each person in 1857 to 4·5 acres in 1858. The average extent of purchased land in the occ~~pai'imo of individuals in 1858 and 1857 has remained nearly unchanged, having been 206 and 204 acres respectively : the average quantity of land cultivated by each holder being likewise the same in both years, .namely, 23 acres. .. r Probably one of the most interesting of the series of tables deduced from the annual industrial statistics of this Colony is that now presented for the first time, in which the holdings are classified according to size, and the quantity of land occupied and culti vated by each class of hmdholders is shewn separately. It has been just observed that the average size of the holdings in Victoria is about 206 acres, being far above the nverage size of the lots of country and suburban lands offered for public sale by the Crown, and shewing a manifest tendency to accumulation. From the cmpmencement of the disposal of the waste lands of this country to the end of the year 1853, the average area of the lots sold, exclusive. of town lands, was 146 acres; and, according to a Parliamentary return, it appears that the suburban, special, and country lands sold by auction, together with ::tU lands alienated by selection and pre-emptive right, during the year and a-half ending the 31st December, 1855, averaged only 83 acres per lot. It will be perceived by the table shewing the average area of holdings in the several counties, that in some of them the variation from the general average of the Colony is very considerable, and that where the accession of a comparatively dense population has been accompanied by a corresponding progress in agriculture, the lands have become much subdivided, and the area of the holdings much smaller tban in the grazing counties. In those parts of the country where the land has been· sold in large quantities 4 without the existence of a proportionate demand for agricultural purposes, it appears to have fallen into the hands of comparatively few proprietors, as in Hampden, whe~e the average area of the holdings is 812 acres, and the proportion of the occupied land under crop is but 2·2 per cent. ; while in those counties where an extensive alienation of the Crown lands has been succeeded by the settlement of a large amount of population, the process o{ subdivision has prevailed· to a great extent, as in the County of Bourke, where the average :.ize is 159 acres, the proportion·of occupied land under tillage being 16·1 acres per cent. It could scarcely be expected with any degree of probability, that the progress of cultivation could h~ve kept pace with the great increase which has taken place of late in the gross extent of the holdings. Thus, while in 1857, for every 1000 acres in occupation 117 .were under crop; in 1858, with a great addition to the quantity of land in occu pation, the proportion had fallen to 112 ; and the returns shew that a large proportion of the 2736 new occupiers had each but little more than sufficient for a garden in cultivation, and that they were employed in gr.u bbing: fencing, and other preparations for their. first year's crop. · Holdings are smaller than the average of the Colony in the Loddon District, and in Dalhousie, Bourke, Anglesey, N ormanby, 'l'albot, the Murray, and the Wimmera.; in Grant they attain the avemge extent, and ar~ about 207 acres ;- in the agricultural counties of Ripon, Villiers, Dundas, and Evelyn they vary from 219 to 251 acres ; in counties where the grazing interest is· paramount, such as Grenville, Follett, Mornington, Heytesbury, Pohvarth, and Hampden, the average ranges between 300 and 812 acres. If, however, recurring to Table V. of the classification of hoJdings, we except the 868 of 500 acres and upwards, wllich from the fact of only 3 acres in every 100 being cultivated would appear to be occupi~d chiefly for grazing p~rposes, and if we also deduct those under 5 acres, which may be regarded as little better than mere gardens, we shall find that the average size offarms 'properly so called, is about, 90 acres.* In directing our attention to the number of holdings of each class, we perceive that those of between 50 and lOO acres appear to be most in £wor, and next to these are farms of from lOO to 200 acres in extent. It· is worthy of note how comparatively small is the · number of holdings of between 30 and 50 acres-a fact which would seem to indicate an opinion among our agriculturists that there is some disadvantage attending farms of this size. With respect to the classification which has been adO})ted in the following tables, it has been found that, generally speaking, the average of the holdings under 200 acres approaches the medium between the limits assigned to each class: thus the average size of the farms in the class which comprises those of from 50 to 100 acres is 70·1 acres; and of those in the next class, of between 100 and 200 acres, the average is shewn to be 136·8 acres. The average of those between 200 and 500 acres, however, deviates considerably 'from. the medium, being under 300 acres; whence it is evident that in Victoria there is in this class a preponderance of holdings of fr01i:t 200 to 300 acres in extent. In compiling future tables on this subject; it may bfl well therefore to subdivide this class. It appears that but ·n ·3 per cent. of the occupied purchased land in Victoria is under tillage; in Scotland, of the area embraced in the agricultural returns, 56 per cent. is under crop; ana in Ireland, 28·5 per cent. By classifying the holdings, it is ascertained t.hat it is among the holders of more than 500 acres that the deficiency is to be found, and that a .very high prO})Ortion of the ]and is placed under crop by persons holding less than 500 acres each. Holders of between 5 and'15 acres cultivate 65·5 per cent. of their lands; those of the next clasa holding from 15 to 30 acres cultivate .51·6 per ctmt.; while in all the classes under 500 acres a larger proportion is cuhivated in· Victoria than in Ireland. This is "' "~t appears that there are 285,936 farms in Great Britain of the average size of 102 acres; in England and Yvales the farms amount to 225,318, or Ill acres on an average; in Scotland .56,650 farms have an ayerage size of 74 ltcrcs."-Census of Great Britain.-Report on tlte Occupations of the People. 5 remarkable when it is considered that the bulk of our landholders have but recently entered into possession, and that their farming operations have consequently formed but a prelude to their future scale of cultivation. More than half the cultivation of tliis Colony is effected by holders of from 100 to 500 acres, while in Ireland less than one-fourth is the proportion carried on by this class of farmers. Less than a third of our tillage is the work of persons holding under 100 acres, while three-fourths is the proportion carried on by the same class in Ireland.

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