There were 142 inmates in the Lunatic Asylum on the 31st December, 1860, against 128 at the same date of the previous year; whilst the daily average number had increased from 114 to 134, of which number 77 were male and 57 females.

The average of the number of persons in 1860, receiving relief from the Destitute Board, was 851 weekly; including in-door and out-door relief, and the sick in the Hospital and the Lunatic Asylum.

The Government Expenditure on Medical and Hospital, Lunatic Asylum and Destitute Poor, amounted to £17,363 against £15,780 in 1859.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

The total country and suburban land alienated from the Crown up to the 31st December, 1860, was 2,231,977 acres.

The extent of land under cultivation 1860-61-was 428,816 acres.

season

The number of acres under wheat was 273,672; the produce of the crop being 3,576,593 bushels,

The following Table gives the average produce per Acre, during the past three seasons :—

To such an extent of interest does a paternal government develop in preparing Agricultural Statistics, that the people have been requested to count their cocks and hens and other poultry to increase the annals of progress; and it appears that in the year 1860-61 there were 315,728 cocks and

hens, geese, ducks, and miscellaneous winged fowl in the colony of South Australia.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

For the Year ending 31st December, 1860:

Excess of Expenditure over Revenue

£53,828 17s. 11d.

I

CHAPTER XXII.

POPULATION AND MORTALITY.

ON April 2nd, 1860, the census of South Australia was taken, which gave a total of 117,967; but as this number was not satisfactory to the ruling powers, who had emphatically stated it must be 120,000, they charitably added 1,003 for omissions and persons travelling, making up the number to 119.000.

The Government Compiler states that the estimated population of South Australia, at the close of 1860, was 124,112 persons, as, made up from records of the natural increase, and of arrivals and departures; this number must, however, be less than was actually the case; the census returns taken on the 8th April, 1861, showing the population on that day to have been in round numbers 127,000; the exact number enumerated is not yet ascertainable.

There must be some considerable mystery in the compilation of Government Statistics in South Australia, for on referring to their own book I find the following facts detailed in the clearest figures and language.

In 1860, the number of births registered in the province of South Australia, compiled from the able statistics of Mr. John F. Cleland, Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, was 5,568; and the number of Deaths registered in the same period amounted to 2,336, leaving a natural increase to the population of 3,232.

During 1860 the excess of emigration from South Australia over immigration amounted to 528, which,

of course, must be deducted from the natural increase in computing the totals, which leaves 2,704 to be added to the population, which was estimated on the most liberal principles at 119,000 in the early part of the year, and yet this gentleman informs the public that 124,112 at the end of the year must be less than was actually the case, whilst his own statistics only proves a population of about 121,704 to be in the colony at that time.

In respect to population, Mr. Cleland's statistics prove a decrease of births for the years 1859 and 1860; the totals for these years being respectively 5,738 and 5,568, and an increase of deaths from 1,923 in 1859 to 2,336 in 1860.

The number of deaths proves that the mortality of the whole colony is nearly at the rate of two per cent.; and I now proceed to give a short analysis of the causes of death, which will give information of the prevailing diseases of the colony :

CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES.-DISEASES

OF UNCERTAIN OR VARIABLE SEAT.

These returns show that out of a population, estimated to be about 124,000, the number of 345 fell victims to Diarrhoea and Dysentery; and in a salubrious climate, where Consumption has been stated to be a rare visitant, and almost unknown, I find that 284 died from tubercular diseases, and 202 from diseases of the respiratory organs, and 159 from debility, and 106 from atrophy, making a total of 747 deaths from these different diseases. 178 are described as dying of convulsions, and 66 from