742
VICTORIA.
wool had reached 18,091,207 lbs.; and notwithstanding the attraction of the gold fields, the exports had advanced in 1863 to 25,579,886 lbs., and in 1868 attained to 68,010,591 lbs.
Bather more than one-half of the total imports and exports of Victoria come from, and are sent to, the United Kingdom.
The commercial intercourse of Victoria with the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined table, which gives the value of the total exports of merchandize, exclusive of gold and bullion, from Victoria to Great Britain and Ireland, and of the imports of British and Irish produce and manufactures into Victoria in each of the ten years 1860 to 1869 :—
Years
Exports from Victoria to
Imports of British Home
Great Britain.
Produce into Victoria
£
£
1860
2,867,445
5,377,740
1861
2,905,342
5,528,331
1862
2,870,715
5,731,566
1863
2,681,239
5,802,741
1864
4,043,813
5,316,844
1865
4,399,090
5,727,952
1866
4,983,541
6,203,857
1867
5,233,914
4,555,413
1868
5,674,720
5,598,618
1869
5,372,208
6,233,603
The most important article of export from Victoria to the United Kingdom, is wool. The exports of wool to Great Britain amounted to 37,368,805 lbs., of the value of 3,630,444/., in 1864; to 43,603,352 lbs., valued at 3,988,726/., in 1865 ; to 46,627,993 lbs., valued at 4,584,816/., in 1866 ; to 51,177,842 lbs., valued at 4,726,067/., in 1867 ; to 63,776,567 lbs., valued at 4,979,320/., in 1868 ; and to 64,031,242 lbs., of the value of 4,632,537/., in 1869. Among the other articles of merchandise exported to the United Kingdom, are tallow, of the value of 208,854/., hides, tanned and untanned, of the value of 113,362/., copper, of the value of 137,611/., and corn, of the value of 18,368/., in 1869. The British imports into Victoria embrace nearly all articles of home manufacture, chief among them woollen goods to the value of 959,915/., and apparel and haberdashery, to the value of 870,243/. in the year 1869.
Since the discovery of gold mines, in 1851, large quantities of gold have been exported from Victoria. The subjoined statement gives, after the official returns of the Registrar-General, the produce of the Victoria gold-fields in each of the eighteen years 1851 to 1868:—
