The first production of tin is recorded in 1872, when the yield was valued at £109,816, through the discovery of stream tin in the Severn River district of Queensland. The record year for tin production of the half-century was in 1873, when the value raised was £606,184. Thence there was a fluctuating decline in output till 1884, which closed with £130,460 worth for the year.
In the second quarter-century there was a fluctuating diminution of production, till in 1898 it was only worth £36,502. After that date there was a continuous improvement, the figures reached in 1907 being £496,766. The tin won in 1908 was declared to be of the value of only £342,191, the reduction arising chiefly from lowered market prices.
The coal raised in Queensland in 1860 was only 12,327 tons; in 1884 120,727 tons were raised; and in 1908 the production was 696,332 tons, valued at £244,922.
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.
The imports into Queensland in 1860 were of the declared value of £742,023; at the close of the first quarter-century they exceeded 6¼ millions a year; in 1900 they exceeded 7 millions; in 1908 they totalled nearly 9½ millions.
The declared value of exports totalled a little more than half a million in 1860; the first quarter-century closed in 1884 with a total of under 4¾ millions. In 1889 the value was slightly under 7¾ millions, and in 1908 it reached over 14 millions. During the last quarter-century the exports have trebled in value, while the imports have increased by only about 48·4 per cent. These figures indicate that the State is rapidly liquidating its external indebtedness on private account, whatever may be the increase in public loan obligations.
RAILWAYS.
Railways form a very gratifying asset. In 1865 there were only twenty-one miles open for traffic, and they yielded no net revenue. In 1884 there were 1,207 miles open, of which the net earnings were £273,096. In 1898 2,742 miles open had £534,992 of net earnings. In 1901 there were 2,801 miles open, with net earnings of £223,853 only, the cause being the historic drought of the period. Since then there has been a rapid increase in both traffic and profit, the net earnings of 3,498 miles in 1908-9 having been £885,622. These figures afford complete justification for a policy of vigorous construction, for they show that the capital invested in our railways, £25,183,529, earned £3 10s. 4d. per cent. in 1907-8. In 1908-9 the net earnings were £883,610, the return on capital invested being £3 7s. 6d. per cent.
With the object of supplying the latest official data, the Government Statistician, Mr. Thornhill Weedon, has compiled the following tables, which practically divide the half-century into four equal periods. It must be borne in mind that, except under the heading "Finance," the statistics are for the calendar year and not for the financial year, which closes on 30th June:—