Government, are two houses of parliament, both elective. The whole colony is thrown into one electoral district for electing members to the council on a low property franchise, and for a period of 12 years. Members of the assembly are elected by universal suffrage for 3 years. 'Voting for both houses is by ballot.,. The executive government is dependent on parliamentary majorities, as in England. No pecuniary aid is given by government to any religion, and all churches are placed on a footing of perfect equality. The system of public education is modeled on the Irish national system. Attendance is compulsory.
In 1876 the pop. of South Australia amounted to 213,271, exclusive of aborigines, who numbered in the settled districts 3,953. The imports for 1876 were of the value of .C4.576,183; and the exports, £4.816,170. The exports consisted chiefly of corn, wool, and copper. In the same year, the total export of corn amounted in value to £1,171,529; wool, of which the value is not give, weighed 36,435,346 lbs.; and copper 100.269 tons, valued at E427.403. The revenue, derived principally from the sale of crown lands and customs dues, amounted in 1877 to £1,331,925; the expenditure. to £1,415,703; and the public debt, spent in reproductive works, to .E4.237,030. In 1876 the land under cultiva
tion amounted to 1,444,586 acres, of which 898,820 were wheat; 13.724 barley; 3,640 oats; 4,972 vineyards; 4,854 peas; 5.941 potatoes; 7,446 orchards. There were 10.164 horses, 219.240 horned 'cattle, aed 6,179,395 sheep in the colony at the end of 1876. II:eluding lines approaching completion, South Australia had in 1877, 371 m. of railway, whose total cost to the end of 1876 was £2,360,000; receipts for 1870, X201,10. The eblony lips an extensive system of electric telegraphs. An overland line, constructed at the expelise of the South Australian government, and opened in 1872, runs from Ade laide to Port-Darwin, across Central Australia, a distance of 2.000 in., and through junc tion with the Anglo-Indian line, connects Australia with all the great centers of civiliza tion. The places of worship in the colony, in 1871, numbered upward of 568, with accommodation for 110,067 persons. The number of schools in 1871 was given as 307; of scholars, 15.791; the teachers numbered 298: and the average annual cost of each scholar was £1, 18s. See an elaborate descriptive work on the colony, South Australia, by William Harcus (1870).