Page 373 - clra62_0019-(GIPE)

WEALTH OF 'MPIRE, AND HOW IT SHOULD BE USED 365
head of the population, as compared with £42 which
is the figure for the United Kingdom. The Australian
Colonies and New Zealand, with a population of
4,6~,ooo, as compared with 5,600,000 in Canada, are
put ~t 210 million £ in round figures, giving practically
the same total per head as Canada. There is no doubt,
it seems to me. of the larger income per head in these
self-governing colonies than there is in the United
Kingdom. partly becaust! a larger proportion of their
populations is in the prime of life. The figures are at
any rate more than supported by colonial estimates of
the production of their mines. agriculture. fisheries,
and manufactures. India I would put down at 600
million £, which is certainly not a large amount for
300 millions of people; but where the adult ordinary
labourer works for about 7 rupees a month. if so much,
or little over £5 per annum, that is £ I per head,
assuming a family of five persons, it would hardly be
safe to reckon that the aggregate income of the people
is more than equal to twice the amount per head
earned among th~ labouring classes who constitute
the mass of the people. The South African colonies I
put at 100 million £. equal to nearly £125 per head
of the white population. which is vastly outnumbered
by the native. whose labour, of course, contributes to the
total. I trust the guess does not err greatly by excess
or defect. but the data are of course imperfect in the
still unsettled state of the country after the late war.
With a few years of peace the totals should be much
larger. I have not gone into detail with the other
parts of the empire. which are rounded off with a total
of 200 million £. but these other parts include such
rich depOts as Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements.
our West Indian and South American colonies. the
Mauritius. and our whole remaining territories in Africa.
which are no doubt of great actual as well as potential
value. I have been anxious not to exaggerate.
Putting all the figures together we get the following
estimates of aggregate income for the British Empire: