160 AUSTRALIAN BALANCE OF INTERNATIONAL
tion, and to the certainty that even assisted immigrants do not
disclose the total capital being transferred, it is estimated that
£20 per head would be a fair average. For the reason that
emigration is mostly of adults, often with considerable capital
in their possession, a like sum has been computed in the case
of emigration.
Remittances from abroad to persons resident in Australia,
and from Australians to persons living abroad, also set up minor
capital movements. These, however, are negligible in their effect
upon the balance of indebtedness, as indicated "by the foreign
money-orders transmitted through the post offices during these
vears, since the income almost exactly balanced the outgo.
V. The Balance of Indebtedness.
We are now in a position to set out our (largely hypothetical)
balance sheet, by bringing together the information presented
in the foregoing tables. Attention may be directed to certain
features of the situation as revealed in the final column of the
table, which must now be regarded as adequate explanation of
the vicissitudes of the period. In the first place, approximate
agreement between the total of capital imported, and the
long-period excess of debits over credits in the balance of in-
debtedness, is obtained. The principal facts of the situation
are here presented in summary form:
CAPITAL IMPORTS.
DIFFERENCE OF INTERNATIONAL
Drsrrs Axp CREDITS.
£m.
Government .
Municipal .
Business »
Private .
+
oy
Total of Debits
Total of Credits
. : . 867
. . 808
“59
This discrepancy of £16 millions represents little more than 20 per
cent. of error; but it is to be supposed that the agreement would
be even closer were all the facts obtainable. Unexpended loan
balances in London at the end of 1913 were not taken into
account, and this sum together with the ‘lag’ of imports behind
capital outlay would doubtless cover some of the difference.
A more complete case as far as the main effects of overseas
borrowing are concerned can scarcely be expected: and it
