47 



regeneration is* generally speaking a matter of judi- 

 cious aids to nature, and is rarely one of planting. 



cutting of the mixed rain forests of the lowlands and 

 trying to dispose of the sawn products as Papuan soft- 



^ Plantations ' are forests created by man. The exist- woods and Papuan hardwoods. The forest policy for 



ing timber may be of low value, or there may be no the lowland country, so far as timber is concerned, 



timber; the policy of putting the land to the best use should be one of conversion. There are a certain num- 



is being pursued, and a crop of timber is decided on. ber of species that, prima facie, are worth attention; 



This is our plantation, which, after it has reached 

 maturity, and been felled, may be regenerated by 

 natural means, or may be replanted, whichever is the 



others there are which, while obviously valuable, are 

 not sufficiently social in habit, and must necessarily 

 remain scattered in mixed formation. This type will 



most advantageous. Its first cost only is a loan esti- not pay to deal with on forestry lines. Others can be 

 mate item. disregarded because the soil they thrive in naturally 



Regulations. 



is very rich, and such land is not available for for- 

 estry. The trees that are worth attention are those 



^ Provision must be made for promulgating regula- that naturally grow in pure stands, and whose timber 

 tions, and the powers granted in this direction should i s likely to prove serviceable for general purposes over- 



be 



wide. 



_ With my very limited knowledge of sea s. Of all the host of Papuan timbers, one only 



local conditions, I^cannot lay down what regulations stands ^put pre-eminently in this respect, and thai is 



the permit ilimo. t This species is naturally a social one and its 



are necessary. 



The working plan and 



timber would command a satisfactory price on the 



\ustralian market as a cood all-round softwood. 



should cover most of the ground, and, in regard to the 



latter, it is convenient to have it in the form of an __ ,....__„ _ ^ vv ^» .,.. ..,» 



agreement entered into between the Forest Authority While not as strong as the "best si) ft woods, the* grain 



and the permit-holder. Thus, not only are its provi- f ilizxLO is more beautiful, and the general appearance 

 sions agreed to by both sides, but it may be altered 



later on, should conditions demand an alteration. ^ ^^ WAMJLW/ill , tIIIll . ,,,, 



n Thus the bulk of the minor regulations would be a sat iWa'ct^^ 



incorporated m the permits, and the regulations made T1(0 ])()liey ; >f conversion in regard to ilimo should be 



pursued with a view to establishing pure forests of 



of some of tin* great 



is better, than most softwoods she imports to-day, and 

 I am confident that well-grown ilimo would realize 



under the Act need only be those covering general 

 matters, such as: unlawfully cutting timber; setting 

 fire to forests; counterfeiting brands; bribing 



foresters; moving of seized timber, &c., &e. ^ ^ ^^ ^ ^^ ^ *„..,. <«..^ .^ v **v, - 



There is one regulation which is important to get [f imQ ^onntryT It ^ould, for "instance"," be useless to 



right from the start, and that is the system of measui- tvy to egtablish ilimo on the mudstones and shales of 



this speciefl along the banks 



watercourses which are sufficiently sparsely inhabited 



to be abb 1 to spare the land and where the land IS true 



ing timber. An ancient and absurdly inaccurate sys- 

 tem has been in vogue in Australia since its discovery, 

 and is only being slowly dropped to-day. That is the 

 "quarter girth" system of measurement, by which the 

 girth at the middle of a log is divided by four, the 

 result is squared, and this is taken as the mean area 

 of the log, and is multiplied by the length to get the 

 cubic contents. The error is obviously as tt is to 4, 



the Purari river proper. The indication of ilimo soil 



is the presence of ilimo stands in pure formation. A 

 careful search will be necessary before the* best sites 

 can be selected, and the selection should be made in 

 order to pet the largest possible areas. Small scattered 

 plantations are expensive to control, while a large area, 



economical. The conversion "will 



in one locality, is 

 amount to planting. 



First, the present mixed stands 



or as 78.5 is to 100— an error of 21.5 per cent, on the f timber must be removed; much of it will be utilis- 

 real measurement. As tables are always used for work- ^^ an( j s ] 10 nld be sawn into marketable sizes. IS T ext, 

 ing out this quarter girth volume of logs, the argu- on the cleared site, ilimo should be close planted. I 



be settled 



of this species, 

 very well, and so might stand planting 8 feet apart, 

 or about s 10 trees to the acre. Careful sylviculture! 

 study is required, however, before the distance apart 



at which this tree should he planted can 



satisfactorily. This conversion of badly stocked mixed 

 forests is really plantation work. Here and there, the 



of ilimo will be sufficiently good to 



supply a natural regeneration, lint for the most part 

 tlie work will be one of clearing and of planting. 

 Whether the seed will require to be raised in nurseries, 

 or whether the natural nurseries of ilimo will be found 



in them suffi- 



existmg stands 



sufficiently 



4/ 



numerous, an< 



1 11 



plants 



ment that this system is an easy one for the timber , mi not prepared, at present, to lay down the spacin 

 man may be discounted. Tables are available giving f fl^ species. It is fast growing and clears its bole 

 the solid cubic contents of a mill log, given the middle 

 girth and the length. While the true volume of a 

 standing tree i3 not obtainable, and all methods of 

 measuring standing timber are prone to large inac- 

 curacies, the volume of a felled tree can be ascertained 

 to a degree of accuracy, sufficient for all practical pur- 

 poses, if the middle girth is taken, and the area of a 

 circle of that girth is multiplied by the length of the 

 log. There is no reason to-day for using the obsolete 

 quarter girth system, for the tables for this calculation 

 are as handy as the quarter girth ones. 



Policy as to the Xatfral Fokksts. 



From my description of the forest regions, it will, 

 I think, be gathered that the policy for the natural 

 forests of the lowlands must be one of some difficulty. 

 In the section dealing with the commercial aspect I 

 give a general summary of all the surveys carried out, 

 and I comment on the situation. There can be no 

 great development of a timber industry in Papua. 

 Little by little, as the timbers of special beauty, or of 

 special quality for certain purposes, are discovered, a 

 restricted market will be found overseas for a small 

 proportion of a standing stock which is already de- 

 plorably light to the acre. The future of forestry in 

 Papua is wrapped up in the development of minor 

 forest products. Careful exploration of the country, 

 and patient research into the vast store of minor pro- 

 ducts is likely to yield greater financial results than the 



ciently well rooted to require no other nursery treat- 

 ment, is a matter also for more patient investigation 



than I have been able to give the subject. From my 



own observation I should say that new banks on tin- 

 large rivers are formed so often, and then are so 

 quickly and so densely clothed with a natural cover- 

 ing of' baby ilimo, a BUpply of strong and sari-factory 

 seedlings are obtainable from this source. If mir- 

 eriea are decided on, then flying nurseries are indi- 

 cated, which would be situated as mar as possible to 

 the area being planted and moved ev.ry few years. Tt 



is nnt only a question of transport of perishable plants 



from the nursery to the plantation, but one of economic 

 supervision. The careful removal of the transplants 

 from the nursery is as important as their proper plant- 



\ utr ft)I ,| a .s both operations go on simultaneously the 



nearer the nursery beds are to the plantation, the 



? 



