862 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



six Southern States, as well as members of the United 

 States Forest Service, professors of forestry and other 

 foresters working in nine different states ; second, the 

 presence and active participation of the Secretary- 

 Manager and Assistant Secretary of the Southern Pine 

 Association, the Secretary of the Georgia-Florida Saw- 

 mill Association, and the Secretary of the Turpentine 

 and Rosin Producer's Association : third, the active in- 

 terest and wide connections of the Florida delegates, who 

 included the manager of the Florida Tick Eradication 

 Committee, the chairman of the Conservation Committee 

 of the Florida Federation of Women's Clubs, and several 

 state officials and members of the Florida legislature. 

 We venture to say that the meeting received wider pub- 

 licity from the trade journals and newspapers of the 

 country — thanks to the initiative of those agencies in 

 having representatives in attendance, than any previous 

 forestry event taking place in the far South. The pro- 

 ceedings of the meeting, which were conducted inform- 

 ally with few prepared papers, will be gotten out in 

 mimeographed form by R. D. Forbes, Secretary of the 



Conference, Department of Conservation, New Orleans, 

 Louisiana. 



The topics under discussion included "Forest Investi- 

 gations," "Railroad Fire Protection," and "Publicity and 

 Education," on the first or professional day's sessions, 

 presided over by State Forester Holmes of North Caro- 

 lina, in the absence of Col. Henry S. Graves, Chief 

 Forester of the United States Forest Service, who was 

 ill. On the second, or open, day's sessions. Secretary 

 J. E. Rhodes of the Southern Pine Association presided, 

 and started off the meeting with the remarkable state- 

 ment that within five years 3,000 southern pine mills 

 would cease operation because their stumpage will be 

 exhausted. "Forestry and the Forest Industries," and 

 "Cut-over land Utilization," occupied the meeting, prior 

 to a discussion by the Florida delegates of a proper 

 forestry code for that state. The meeting came to an 

 end, except for a most enjoyable field trip to Starke, 

 Florida, on the following day, with the passage of appro- 

 priate resolutions, embodying most of the ideas pre- 

 sented at the beginning of this article. 



THE FORESTRY SITUATION IN NEW SOUTH WALES 



THE special Australasian correspondent of the Chris- 

 tian Science Monitor writes from Sydney that the 

 need for a complete and consistent state forest 

 policy in Australia has occasioned much recent legisla- 

 tion on the subject, culminating in the new Forestry 

 Act of 1916, which repealed the old Act of 1909, becom- 

 ing law on November 1, 1916. The new act embraces 

 the most advanced measure of forestry legislation yet 

 introduced in the Commonwealth of Australia, so that 

 it is now made possible to create and maintain a pro- 

 gressive, consistent and suitable system of forest man- 

 agement. 



By the provisions of this act a new policy was framed 

 for the allocation of the duties of the respective com- 

 missioners, systematizing the methods of control to be 

 exercised by them. As an outcome of this, it became 

 necessary to construct machinery for the performance 

 of the wide and important functions imposed upon the 

 commissioners, including the training of officers, the 

 demarcation and survey of forests, research work, com- 

 mercial development, including the conversion and sale 

 of wood ; the introduction of system in administrative 

 methods and business management. So far as circum- 

 stances and financial limitations have permitted, this 

 scheme is now in operation. 



A report upon the period of transition between July 

 and October, 1916, when forestry was dealt with as a 

 branch administration of the Department of Lands, and 

 November, 1916, to June, 1917, when the business was 

 transferred to the control of the Forestry Commission 

 appointed under the Act of 1916, has been issued recently 

 under the supervision of the Chief Commissioner for 

 Forests, Mr. R. Dalrymple Hay. 



The initial steps taken during the period covered by 

 the report, toward the inauguration of the new admin- 



istration in conformity with the Forest Policy may be 

 briefly stated as follows: 



1. The preparation of regulations under the new act. 

 These were framed by the commission, and having been 

 approved by the Executive Council, were gazetted to 

 take effect from August 1, 1917. In a general way, 

 these regulations outline the administrative scheme, and, 

 in detail, direct the procedure. 



2. The organization and training of a staff to un- 

 dertake forest survey as a preliminary to the laying down 

 of forest working plans. A number of trained surveyors 

 are still engaged in this work. 



3. The selection of a site for the forest training 

 school, the design and erection of suitable buildings, and 

 the selection of a principal for the school. 



4. The initiation of research for the investigation of 

 the pulping qualities of woods, for ascertaining their 

 value for manurial potash, and for ascertaining by de- 

 structive distillation their value for the production of 

 various by-products. 



5. The creation of a commercial department was in- 

 augurated by the purchase of two saw mills, which are 

 now being worked satisfactorily as an industrial under- 

 taking upon strictly business lines. Arrangements have 

 been entered into with various government departments 

 for the supply from these mills of sawn, hewn, and 

 round timber, required for various public works. 



6. The partial reorganization of the administrative 

 arrangements, as far as funds allowed, has been affected 

 including the establishment of an accounts branch with 

 necessary staff and the appointment of a leasing officer 

 to administer tenures which have already been, or in 

 future may be, granted in connection with state forests. 

 To provide consistency in the administration generally 

 throughout the forests service, a comprehensive manual 



