58 RosENHAiN, /I Thousand Miles on River Murray. [voT"^xxxiv 



poses. It is a pity that the States concerned did not come 

 to a determination or agreement thirty years ago to put the 

 Murray waters to the use it was intended in developing the 

 States through which it flows, so that each State shall be bene- 

 fited therefrom to the utmost. It is to the everlasting credit 

 of the Labour party — viz., the New South Wales Labour 

 Government, the South Australian Labour Government, the 

 Federal Labour Government — and the Victorian Liberal Govern- 

 ment, who put this matter of allocating the waters of the 

 Murray into definite shape and agreement, which the other side 

 were never able to accomplish, in spite of many conferences 

 since 1887. This scheme may well be said to be national, and 

 in that we have the keynote of the future success of this great 

 undertaking. I can see in the time to come new provinces 

 springing up and the waste lands of to-day converted into 

 wheat lands, verdant pastures, and flourishing orchards, 

 teeming with a prosperous and progressive people, providing 

 unforeseen circumstances do not arise that will interfere witli 

 the financing of the scheme or that other causes will indefinitely 

 postpone the work. 



[The paper was illustrated by a large number of lantern 

 slides. — Ed. Vict. Nat.] 



The Dr. Hall Memorial Fund. — Friends of the late* Dr. 

 T. S. Hall, M.A.. will be interested to learn that a brass tablet 

 to his memory will be unveiled at the Biological School, 

 University, on Wednesday, 8th August, by the Chancellor of 

 the University, Sir John Madden, G.C.M.G. It is announced 

 that the sum of £395 has been invested for the purposes of 

 the fund. 



" The Gum Tree." — ^The June number of The Gum Tree 

 is to hand. In the notice of the first number of this publication, 

 in the April Naturalist, by an oversight it was announced as 

 the oflicial organ of the Australian Forest League, whereas it 

 is issued by the Victorian branch of the League. The present 

 number ojjens with a fine picture of Beeches and Blackwoods. 

 taken near the Duck River, North-West Coast of Tasmania. 

 Other illustrations show the progress of the Red Ironbark 

 plantation at the You Yangs, Victoria, and Red (iums at 

 Mildura. The literary matter is of a more useful character 

 than in the first issue. A condensation of the address given 

 by the Victorian Conservator of Forests, Mr. H. R. Mackay, 

 at the recent Forestry Conference contains words that should 

 be carefully weighed by aU who have the future prosperity of 

 Australia at heart. He points out that, whereas the principal 

 timber-producing countries of the world have from 22 to 52 

 per cent, of their area covered with forest, Australia can boast 



