206 AUSTRALIAN FOREST ADMINISTBATION. [Jan., 



it leaves a small margin after paying all expenses, and the forests 

 since the commencement have cost the colony little or nothing. The 

 large areas of forests have absorbed in each of these initial seven 

 years al)out the whole of their moderate earnings ; but in the mean- 

 time active cultivation has been building up a property of great 

 intrinsic valae, which in the near future will be enormously increased, 

 and attended with benefit to the climate and rainfall, as well as to 

 the general well-being of the population. 



Appended to the report is a good sketch map of a great part of the 

 48,000 acres which compose the Forest of Wirrabara, in the northern 

 district. The draughtsman or the forester who prepared it has for- 

 gotten to provide the map with a scale of miles and yards, and he 

 has adopted a rather unconventional method of indicating important 

 fences by showing palisades in perspective. While .on the subject of 

 imperfections, it may be mentioned that an attentive perusal has 

 revealed only two insignificant slips in the letterpress, on page 17 

 'Europece' lor ' Europcm,' and on page 18 a redundant hyphen in 

 ' Acer jpseudo-platanns.' The map of AYirrabara Forest is, in spite 

 of the omission, a most useful one, and assists the reader of the report 

 to a clearer comprehension of the detailed forest operations. The 

 Wirrabara Forest of 48,000 acres seems to be favourably situated 

 ■with its area intersected in every direction by creeks or small rivers, 

 and it has a range of hills on its western side. The forest blocks 

 have their principal fences and main boundaries running due west 

 and due north, and they are abundantly supplied with roads con- 

 verging and diverging towards different townships. As all forest 

 maps should be, this map is conveniently arranged so that the top 

 of ihe paper represents the north. 



There was a very marked faliing-off in the sales of timber this year 

 in Wirrabara, as compared with the previous one, and there were only 

 about 68,000 cubic feet of gum and sheaoak timber disposed of. This 

 is to be accounted for— (1st) owing to the stagnation of trade conse- 

 quent upon the past bad harvest, whereby there was little demand 

 for sawn timber for building and other construction purposes ; and 

 (2nd) from the fact, that many of the farmers in the scrub lands 

 adjoining the forest are at present clearing their land (in accordance 

 with recent Parliamentary permission) and selling the wood at a 

 reduced rate, thereby supplying many outsiders with posts and fire- 

 wood, who hitherto were in the habit of frequenting the forest for this 

 produce. The total revenue of Wirrabara for the year 1882-3 was 

 £1,590, which is not as yet much below the average ; for, although the 

 timber sales were low, the grazing rents furnished a large item of 

 income. The total expenditure during the same time for wages and 

 sundries was £1,440. This proportion between expenditure and 



