PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. / Of> 



I would protect the forests at the heads of watercourses and 

 ill broken country generall}'. Much country of that character 

 is of no use for agriculture, and its dedication for forestry 

 purposes would not excite the cupidit}^ of persons in search of 

 land. 



I have alread}^ hinted that planting as a source of timber 

 should not be undertaken on a large scale in New South Wales. 

 The initial cost of careful planting and protection of the young 

 plants can only be justified in exceptional circumstances. Some 

 well-meaning friends would urge us to establish plantations of 

 soft-woods, eg., the Pines of the Baltic and North America, the 

 Redwood of California, and so on, but our climatic conditions are 

 so different to their native countries, that we cannot hope to 

 compete commercially in the production of such timbers. Ours 

 is a country that naturall}^ produces hardwood, and it seems to 

 me that we should promote the growth of the best of those, and 

 rely upon the competition of trade to supply us with soft-woods 

 in exchange. Of course, if expenditure of money be no object, 

 we can establish plantations of soft-woods, but to secure this we 

 may require to utilise land adapted to agricultural purposes, and 

 to expend funds on nursing plants for which the commercial 

 returns will be altogether inadequate. In a country such as 

 ours, in which the functions of government are so extensive, it is 

 sometimes desirable to ask oneself the question, "Would I incur 

 this expenditure on private account f I am referring now to 

 the question of the cultivation of soft-woods. But I would 

 certainly make experimental plantations of Silky Oak (^Grevillea 

 rohusta) in some of the drier districts which experience has 

 already shown suitable to it, and the Red Cedar (Cedrela 

 australis) should be judiciously re-planted in country from which 

 it has been well-nigh exterminated. 



Of far greater importance than actual planting operations by 

 the Forest Department would be the education of our citizens in 

 tree-planting. It must be remembered that our people are not a 

 race of tree-planters, and many of them to whom trees would be 

 of the greatest advantage for shade, shelter belts and other 



