82 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS- -SECTION C. 



demarcated. Demarcation is a useful weapon for the Depart- 

 ment because it is not unusual for forest reserves to be " Naboth's 

 vineyards " to the general public, and even to other Departments. 

 " Undemarcated forest " embraces Crown land set aside as 

 a forest reserve with the approval of the Minster of Lands, and, 

 to quote the Forest Act in so far as the protection and utilisation 

 of forest produce is concerned, includes — 



(I ) Outspans and commonages situate on Crown land, e.g., 

 Burnshill Commonage, Frankfort Commonage ;. 



(2) Crown land on which forest produce exists, e.g., 

 wooded Government farms in the Waterberg district ; 



(3) any other land of which the Crown retains a right to 

 the trees, timber, and other forest produce. 



The Department's control over such undemarcated areas is 

 much less complete than in the case of demarcated forests, and 

 therefore when circumstances allow, and it is otherwise desirable, 

 demarcation is efifected. 



One million morgen is a very large area, and certainly if it 

 were all under forest the country would be in a sound position. 

 Unfortunately, that is far from being the case. Large tracts 

 consist of steep, rocky, mountainous country carrying few, if 

 any, trees, and quite unsuitable for planting, either because the 

 climatic conditions are unfavourable or because the country is 

 too remote, inaccessible or broken. Examples of such reserves 

 are the areas on the Zwartberg Mountain range in the Laings- 

 burg, Prince Albert and Oudtshoorn districts, stretching from 

 the BufTels River to the Willowmore and Uniondale boundaries, 

 having an area of 109,497 morgen. 



It may be asked how these areas fall to be administered by 

 the Forest Department. The answer is simple. The Irrigation 

 Department for the past ten years has recommended that the 

 Government should retain control of the mountain tops and 

 sides in the catchment areas of the rivers of the country in the 

 hope that ultimately it may be possible to check veld burning 

 and maintain and encourage the growth of the natural vegetation, 

 thus assisting to prevent erosion and flooding, and to conserve 

 the flow of rivers and streams on which the country depends 

 for irrigation. It was felt that if sold such mountain lands 

 would fetch the most paltry sums, and later on, in the national 

 interest, it might be necessary to acquire them again. The 

 Forest Department had convenient machinery for locking uj) 

 these lands by demarcation, and they were accordingly handed 

 over to it. I am sorry to say circumstances have not, so far, 

 allowed of much being done to realise the objects for which the 

 reserv^es w^ere made, but when normal times return greater pro- 

 gress may be possible. 



Coastal reserves and drift sands form a considerable percen- 

 tage of the forest reserves (80,000 morgen) as the prevention, 

 reclamation, and control of drift sands fall within the scope of 

 the Forest Department's duties. Only in exceptional cases do 

 these reserves carry a crop of wood, and when they do poles and 



