Report of the Work of the Foresirij Branch 907 



Some 10,000 acres have been treated under the acreage and 

 tonnage systems from which revenue has been derived. The latter 

 system is the better, as being fairer and offering less temptation to 

 over thinning than the acreage system. Otherwise, however, some 

 areas have been overthinned from causes not under the control of the 

 administration. 



About 1,500 acres have been thinned by day labour at a cost 

 ranging from 7s. 2d. to 27s. per acre, according to the nature of the 

 work and the capacity of the men employed. This improvement 

 felling, has been done when the resulting produce has little or no 

 commercial value, but anything that has a value is disposed of. 



An experiment is to be made shortly by letting this class of work 

 by contract in suitable sized blocks to local bushmen. It was 

 expected, and justly so, that it would be tendered for at from 30 to 

 50 per cent, less than day labour results from city men. Tenders 

 will be invited in the near future, but if the prices demanded are 

 nearly as high as the Department has now reason to suppose they 

 will be, the wisdom of accc'|)ting them may be doubted. 



Revenue. 



A statement of revenue is appended. Compared with the pro- 

 digious quantity of forest produce supplied the returns may be 

 regarded as slight. But forestry cannot bo conducted on purely 

 business principles and eleemosynary lines at the same time. Forest 

 revenue in the past has always been made subservient to the needs of 

 national industries, particularly mining. Strict business principles, 

 could fairly be construed as giving nothing at all for nothing, and 

 nothing for less than its market value, yet section 5 of the Mines Act 

 provides that every holder of a miner's right may obtain all the 

 timber he requires for mining and domestic purposes without 

 payment. 



It is our experience that those who get timber for nothing are 

 more difficult to control, more wasteful, and more impatient of the 

 slightest restriction than those who pay for it. 



Many years ago the present writer — with some timidity — remon- 

 strated on a proposed course on the ground that it would seriously 

 aft'ect the forest revenue. He was told by the then Treasurer, that 

 forest revenue was not a consideration, and that the forests should be 

 exploited for the benefit of other great industries. Though the rates 

 are so low, the expenditure in supervision is the same as it would be 

 if they were reasonable. When circumstances compel the timber 

 getter to obtain his supplies from private paddocks and selections, 

 he pays three and four times as much as he pays this Department. 

 Scores of instances could be cited were it not for considerations of 

 space. 



General. 



It will probably be necessary in the near future to close for a term 

 of years, either in whole or part, for particular kinds of forest 

 produce or all kinds, certain areas of forest. Wombat, Tchiree, 



