hii 



Foreitry for Tasmania. 



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Br L, BoDWAY. Hon Botanist to the 



GOVEENMENT OF TASMANIA. 



[Raad August 14, 1899.] 



Forestry has never received the atten- 

 tion its importance deserves from either 

 our governing or our scientific bodies. I 

 know that occasiorally enndry learned 

 Fellows of this Society have alluded to 

 the subject, and aUo that our Govern- 

 ments for a few short years employed 

 conservators, but except in one report of 

 Mr Perrin I do not know of any attempt 

 to seriously contemplate the subject. 

 Certainly it has never taken its proper 

 place as a matter of policy and public 

 utility. 



The policy of past Governments have 

 been confined to a limited attempt to 

 conserve the wealth of our virgin 

 forests. There has been no grasp of 

 what might have been done beyond this. 

 Of the timber industry that could have 

 been built up ; of the enormous advan« 

 tages of conserving the water that falls 

 on the land in the form of rain and dew ; 

 ot the changes in climate, much of 

 which is certain, thoug!^ much is proble- 

 ma'ical, they appear not to have troubled 

 themselres i£veo the mild protection 

 of cur native forests reached extinguiKh- 

 iog point when the importunity of debt 

 and a falling revenue tried the ability of 

 our rulers. The office of Conservator 

 was first curtailed and then aboliNbed. 



'1 he return of prosperity and unavoid- 

 able erquiry brought to light the 

 disastrous depredations ih&t were taking 

 place in our State f )rests. The Govern- 

 ment have taken a step that will appeal 

 to the sympathy of everyone having the 

 interest of this subject at heart. They 

 have appointed a Orown Lands Bailiff, 

 and in doing so tl^iey have been fortunate 

 in 8electing from amont; their cfficers a 

 man wtto is eminently fitted by nature 

 and disposition for the position. X refer 

 to Mr Compton Penny. 



This evident recognition of the value of 

 our timber wealth leads one to hope that 

 when evidence can be produced to 

 warrant it fctill further steps will be 

 taken. It leads one to hope that the 

 evidence addcced in other countries wiU 

 be turned to acciu^it by us, and steps 



will be taken to at leait encourage the 

 plantation and growth of trees where they 

 are badly needed. 



I cannot hope, at least in this paper, to 

 do more than superficially allude to the 

 general benefits for<»8try may bring us. 

 It would be completely out of place to go 

 into detail". The evidence of benefit is 

 so clear, the experience of observers fo 

 conclusive, that what is required is 

 direction to general principles. If 

 general principles are recognised as being 

 rf urgent importance the technicalities of 

 procedure will afford no difficulty. 



I propose to roughly discuss the sub- 

 ject under its three principal heads : — 



Timber production 



Water conservation 



Influence on climate. 



The subject of timber production 

 naturally falls into two sections— econo- 

 mical use of native forests and the plant- 

 ing of new areas. The first, though it 

 has never received the attention it might, 

 is suffering more from indifEerence than 

 want of knowledge. We all have 

 a pretty fair notion of what should be 

 done. We know the return they should 

 make to the estate, and we know what 

 should b« done to prevent wanton de- 

 struction and recklefs cutting. Th« 

 economical use of our forests can be 

 j(reatly improved, but I do not propose 

 to waste your time m these details. 

 Forest planting, on the other hand, 

 would be sometbing new to us. Kxotic 

 trees have been planted far and wide in 

 Tasmania, and have almost invariably 

 demonstrated their ability to thrive, but 

 they have never been planted, as far as I 

 know, for economical timber produc- 

 tion. 



r^ow we must recognise firstly that 

 forests as they grow in a state of nature 

 (seldom produce the mot*t economical 

 timber supply. A straight lofty stem 

 witti no limbs except ne*r the apex is the 

 ideal timber tree, and tl is state is onlj 

 to be attained by jadicious planting and 

 tending. With our native trees our 

 forests are so abundant that it 

 is doubtful if it would pay to 

 compete with nature. Several of 

 our fast-growing euca'ypts would 

 in the lifetime of an average man grow 

 large enough to produce good timber, nd 



