32 PRESENT AND FUTURE TROSPECTS OF 



It appears to me, therefore, that ig^norance is really 

 more to blame for the waste and destruction of your 

 timber than carelessness or recklessness. A man who 

 really understands a business from which he hopes to 

 gain a living or profit, is not, generally, reckless or care- 

 less. He knows what he is about ; the value of the pro- 

 ducts with which he has to work ; the best and most 

 economical way of getting the utmost out of them, trust- 

 ing to technical and practical knowledge to help him 

 through, and not to haphazard and indiscriminate 

 methods which can never end in any good result. Now, 

 1 believe that it is the first duty of a really enlightened 

 Government to give their citizens an opportunity of 

 gaining this knowledge, which does not come intuitively, 

 but has to be taught and learned, on reasonable terms ; 

 and this can only be done by the organisation of good, 

 well-appointed. Technical Schools. You have done, and 

 are doing, a great deal in this respect for the Mining 

 industry, the other great factor in Tasmanian prosperity. 

 Why not do something for the other branch — forestry 

 and agriculture ? After all, the value of the mines is a 

 problematic one. You are perfectly right in doing your 

 utmost to promote their proper exploitation, but why 

 neglect the sister industry, where you have the positive 

 evidence of existing value and worth ? The proper 

 management of the one is as much a science as it is of 

 the other. 



Now, as far as timber is concerned, it seems to 

 me that when a country possesses such treasures of 

 vegetable wealth as Tasmania, no effort should be spared 

 to make the most of such a source of national wealth 

 and prosperity, by establishing a School or Schools of 

 Forestry and Agriculture, where those who have the 

 sense to appreciate the value of the great gift with 

 which nature has endowed this land can either learn 

 themselves, or have their children taught, the proper 

 way to set to work to derive the greatest advantage 

 from it. You would not expect a man to be able to 

 make a pair of shoes or a piece of machinery without 

 some practical previous knowledge of bootmaking or 

 engineering ; so how can you be surprised if a man who 

 knows absolutely nothing of the laws of forestry and 



