Presidential Address. — Section C. 343 



in such engineering- enterprises. The Temples of Philae are Roman, 

 not Egvptian. and are not more than two thousand years old. com- 

 paratively recent, therefore, beside the old Egyptian Temples. The 

 Assouan Dam. which cost over two millions of money, has raised the 

 level of the water so that Philae is now half submerged, and the water 

 raised to this height provides water sufficient to irrigate four hundred 

 thousand acres. By spending ^500.000 more in raising the height 

 of the dam, instead of four hundred thousand acres, it is estimated 

 that one million six hundred thousand acres would have been irri- 

 gated, but as this would involve the demolition or removal of Philae, 

 it was not allowed, so that probably some five million pounds annually 

 has been lost to Egvpt because of sentiment. 



RAINFALL. 



Any means of getting increased rainfall should be welcome to the 

 inhabitants of this countr}" ; careful observation over a long period 

 of years seems to show that forest soils absorb more and evaporate 

 less than soil in the open, that forests tend to moderate the extremes 

 of climate and to increase rainfall, and that the nearer we approach 

 the Equator the greater is the effect of vegetation on rainfall. There 

 has been great waste of timber in this country. Li Pondoland the 

 natives were in the habit of setting fire to magnificent forest trees 

 merely to grow mealies to better effect where the trees had been, 

 and there is not a trace now left of trees where a few years ago there 

 was not only bush but fine timber, too. Fertile soils disappear with 

 the destruction of forests, and the accumulation of years is washed 

 away, another instance of waste. Forestr}-, then, has an important 

 bearing on the material wealth of a country apart from the value of 

 the timber. This has been to some extent recognised in the Cape 

 Colony, and money has been spent in v)i'oper plantations on scientific 

 lines; and it is hoped that all the sleepers for the Cape Government 

 Railways may be procurable from the plantations that have been and 

 are being made. On the railways in the L'nited Kingdom the annual 

 consumption of sleepers for renewals is about 3.750,000 a year at a 

 cost of about ^750.000 a year. The cost of renewals in the Cape 

 Colony IS probably at least a tenth of thi.^ sum, or _;.'^75,ooo, of which 

 probably half should be saved on this account alone by the local 

 supply, besides the benefit to the climate and the advantage of the 

 employment given to those working the forests. A large amount 

 of timber, too, is required by the Mines of South Africa for mining 

 props and other uses, suitable timber for which can be grown in this 

 country. Another probable source of demand for timber will be for 

 the paving of the streets in towns, thereby adding to the comfort and 

 health of the inhabitants. For road paving, wood is undoubtedly 

 the material which the public likes best ; it is comparatively noise- 

 less, and is not so sli]')])ery as asphalte. The so-called Teak forests 

 of Rhodesia may possibly provide wood for this purpose, and in any 

 case " Jarrah " and other suitable woods for street paving can be 



