A TOUR IN AUSTRALIA. 1 19 



II. A Tour in Australia. 



By R. G. Robinson, Superintendent, Selwyn Plantation Board, 

 Christchurch, N.Z. 



[In November of last year Mr R. G. Robinson, Darfield, paid 

 a six weeks' visit to Tasmania and parts of Eastern Australia, 

 in order to study forestry problems. He has communicated to 

 us his official Report to the Selwyn Plantation Board, from 

 which the following extracts are taken. — Hon. Ed.] 



The whole Tasmanian tour was an educational treat, not- 

 withstanding almost continuous rains (at Queenstown some 

 119 inches of rain have fallen during the past ten months). Such 

 eucalypt species as E. obliqua^ E. dekgatensis, E. amygdalina, 

 E. muellertajia, E. stberiana, E. crebra, E. risdofii, E. globulus^ 

 E. regnans, E. linearis, E. paucifiora, E. acervula, E. mac- 

 arthurii, E. viminalis, etc., were seen growing under natural 

 conditions, whilst acacias, Huon and King William pines 

 flourished in association. A special visit was made to the 

 Sisters Hills, near Stanley, where the Government has started 

 a nursery, and purposes planting out the surrounding hills with 

 Finns insignis principally. It is hoped to initiate a migration 

 scheme whereby the Imperial Government will advance over 

 a period of twenty-five years a sum of ;^38o,ooo for an 

 afforestation and educational project, to be carried on almost 

 exclusively by lads from the Barnardo Homes. The scheme 

 is a novel one, and the idea is favourably commented upon by 

 the public generally. 



The main points studied both in the island and in Victoria 

 and New South Wales on the mainland are referred to under 

 separate headings below. 



Species of Eiicalypts. — The educative value of seeing many 

 species of eucalypts growing in their native habitat, together 

 with an examination, under expert guidance, of typical 

 specimens of the woods can be understood. Details relative 

 to the predominance of the various species of eucalypts 

 throughout the tour were kept, and also of the topographical 

 and physical features of the districts traversed. 



The natural association of the different varieties of gums 

 indicated what was possible by artificial methods. The 



