ON THE TIMBER SUPPLY OF AUSTRALIA. 133 



quent. Twenty-five years later one-third of the island had become 

 an utter desert. With the destruction of the trees the short 

 copious showers which frequently occurred in former times had 

 ceased, and the process of desiccation gradually advanced. The 

 sugar-canes failed, and desolation came slowly but irresistably. 

 Before I come to my closing remarks I wish to say a few words 

 of well-merited praise in honour of the few persons in the 

 Australian Colonies who have tried to advance our knowledge of 

 forest conservancy, and matters connected therewith. Foremost 

 I must name Baron von Miiller, the Government botanist of 

 Victoria, who, as far as I know, has acted as pioneer in this 

 respect ; and next to him Dr Hector, of New Zealand, and our 

 Dr Schomburgk and Mr Goyder, who have, either by lectures or 

 reports, or lists naming the principal timber trees which may be 

 suitable in the respective colonies, done much to arouse public 

 attention. The interest now evinced by the Legislatures of these 

 three provinces must be chiefly ascribed to their public services. 

 I wish to call your special attention to a map prepared by Mr A. 

 Everett for the State Forest Board, with the assistance of Baron 

 von Miiller, showing in different colours over the whole province 

 of Victoria the distribution of the principal timber trees, and also 

 to two maps kindly prepared by Mr Goyder's order — one to show 

 our intended, although not yet proclaimed, timber reserves and 

 travelling-stock reserves, the other the proposed districts under 

 the Forest Trees Planting Encouragement Act of 1872. If you 

 peruse the number of papers which have lately been laid before 

 Parliament in the provinces of Victoria, New Zealand, and South 

 Australia, you will say the time for action has come. "With such 

 an amount of valuable preparatory work now collected in the 

 various lectures and Parliamentary papers, it may be safely pre- 

 dicted that with proper machinery we ought to have a fair start, 

 and we will eventually succeed. I have dwelt, perhaps, rather 

 long on the importance of obtaining for the settled portions of 

 South Australia a due proportion of woodland to our open agri- 

 cultural and grazing lands ; also on the necessity of a supply of 

 timber and firewood for our industrial pursuits and households ; 

 and I have alluded only cursorily to some of the indirect advan- 

 tages which a country, with a climate like South Australia, most 

 certainly will derive from more extensive forests. With their 

 increase, the number of birds will increase, which may delight us 

 with their melodies ; and they will aid us in the destruction of 



