134 ON THE TIMBER SUPPLY OF AUSTRALIA. 



many insects. The bee-keeper will be more certain of bis crop of 

 honey, and our eyes will rest with pleasure on the improved 

 aspect of the landscape, which is now, especially on our wide 

 northern plains, extremely monotonous. Surely you value also 

 these minor advantages, and many of you still think with delight 

 of the beauty and grandeur of European forests, and the pleasure 

 you derived while roaming through them. Byron, in "Childe 

 Harold," says : 



" All things are here of Mm ; from the black pines, 

 Which are his shade on high, and the loud roar 



Of torrents, where he listeneth, to the vines 

 Which slope his green path downward to the shore, 

 Where the bowed waters meet him, and adore, 



Kissing his feet with murmurs ; and the wood, 

 The covert of old trees, with trunks all hoar, 



But light leaves, young as joy, stands where it stood, 



Offering to him, and his, a populous solitude. 



" A populous solitude of bees and birds, 



And fairy-formed and many-coloured things, 



Who worship him with notes more sweet than words, 

 And innocently open their glad wings, 

 Fearless and full of life : the gush of springs, 



And fall of lofty fountains, and the bend 



Of stirring branches, and the bud which brings 



The swiftest thought of beauty, here extend, 



Mingling, and made by Love, unto one mighty end. " 



We ought not merely to bear in mind the words, " Woodman, 

 spare that tree," and to preserve our present native forests ; we 

 want also plantations. The answer to those who ask where we will 

 get the money for it, is also simple enough. The present yearly 

 income from our forests is certainly not large ; but what has be- 

 come of the large aggregate sum received by our Treasury in years 

 gone by? During the last eleven years no less a sum than 

 £18,494, 17s. has been received for timber and bark licences, and 

 licences to cart timber. Previously the licence-fee was in all cases 

 £5 ; now monthly licences are issued at 15 s. ; and I venture to 

 say that fully £40,000 was received since the foundation of the 

 colony, irrespective of the not inconsiderable amount which dis- 

 trict councils have collected, and which may swell the total sum 

 thus derived from our native forests to £50,000. Since writing 

 this, I have received a return from the Surveyor-General, showing 

 that the amount is even more than I have calculated. I accept as 



