ON THE TIMBER SUPPLY OF AUSTRALIA. 135 



correct, what I read somewhere, that the present generation has 

 merely a life estate in the forests of a country, and I claim, there- 

 fore, as a right for those who come after us, at least in young 

 plantations, a full equivalent for all the forests already destroyed. 

 Can such a demand be resisted 1 Can any valid arguments be 

 brought forward to show that our children and grandchildren 

 should not have timber as cheap and as plentiful ] Old colonists 

 — farmers as well as graziers — know to their cost that we have 

 had long droughts; they cannot wish their recurrence. They 

 themselves, however, have now in their hands the future of South 

 Australia. They may also decide the future climate of South 

 Australia, and on this point I give you another extract from Mr 

 Dalzell : " Man, feeble as he is, wants only time and proper com- 

 bination to produce the most marked changes, not only in the 

 climate of the country he inhabits, but on places far distant from 

 his abode. If this be found to be really the case, then forests de- 

 serve to become an object of careful examination, not only in a 

 financial, but in a politico-economical point of view." At all 

 events, we may prevent floods, obtain permanent water, and our 

 crops and fruit-trees will receive the much needed shelter from 

 hoar-frosts while in blossom, and from the scorching effects of our 

 north winds. The soil of South Australia is certainly generally 

 very good in the settled portions, and if we can be sure of about 

 as large a rainfall as in Victoria, the average of our grain crops 

 will be as good, if not better, and the number of cattle and sheep 

 which can be kept will increase in the same ratio. In many parts 

 of South Australia, perhaps by far the largest part of it, the ab- 

 sence of useful timber is one of the principal impediments to settle- 

 ment. A Mr Thompson once said that in some plains the wind 

 was at times so strong that the sheep had to hold on by the tus- 

 socks. Nothing is more calculated to add to the wealth of this 

 country than the growth of forest trees ; this is my firm convic- 

 tion. For years to come we may not be able to materially alter 

 the hygrometrical condition of our atmosphere, or to break the 

 force of our " briekfielders," or to increase the number of permanent 

 springs, but we ought to commence, without further delay, a series 

 of experimental plantations of forest trees, preparatory to a most 

 determined attempt, not only to avert the calamity of a future 

 want of timber, but to make it possible for South Australia to 

 become the home of millions of a happy, healthy, wealthy, and in- 

 dustrious population. 



