PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION K. 691 



M. Forestry. 



Australia has realized that her forests must not be lost to her. 

 Their national and economical importance is every year becoming 

 more manifest. We must look to the State schools to create and 

 keep strong a national sentiment that will make the afforestation 

 of our country always a great question. The germ of thought 

 must be implanted in every child that trees are essential to a great 

 and progressive people. 



The need for trained and scientific foresters has come. Europe 

 and India have for years recognised their necessity. A school of 

 forestry is an essential in every country, and if the States do not 

 found one, the Commonwealth should. 



The hunger for land may possibly be the cause of Australia 

 losing many of her finest forest reserves. Even along our roads 

 the vandal is at work ringbarking many of the trees, and little 

 effort seems to be made to check it in spite of laws prohibiting it. 

 The national importance of the subject justifies special attention 

 being paid to it ,in connexion with the University course. 



N. Commercial and Economic Aspect of Agriculture. 



One phase of agricultural education deserving of serious con- 

 sideration is the business side of the farmer's occupation. In 

 the past, this has been neglected. A great deal of energy has 

 been expended in helping the farmer to produce good crops, but 

 the production of the crop is only half the battle. The other, 

 and by no means lesser half, is the disposal of the crop. Is the 

 farmer getting a fair share of that portion of the national wealth 

 he is producing ? 



In Victoria, the factors making for the big estate seem to be 

 stronger than the factors making for the disintegration of the 

 big estate. This was true, at least, before the imposition of the 

 Commonwealth Land Tax, and it is probable that this tax, while 

 it will tend to break up the big estate, will not remove the 

 economic weight from the back of the small farmer. Even in 

 fertile areas the tendency has been for the small man to be 

 crowded out, while the big man succeeded. This would seem to 

 point to some economic stumbling block in the way of the small 

 farmer. And, since it is the small farmer the Commonwealth 

 so urgently needs, the solution of the problem is of national 

 importance. The salvation of the Commonwealth probably lies 

 in the permanent settlement of large numbers of small farmers in 

 all the arable districts of Australia. And it is hard to over- 

 stress the importance of anything that will tend to help this 

 forward. The farmer, no less than the manufacturer and the 



