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leaving them unextinguished. AVith reference to the 

 first of these, it is either from want of forethought, 

 carelessness, or perhaps indolence, that fires kindled 

 to consume rubbish, are allowed to spread beyond the 

 boundary of the clearing. Such carelessness ought 

 to be severely punished. As to the second, good paths 

 and roads and bridges will, in a great measure, do away 

 with the necessity of carrying torches. Still, naked 

 lights ought not to be allowed among dry herbage, at 

 least during the dry season. In respect to the third, 

 ground in the vicinity of the resting-places should be 

 cleared of all herbage, for some distance round, and 

 any party kindling a fire should extinguish it before 

 leaving, under a penalty. A further precaution would 

 be to surround each reserve by a fire-break of at least 

 12 yards in width, from which all inflammable ma- 

 terial ought to be cleared away annually. In addition 

 to this, the roads between the blocks or divisions of 

 the forest should be kept clear of everything that will 

 burn, so that, should a fire occur in one block, it may 

 be prevented from spreading into others. When the 

 colony is fully settled, and the open grassy lands in 

 the dry districts pastured by cattle or sheep, which 

 will eat down the long grass at present covering these 

 lands, the dangers from fire will be much lessened, espe- 

 cially if regulations against fires are firmly enforced.. 



It is not to vegetation alone that these fires have done 

 injury. By burning the grass off the ground the soil 

 is laid bare, and the surface is cracked and crumbled 

 into dust by the heat of the sun. From the steepness 

 of the ground in some places, the first heavy rain 

 carries off the loose surface soil to a depth of several 

 inches. The frequent recurrence of this has resulted 

 in laying bare the subsoil in some parts of the country. 



