124 



Canadian Forestry Journal, March, 1919 



VICTORIA LAUNCHES INTO STATE FORESTRY 



B\) H. R. MacMillan, Former Timber Trade Commissioner 

 for Canada. 



All Lumbering is Under Strict Supervision, 



Government May Erect Mills or Buy 



Ships. 



Victoria which has been, up to the present, the 

 most progressive AustraHan state in matters of 

 forest policy, passed through both Houses Dec. 

 19, 1918, an important Forest Act. 



Victoria is a state with great forest possibil- 

 ities. The total area of the state, 56,000,000 

 acres, includes 12,000,000 acres of woodland, 

 including much rough and mountainous land, 

 unsuitable for agriculture, which nevertheless 

 lies in a climatic belt where forest growth is 

 varied, and rapid. The forests af Victoria have 

 been the most valuable and extensive of Aus- 

 tralia. 



4,000,000 Acres in Reserves. 



During the past five years, under the leader- 

 ship of Conservator Hugh Mackay, the pioneer 

 of Australiian forestry, the forests of the state 

 have been carefully examined and a start made 

 toward training and building an organization for 

 forest protection and administration. About 

 4,000,000 acres of forest have been set aside by 

 Act of Legislature as permanent reserves for 

 the protection of water supplies and production 

 of timber; of this area, 2,500,000 acres are on 

 high mountain slopes where protection of water 

 supply is of chief importance; another 500,000 

 acres are cut-over lands in the populated sec- 

 tions of the state. Logging operations are con- 

 fined chiefly to 500,000 acres, cutting on which 

 is under strict state supervision, the areas being 

 worked on the selection or coppice systems 

 chiefly. A chief feature of the new act is the 

 provision for the appointment of a state forest 

 commission of three members, removable only by 

 a resolution of both Houses of the Legislature, 

 in whose hands will be placed the extension and 

 administration of all state forests, plantations, 

 and forest schools. In the true Australian spirit 

 the Act authorizes the commission to undertake 

 and operate any works necessary for the logging 

 of the state forests or the further manufacture 

 of forest produce,, specific powers assigned to 

 the commission being to "Convert any forest 



produce mto merchantable articles and sell the 

 same"; "construct and maintain tramways . . . 

 purchase, rent or charter vehicles or vessels"; 

 "construct, purchase or rent and operate saw- 

 mills, other mills, dry kilns"; "purchase cattle 

 and pasture them". 



The commission is allowed by statute five 

 years in which to prepare working plans for the 

 various state forests, these working plans to be- 

 come operative when approved by the state 

 cabinet, and not to be revised until they have 

 been in effect at least four years. 



Novel Financing Scheme. 



A striking feature of this Act is the novel 

 provision made for financing the forest policy 

 outlined. It is enacted that beginning with 1919 

 there shall be made available each year 

 $200,000 for forest expenditure, and that fur- 

 ther, when the forest revenue of the state ex- 

 ceeds $400,000 annually, one-half of such re- 

 venue is set aside for the use of the Forest 

 Commission. 



The forest revenue of Victoria in 1913 was 

 $250,000, and the forest expenditure $285,000. 



Power to Expropriate. 



Under powers granted by the Forest Act the 

 Forest Commission may take compulsorily any 

 land required for the proper working of state 

 forests, the protection of state forests or planta- 

 tions, or the prevention of erosion. 



The many species of acacia and gum in Aus- 

 traha have been very loosely named and graded 

 in the Australian lumber trade. The commission 

 has power to establish legal names and grades 

 and to enforce such in all transactions in Vic- 

 torian timber. 



A period of three years is placed by legisla- 

 tion, at the end of which the commission shall 

 have examined the remaining forested moun- 

 tain areas of Victoria and recommend whether 

 or not they should be constituted state forests. 



