440 British Colonies. 



quarter dollars annually, the need of conservative use 

 is appreciated especially as climatic conditions are un- 

 favorable to reproduction. Some 24,000 acres have 

 been planted during 22 years, at a cost of $1,500,000, 

 the first plantations beginning to yield a substantial 

 revenue, and it is believed that another 40,000 acres of 

 such plantations would supply all the timber needed 

 in the Colony. Treeplanting by private land owners 

 and municipalities is encouraged by furnishing ad- 

 vice gratis and plant material at low cost, and to mu- 

 nicipalities in addition government aid is extended to 

 the extent of half the cost of planting. 



The seven Australian colonies are very variously 

 situated regarding timber supplies, three of them, 

 Queensland, Western and South Australia being 

 poorly wooded, the others more or less heavily for- 

 ested, especially Tasmania with 65 per cent., and 

 New Zealand with 31 per cent. Generally speaking 

 the forest areas are confined to the coast in narrower 

 and wider belts, the interior being forestless or with 

 scrubby growth. This portion is large enough to 

 reduce the total forest per cent, to less than 6.5. 

 The mountains and hill ranges facing the Eastern, 

 Southern and Western coasts are especially heavily 

 wooded with magnificent Eucalypts, Jarrah and Karri 

 while the Kauri pine is the most valuable tree in 

 New Zealand. 



The one successful attempt at a forest policy was 

 made by the almost forestless colony of South Aus- 

 tralia, which in 1882 reserved its scanty forest area 

 of 217,000 acres and started to plant, (now 13,000 



