227] Government Forestry Abroad. 43 



law. It entrusts the charge of all forest estates to 

 the Commissioner of Forest Lands, and gives him 

 power to grant licenses and make regulations for cut- 

 ting timber, bark, or other forest produce, and he 

 may levy fees upon stock pasturing in forest reserves. 

 It provides also that all forest reserves heretofore 

 declared such shall remain so, and empowers the 

 governor to add to their area; makes provision for 

 encouraging tree-planting, and for the leasing of 

 forest lands under certain conditions. The appoint- 

 ment of conservators is authorized, and the issuance 

 of regulations for the management of the forest, the 

 disposal of the timber, and the prevention of fires. 

 The financial result of this policy during the thirteen 

 years ending with 1889 was a net surplus of over 

 $40,000. 



In the colony of New South Wales the forest law 

 dates from 1884, and makes provisions which are 

 partially similar in character to those of the act just 

 mentioned. In accordance with them an area of five 

 and a-half million acres had been declared State for- 

 ests and timber reserves in 1887. 



Victoria, the smallest of the Australian colonies, 

 is perhaps the most interesting from the forester's 

 point of view. From certain reports made to the 

 Secretary of State for the colonies it appears that in 

 the year 1875 Victoria was suffering from a condition 

 of affairs strongly suggestive of our own at present. 

 'The amount of timber is diminishing owing to clear- 

 ings for settlement, ordinary home consumption and 

 bush (i. e. forest fires). . . . As early as 1860 

 attention was called ... to the wastefulness 

 and improvidence of the prevailing system." 



