20 



sideration the damage done by indiscriminate branding. I have often attempted to 

 pick out a clean side from 1,000 hides, and failed to find one free from cuts. We 

 cannot get sufficient clean hides to manufacture belt-leather simply on this account. 

 I do not think it would be possible to get more than five pairs of bides suitable 

 for belts out of any ordinary 1,000 hides supplied to the tanneries. For harness 

 leather another forty might be obtained, but the remaining 950 would only be fit 

 for soles or exporting. The Tanners' Association in America have taken action in 

 this matter, and their regulations have had the effect of considerably reducing the 

 waste. Were some such association instituted here, the gain to tanners would be 

 very great, and the character of the leather trade in the colony would be improved. 

 The Victorian leather is brought into keen competition with the American hemlock 

 leather in the English market. I have been informed that while the quality of 

 the Australian leather is intrinsically superior, the American article is beating ours, 

 simply because of the shameful manner in which the Australian hides have been 

 branded and hacked about before tanning." 



Other witnesses examined fully endorsed this evidence, and the 

 Board were themselves afforded several opportunities for personally 

 satisfying themselves of the truth of the statements. That legisla- 

 tion is necessary the Board are perfectly satisfied, and they would 

 therefore respectfully urge the Government to take immediate 

 action in the matter. 



In the course of their investigations the Board have been im- 

 pressed with the necessity existing for a recognition of the principle 

 of forest culture as well as of forest conservation. The wattle 

 represents only one kind of the many trees which are of importance 

 to our technological industries as well as to the preservation of 

 our mercantile export trade, whereas many other plants are no less 

 deserving of cultivation on an extensive scale. In the present 

 report it is not necessary to enumerate the most important foreign 

 plants adapted for cultivation in Victoria, and which are sooner 

 or later destined to occupy a prominent position in rural or forest 

 culture in this colony. 



The Board have personally witnessed the destruction that has 

 been going on amongst the forest timber, and they are convinced 

 that the only effectual means of checking the waste, conserving 

 the timber left standing, providing for future supply, and ensuring 

 the cultivation of foreign trees, will be by the establishment of a 

 responsible Board, which shall have power to act independently of 

 any other department. An immense advantage could be gained by 

 cultivating some of the more valuable timber trees, such as the 

 various deal pines, the kauri, the red cedar, the white and cork 

 oaks, the walnut, sweet chestnut, hickories, and the best of the 

 willows. These are all admirably adapted for the soil and climate ; 

 they could be raised million fold, as could the tea plant, the 

 cinchona, numerous fibres and fodder plants, and a practically 

 unlimited variety of grasses. 



When once the principle of encouraging the growth of foreign 

 plants in the forests and on the waste lands of the colony is recog- 



