49 



To control the management of the forests. 



To determine the seasons for the cutting and removal of timber ai;d bark. 



To prevent waste and unnecessary destruction. 



To prevent the danger and spread of fire. 



To prohibit trespass and regulate access. 



For constructing roads and tramways in the forests and charging of tolls. 



The Act also provides for the punishment of offenders and for the application 

 of money recoverable as penalties. 



As a practical and comprehensive experiment in the direction of forest 

 conservancy, the results were looked forward to with interest. 



AUSTRALIA. 



Australia proper consists of the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, 

 Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia. The causes which deter- 

 mine the climate of Australia are remarkable in many ways. In the first place 

 the northern parts of the country are situated in a tropical, and the southern 

 parts in a temperate latitude. Secondly, between the two stretches the enormous 

 central plain is daily heated in summer to a very high degree, the air expands, is 

 lifted, and flows away on all sides, causing an indraught of moist sea air. This is 

 forced to rise on reaching the high coast lands, which it moistens in various 

 degrees. Owing, however, to the great distance from the shore to the centre of the 

 country, the latter profits only at regular intervals by this, because the indraught 

 is regularly stopped by the nightly radiation of the heat absorbed during the day, 

 or the clouds are once more converted into vapour owing to the high temperature 

 of the air. 



Such is the heat of the interior during the summer that the air, if it moves 

 at all, feels like a furnace blast. Sometimes, however, sufficient masses of clouds 

 succeed in passing over the coast ranges, and, in such cases, floods of rain fall 

 upon the inland country. The distribution of the rain differs considerably. The 

 north coast has the advantage that the air drawn in from that side comes from 

 the equatorial regions, the great reservoir of moisture. 



Then the hills on the east coast are comparatively high, those on the west 

 coast are lower, and along a portion of the south there are no mountain ranges at 

 all. Thus it happens that the rainfall at the head of Spencer's Gu'f is only 6 to 

 8 inches ; at Adelaide, 20 ; Melbourne, 26; Portland, 32; Sydney, 48 ; Newcastle, 

 44 ; Brisbane, 49 ; and at Rockingham Bay, something like 90. 



In every part, however, the rainfall decreases rapidly in passing inland, so 

 that comparatively little falls on the inner slopes of the coast ranges. 



The temperature depends on the situation and the rainfall. The northern 

 part of the continent is tropical. Brisbane has a mean annual temperature of 6 

 degrees, Fahr.; Sydney, 63 degrees ; Melbourne, 57 degrees ; and Adelaide, 65 

 degrees. 



The mean temperature in the interior is much higher than along the shore ;. 

 it is said to rise as high as 130 degrees in the shade during summer. 



South Australia was perhaps first in the field to introduce a separate forest 

 law. 



4 (F.) 



