RELATIONSHIP OF THE STATE TO THE FORESTS. 225 



timber. New plantations should be restricted to the production 

 of light woods in which Australia is deficient, while a brisk export 

 in the highly appreciated heavy Eucalypts should be maintained 

 or extended. 



Special attention should be paid to fire protection by the 

 division of the forests into suitable blocks isolated from each other 

 by broad strips of cleared areas, which could be utilized as grazing 

 areas, thus recouping at any rate, part of the cost of fire protection. 



While the ordinary forest conservancy belongs to the several 

 States, the question arises whether there is not room for a federal 

 forest administration, not to compete with the State forest 

 administration, but to supplement it at points where forestry 

 assumes a national rather than a local aspect. The Union of 

 South Africa and the Dominion of Canada have such central 

 forest authorities, which have answered very well. In this 

 respect, attention may be drawn to the fact that, in the past, 

 forestry has been too much at the mercy of politics. One Minister 

 has done his best for it, while his successor has acted in the opposite 

 direction. Ministers should not attempt forest management, but 

 leave it to be conducted on a continuous policy by experts. The 

 object should be to get national forestry away from direct political 

 control, and a Federal Forestry Authority might be the means 

 of achieving this. In this respect, a more healthy public opinion 

 has of late been developed, than existed in the past. 



The hygienic and aesthetic aspects of forestry should not be 

 overlooked. Australia suffers from the same evil as that existing 

 in Britain, the preponderance of urban over rural population, and 

 the difficult problem has to be solved how to make country life 

 more attractive, so as to reduce the great discrepancy between 

 town and country population. In this respect, forestry can do 

 something ; properly organised forests give permanent employ- 

 ment under healthy conditions. The number of men and their 

 families so employed depends on local conditions and on the 

 general progress in the management of the forests. That the 

 number would be very large can be seen when it is remembered 

 that for every systematically managed 100 acres one person will 

 be required all the year round. Life in the rural districts acts as 

 an important means of preserving a stalwart race of men in the 

 country. 



VOL. I. Q 



