Pepprrrcorne.—On the Influence of Forests on Climate and Rainfall, 29 
both cases the regulations for their management and conservation are of 
the most comprehensive description. 
In Switzerland, the question has become of such national importance 
that it has been proposed to modify the constitution so as to enable the 
Federal Government to undertake duties which have hitherto been per- 
formed by the several cantons. 
In Austria, the management of forests has recently been transferred 
from the Minister of Finance to a distinct department, presided over by the 
Minister of Agriculture. 
In India, the forest question is now bina regarded as one of the first 
importance, and is being dealt with, not by the several Presidencies, but by 
the General Government on behalf of the country at large. 
In Canada, there has been a certain amount of legislation on this sub- 
ject; but in Sweden and Norway the most rigorous measures have been 
devised to protect the forests, and there are regulations to prevent trees 
under a certain age and size from being cut even by private owners. 
Now, if in countries like France, Germany, Sweden, and Norway, whose 
forest lands are extensive, it has been found necessary to initiate and 
carry out a most careful system of forest conservation, how much more 
so must it be necessary in the dry and sultry climate of Australia! 
In the colonies of Victoria and New South Wales, the evils produced by 
the gradual diminution of their forests, as well as by their destruction in 
dry seasons by bush fires, have now become apparent, and have combined 
io render the climate, which is naturally dry, year by year more dry, while 
but little has been as yet attempted for their preservation. 
The consequences must inevitably be of the most serious nature, unless 
immediate steps are taken to conserve large tracts of the existing forests, as 
well as to initiate a well-devised system of tree-planting on the bare hills 
which have been denuded of their forests. Should this not be done, the 
inevitable result will be severe droughts of long duration, occurring more 
frequently than at present, to the great detriment of the pastoral and 
agricultural interests of these colonies. 
In South Australia, the subject has, however, received much attention 
of late, and proposals have been made by Mr. Goyder, the Surveyor-General 
of that colony, to initiate a systematic course of tree-planting on a large 
scale. Mr. Goyder proposes to reserve 200,000 acres of land, and to spend 
on it, in tree-planting and management, £14,000 during the first year, and 
£10,500 during each of the following eleven years; thus making a total 
expenditure of £180,000, when the whole of the 200,000 acres would be 
planted and fenced in. During the first five years there would not be any 
revenue, but during the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth years, the revenue 
