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try, and lays special stress on the preservation of the forests in 

 the following words: "If there is any one duty which, more than 

 another, we owe it to our children to perform at once, it is to save 

 the forests of this country, for they constitute the first and most 

 important element in the conservation of the natural resources of 

 the country." . . . "Short-sighted persons, or persons blinded 

 to the future by desire to make money in every way out of the 

 present, sometimes speak as if no great damage would be done by 

 the reckless destruction of our forests. It is difficult to have 

 patience with the arguments of these persons." When I think of 

 the magnificent eucalypts that have been cut down in our own 

 hills, not more than twenty or thirty miles from Adelaide, for the 

 sake of a few pounds' worth of railway sleepers, I feel disposed to 

 agree with the sentiments thus forcibly expressed. 



I am aware that there is a difference of opinion as regards the 

 effect of deforestation on climate, and Avhen we get an exceptional 

 season like the last winter in this State, some may be disposed to 

 think that, forests or no forests, rain is certain to fall. But, as 

 President Roosevelt points out, "all serious students of the question 

 are aware of the great damage that has been done in the Mediter- 

 ranean countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa by deforestation," 

 and he proceeds to point out that similar mischief has more re- 

 cently been done in Eastern Asia, especially Northern China : — 

 "Not many centuries ago the country of Northern China was one 

 of the most beautiful and fertile spots in the entire world, and 

 was heavily forested. Now, owing to deforestation of the moun- 

 tains, there is appalling desolation in the shape of barren moun- 

 tains and gravel and sand-covered plains. The climate has 

 changed, and is still changing. It has changed even within the 

 last half century, as the work of tree destruction has been consum- 

 mated. Briefly this has been brought about in this way — the great 

 masses of arboreal vegetation on the mountains formerly absorbed 

 the heat of the sun, and sent up currents of cool air, which brought 

 the moisture-laden clouds lower, and forced them to precipitate in 

 rain a part of their burden of water. Now that there is no 

 vegetation the barren mountains scorched by the sun send up cur- 

 rents of heated air, which drive away, instead of attracting, the 

 rain clouds, and cause their moisture to be disseminated. With 

 lack of rainfall crops wither, and as the air becomes dryer some 

 refuse to grow at all. The water-courses have^ also changed, for 

 the roots and humus of the forests caught the rain-water and let it 

 escape by slow regular seepage, but now, when it rains, these are 

 freshets; the rich soil which took thousands of years to form is 

 washed away, and muddy torrents rush down bearing disaster and 

 destruction everywhere. What has happened in Northern China, 

 what has happened in Central Asia, in Palestine, in North Africa, 

 and in parts of the Mediterranean countries of Europe will surely 

 happen to our country [and, let us add, to Australia], if we do 

 not exercise that wise fore-thought which should be one of the 

 chief marks of any people calling itself civilized." Listen to these 

 weighty words of the Ex-President of the United States : 

 — "Nothing should be permitted to stand in the way of 

 the preservation of the forests, and it is criminal to permit indi- 

 viduals to purchase a little gain for themselves through the de- 

 struction of forests, when that destruction is fatal to the well- 

 being of the whole country in the future." 



I may here state that in thinking about this matter, before I 

 had read anything of this Conservation Commission in America, 



