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tected. In this park the strange and beautiful Kangaroo's Paw 

 fAiiigozanthus Manglesiij grows plentifully. I can remember that 

 within our own suburban area were to be found some years ago 

 quite a large number of our native flowers, and even in our park 

 lands the sweet-scented Arthropodium Strictum, and others, are 

 still to be found. Would it not have been a wise action in the 

 past, if two or three acres in each of the broad belts of park lands 

 that surround our fair city had been fenced off so as to have 

 given protection to our wild flowers, and so have perpetuated 

 species which, if not extinct, have now to be sought at a distance 

 from the metropolis. I think Perth is to be congratulated for 

 its wisdom and forethought in not only securing a beautiful 

 park (which I am pleased to see is vested in a Board) but in which 

 the indigenous flora is to be permanently preserved. In this 

 park the recreation element is not ignored, for provision is made 

 for tennis, bowls, and cricket, in connection with the High School. 



The only other area described as a National Park in Western 

 Australia is a reserve of 3,420 acres at Swan View, which is classi- 

 fied A under the Permanent Reserves Act, of 1899, and only 

 an Act of Parliament can interfere with its security. I have 

 obtained a copy of the clause in the Act referred to, which briefly 

 provides that the Governor may, by notice in the Government 

 Gazette, reserve lands for the purpose of parks, or for recreation, 

 etc., and classify such lands as of Class A., and if so classified, 

 shall for ever remain dedicated to the purpose declared in such 

 notice until otherwise provided by an Act. 



The land at Swan View is, I am informed, unimproved, and 

 mostly bush and granite rock, and the fauna and flora are par- 

 tially protected. I need hardly add that in such country no pro- 

 vision is made for games. 



While speaking of National Parks in Western Australia, I 

 may say that I have recently received a letter from a resident in 

 Perth asking for information about our Kangaroo Island Re- 

 serve, and intimating that he is trying to establish a National 

 Park there to take in the Stirling Ranges (1,400 square miles), 

 and some other sites for preservation of the native fauna and 

 flora. 



Coming to the special Flora and Fauna Reserves, I find there 

 are five of these. Two of them — one at Barrow Island, of 50,000 

 acres, and one at Murray, of about 160,000 acres — are for the 

 protection of native flora and fauna generally. While two small 

 areas of nine and 10 acres, near Albany and at Plantagenet re- 

 spectively, are for the special purpose of protecting the Pitcher 

 Plant; and another area of 100 acres near Mount Barker in 

 the Plantagenet District, is to preserve the Boronia. So much 

 is the Boronia admired for its fragrance, that were not some 

 action taken for its preservation, its extermination would pro- 

 bably have been effected at no distant date. The reserves for 

 both the Pitcher Plant and the Boronia are about to be classified 

 as Class A., under the Permanent Reserves Act. 



A Genekal Review. 



Bringing the whole of the National Parks of Australia into 

 one focus, as it were, and making broad comparisons, I find that, 

 if by a National Park the predominant idea is that of Becrea- 

 tion or Amusement, — the playground aspect — no other State is 



