EUCALYPTUS TREES. 61 



that it will be quite safe to reckon on their lasting for 

 eighteen years. The ordinary Gums, when used for 

 sleepers, will not last more than half that time. 



" The quantity of timber required for fencing the 

 North-eastern railway will be one million eighty-six 

 thousand cubic feet. The fence-posts will be of Eed 

 Gum, Iron-bark, Blue Gum, or Box,, and the rails of 

 Stringy-bark. I think that a fence of these materials 

 will last for eighteen years. As to projected railways, 

 it seems to be probable that on the average from thir- 

 tj' to forty miles wiU be made for the next ten years, 

 in addition to the North-eastern railway already in 

 progress. " 



I am further told, by a gentleman conversant with 

 our railway affairs, that the engines on the present 

 Government line use about three thousand tons of 

 wood a year, while about eight hundred tons more 

 are consumed on the stations. The Government line 

 requires one hundred and fifty thousand Blackwood 

 keys annually. On inquiry, I have also learned that 

 the breakwater at Williamstown will take four hun- 

 dred piles, equal to eighteen thousand cubic feet, and 

 for the superstructure of the piers ten thousand cubic 

 feet more. The Melbourne Gas-works required, in 

 1870, not less than forty thousand superficial feet of 

 Eed Gum timber. The quantity of Red Gum wood 

 required for these and other purposes cannot be in- 

 creased by supplies from Tasmania, as the tree does 

 not exist there. Again : the true Blue Gum-tree 

 does not naturally occur beyond Victoria and Tasma- 

 nia. If complete wood statistics could be collected, 

 both of our daily requirements in town, on land, and 

 on sea, and statistics also as to wba.t really sound and 

 *4 



