WORLD'S TIMBER RESOURCES 221 



great plains, well watered and covered with 

 rich, grasses, but with little timber. Towards 

 the centre of the continent, where the land 

 gradually falls to a vast shallow basin, with low 

 hill ridges at intervals on its rim, and wide 

 expanses of plain country with short water- 

 courses losing themselves in the desert, the tree 

 growth is very scanty, consisting chiefly of 

 stunted Eucalypts such as the Gimlet Gum {E. 

 salubris and E. microtheca), the desert She Oak, 

 Acacias and Mallee. The annual rainfall in the 

 coastal regions mentioned is in some parts 

 exceedingly variable, ranging from 15 to 20 

 inches in South Australia, 20 to 40 inches in 

 Victoria, 40 to 65 inches in New South Wales 

 and 50 to 70 inches in Queensland. In the 

 driest part of the central regions of the con- 

 tinent, a tract of country extending from 120° 

 to 135° E. longitude and embracing a consider- 

 able portion of West and South Australia, the 

 average fall is under five inches, many years 

 being practically rainless, while in the belt sur- 

 rounding this region it varies from 5 to 10 inches." 

 In New Zealand, the forest vegetation presents 

 many distinct features from that of AustraUa, 

 there being no Eucalypts, and the most valuable 

 timber trees being conifers. Among these the 

 trees which rank highest in commercial value 

 are Kauri Pine, Otara, Rimu or Red Pine, Matai 



