154 Austria-Hungary. 



while at first much complaint against the enforcement of 

 the regulations was heard, owners now ask constantly for 

 its extension. 



The details of the duties devolving upon this organ- 

 ization are found in a series of laws, applicable to differ- 

 ent parts of the empire, which are based upon the recog- 

 nition of protection forests, in which sanctioned working 

 plans regulate the management. Forcible reforestation 

 and employment of competent foresters in these are obli- 

 gatory. Altogether about 60% of the Austrian forest 

 area is managed under working plans. 



As a result of a translation from the French of De- 

 montzeys great work on the reboisement of mountains, 

 by V. SeckendorfE in 1880, and a subsequent report by 

 the same author in 1883, a reboisement law, similar to 

 that of the French was enacted in 1884, for tiie regula- 

 tion of torrential streams under annual subventions of 

 $100,000 by the State. At the same time for the regu- 

 lation of the lower rivers an appropriation of $1,350,000 

 was made, of which $400,000 was to be used for refor- 

 estation work. 



This work as well as the reforestation of the Karst 

 under the laws of 1881, 1883, 1885, is carried on by the 

 forest protective service. 



On the whole the forest policy of Austria tends toward 

 harmony with forest owners and liberation of private 

 property. By reduction of railroad freights, which are 

 imder government management, by abolition of export 

 duties, by reasonable tax assessments, etc., the wood 

 export trade (now exceeding 30 million dollars) is fav- 

 ored; by the extinction of rights of user under liberal 

 laws improvement in forest management is made possi- 



