XVI. AUSTRALIAN RECOMMENDATIONS. 
(8.) Special Uses. 
139. For the disposal of occupancies of portions of State forests for 
purposes other than grazing and timber sale, I recommend the adoption of 
the revocable annual permit, subject to such conditions and charges as are 
advisable in the forest interest. Leasing should be prohibited. 
(9.) Forest Pest Control. 
Forest pests, such as white ants, borers, mantis, wombats, &e., 
have been responsible for tremendous forest wastage. 
140. I recommend the establishment of a section of the Forest Service to 
deal with forest pests. 
141. I propose that a forest ‘entomologist and zoologist should be 
appointed to carry out a systematic investigation with regard to the forest 
pests of the State. He might be stationed at the Forest Institute, so that his 
services would be available also for instructional purposes. 
(10.) The Forest Water Resource. 
142. There should be a stocktaking of the water supply resources of the 
State forests, with a view to their better protection and development. 
143, This work should be done in the course of forest survey, and should 
be under the direction of the proposed branch of forest engineering. 
(11.) Forest Offences. 
Severity in the settlement of forest offences produces frequently 
the spirit of the “revanche”; systematic mildness often results in 
co-operation. 
There has been considerable confusion of thought with regard 
to the policy of settling forest offences, and considerable time, trouble, 
and friction have been involved. 
144, Apart from the penal provisions of the forest laws, there should be 
a standardisation of procedure for the departmental settlement of forest offences 
on American lines. 
145. There should be separate treatment for intentional and unintentional 
acts of forest trespass; in the first case, the measure of damage should be the 
American one of the “value of the timber in its condition when and where 
found,” plus the damage done to the forest: in the second case, the measure 
should be “ the difference in the value of the area before and after the trespass.” 
146. Departmental procedure should provide for an analysis of the breach 
in accordance with this policy ; district foresters should be authorised to settle 
first offence cases without recourse to legal proceedings, where the damage is 
below £25. 
(12.) Office Methods. 
147, I recommend as a measure of labour saving, the adoption at both 
head and district offices of the cardless vertical filing system, with a subjective 
classification arranged on a self-indexing basis. 
148. Office work should be reduced as far as possible by the decentralisa- 
tion of authority. District foresters should be given enlarged powers of district 
management ; officers should be relieved, to the greatest degree practicable, 
of the burden of investigating and reporting upon appeals or complaints. 
