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The commercial Mallet trees occur in a north and south strip of the South-eastern 

 part of the State, practically following the Great Southern Railway from Beverley 

 or Brookton to Mount Barker, and at a distance of about 40 miles on either side of the 

 line. It is now prohibited by the Forest Department to cut Mallet bark from any 

 portion of the area 20 miles each side of the Great Southern Railway. It can be legally 

 stripped from 1st March to 1st November. 



The Acting Inspector-General of Forests informs me that the industry has fallen 

 off during recent years, owing to the Mallet within payable cartage of the Great Southern 

 Railway Line having been cut out. The quantity of bark exported has fallen off from 

 318,315 cwt. in 1905 to 226,399 cwt. in 1908. 



The truck loads of Mallet bark at so many stations on the Great Southern 

 Railway are a feature which serves to impress the magnitude of the industry on 

 the memory. 



In Western Australian commerce there are two recognised kinds of Mallet bark, 



viz. : — 



(a) Brown Mallet (commercially the more valuable). 



(b) White Mallet, 



There is a " spotted Mallet " of which only 5 tons have been handled by a large 

 firm, specially interested in this trade (Messrs. Henry Wills and Co., of Albany), and 

 this kind may be dismissed from notice for the present. 



Stained inferior pieces known as Black Mallet, are sometimes disposed of under 

 a different brand and name. Sometimes white Gum bark (E. redunca, and other species) 

 is mixed by the strippers as an adulterant or unintentionally. 



The pieces or strips are sent in by strippers in lengths of about 3 feet, and com- 

 monly 6 inches wide. 



Brown Mallet is the better and usually contains exudations of a brownish, friable 

 kino, which is quite evident to the eye, and a fracture discloses such. Externally it is 

 whitish (brown stained), with greyish blotches. It would be classed by bushmen as 



a " White Gum." 



t 



I studied the Brown Mallet trees in the bush in several districts, and following are 

 notes made by me on the spot in two of them. 



Narrogin — Erect in habit, both as regards trunk and branches. Flat-topped 

 like a broom or brush. 



Grows on rises or ridges, not on swamps or flats; therefore only in patches, and 

 not in large continuous areas. Grows on ironstone gravel and not on alluvial. Mr. J. H. 

 Gregory (the local District Forester) has often seen Mallet 2 feet 6 inches in diameter. 

 He has seen 10-15 bundles of bark from one tree, the weight of bark being usually 50-70 

 lb. per bundle dry. 



