73 
GOVERNOR OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA TO COLONIAL OFFICE. 
Government House, Perth, 
June 30, 1898. 
% * * * 
SIR, 
3. During the months of last year from August to November 
I thought it desirable to visit the principal ea districts 
of the Colony that I might du vert to give you, as I promised 
mpm ah the value and importance of feeling assured that, apart 
from the gold industry, the Colony has a future before it of no 
uncertain character in the development of the natural resources of 
the soil. 
* * * Li 
5. I need only add a few words about the timber industry, which 
did not come within the scope of my address, ed = prospects of 
which did not escape my attention during my tra 
Jarrah and Karri timber are the principal ebd of this 
character. The forests i both Varieties i in the South and South- 
West of the Colony are v ensive, and have not been fully 
explored. It is said Mur es inedhawenle. but, judging by what 
I have seen, I am by no means of this opinion. In those Ver 
I have seen, in which timber E being felled and exporte 
home or foreign use, = waste is almost more than the mind* of 
man can conceive. Ic A een that it ng c pay to lead 
bad timber to market, but greater care might be en in exami- 
nation before felling timber indiscriminately, 2 simply on the 
chance of its being good enough for market. It is said that where 
one tree is felled there a dozen spring up to take its Pu This 
is true, but the time taken before the young trees mature suffi- 
iently for market purposes robs any such statement M. all its 
impotites and sufficiency. 
6. So far asthe values are concerned of these two timbers, Jarrah 
and Karri, I understand both are being largely exported to the 
United Kingdom for wood pavements, and the former especially 
for railway sleepers, dock staging and wharfs. think the 
Western Australian Jarrah has a great future peg it. It fillsall 
the essential conditions which are necessary to o make it a first 
class railway sleeper, and as the ever-increasing weight gor te speed 
of trains in the United Kingdom will require a heavier 
rigid road in proportion to the increased weight of steel rails, it is 
likely to find a lively market in the near future. At the same time 
it is not superior to the South Australian Red Gum. The durability 
of both will be, even on the heaviest gradients and at the highest 
rates of go with ordinary train loads, from 15 to 21 years against 
7 to 10 years of the English sleepers commonly used hitherto. 
For piles aie staging, and wharf and dock gates, Jarrah seems 
impervious under dor to all attacks of wind and weather and 
marine life. and I should not hesitate to use it with as great readi- 
ness as Greenheart. 1 feel some doubt as to its suitability for 
wood pavement. The cleavage with the grain is so easy t that I 
think the cost of maintenance and repairs will be heavy, and the 
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