RAINFALL AND DISCHARGE OF THE MURRAY RIVER. LVII. 
the State, compiled from the records extending over a 
humber of years, kindly supplied by the Government 
Meteorologist of New South Wales. From a study of the 
map it will be observed that in more than half of the State 
the rainfall is under 20 inches per annum. ‘The increase 
in rainfall east of the 148th parallel of HK. Longitude is of a 
fairly general character, reaching as high as 70 inches per 
annum in the extreme north-eastern portion of the State. 
Effects of Forests on Rainfall and Run-off.—Ior some 
years the question of forest preservation for the purposes 
of water conservation has engaged the attention of the 
United States Government, and enormous areas are how 
under forest reservation, upon which there is a yearly 
expenditure of about £100,000. 
Unfortunately in New South Wales the preservation of 
forests has not received the attention it deserves, and the 
pastoralists have denuded enormous areas of forest by ring- 
barking and felling. In many cases, in addition to the 
removal of large timber, the edible shrubs and small timber 
such as boree and myall, useful as feed for stock, have 
been cut down. In very few instances has any attempt 
been made to replenish the areas. ‘That the country would 
re-afforest itself if lightly stocked is evidenced by the fact 
that within the railway line between Junee and Hay, on 
the Murrumbidgee Plains, there is considerable growth, 
which is yearly increasing, of boree and myall trees. 
It is an unquestionable fact that forest destruction produces 
a change in the character of the run-off of a stream, causing a 
drying up of springs. The trees and undergrowth of a forest 
not only afford shade for the earth’s surface but are important 
factors in checking the velocity of the wind. The leaves, litter, 
and other decayed organic matter absorb moisture much more 
rapidly than soil containing little or no organic matter; con- 
sequently the forests in supplying a better absorbing medium 
