EFFECT OF SETTLEMENT UPON INDIGENOUS VEGETATION. 183 
ruthlessly destroyed; and although not beyond the means of 
renovation both by natural regeneration and planting, it will be 
a matter of very careful and special application for a considerable 
number of years before their previous original excellence can be 
attained.”* And again, “ From my own observation in that part 
of the country, there are, comparatively speaking very few natural 
matured trees of the species still standing, and with the exception 
of along the rivers and creeks, the natural reproduction of the tree 
is in a general sense not so prolific as one could wish.” + 
So far back as 1871, it became apparent that the supplies of 
this valuable timber were lessening on account of the reckless 
way in which timber-getters destroyed it, and the Government at 
last were compelled to take action to regulate the trade. In 1879 
the system of timber licenses was introduced, and from that time 
till 1890 the sum of £163,671 has been derived from timber 
licenses, royalties, etc. At the same time a schedule was issued 
prescribing the minimum girth of trees allowed to be felled, that 
for cedar being nine feet. Licenses to cut timber were issued at 
the rate of £6 per annum for timbers in Reserves, Class A; £9 
in Class B; and in Class C the license was fixed at £6 witha 
royalty varying from 3d to 1/6 per 100 superficial feet. Besides 
this, on ordinary crown lands, a license is required to cut timber 
at the rate of £3 per annum. That these regulations came not 
any too soon may be gathered from the fact that the red cedar was 
once a common tree in the [llawarra brush-forests, while now it 
would be difficult to find a tree of four and a half feet in girth— 
half the prescribed minimum. It is a noteworthy sign of how 
this wood is diminishing in quantity that the price has been 
rising steadily for some years. At present it is higher than it 
ever has been—6d. per square foot. 
The palm-trees, Ptychosperma Cunninghamii—the Bangalow, 
and Livistona australis—the Cabbage-tree, are also diminishing 
rapidly in numbers in some districts, their tall straight trunks 
* Annual Forest Report for N.S. Wales, 1890, p. 28. 
+ Ib. loc. cit. 
