234 J. H. MAIDEN. 



"Two years' observations are insufficient to show any definite 

 variation in the annual average of the quantity of rain. But, so 

 far as they go, they show that at Marmato the mass of running 

 water had diminished, in spite of the larger quantity of rain which 

 fell. It is therefore probable that local clearings of forest land, 

 even of very moderate extent, cause springs and rivulets to shrink 

 and even to disappear, without the effect being ascribable to any 

 diminution in the amount of rain that falls." 1 



"It is an almost universal and, I believe, well founded opinion, 

 that the protection afforded by the forest against the escape of 

 moisture from its soil by superficial flow and evaporation, insures 

 the permanence and regularity of natural springs, not only within 

 the limits of the woods, but at some distance beyond its borders, 

 and thus contributes to the supply of an element essential to both 

 animal and vegetable life. As the forests are destroyed, the 

 springs which flowed from the woods, and, consequently, the 

 greater water-courses fed by them, diminish both in number and 

 volume." 2 



Some other references to various authorities incidentally 

 touch upon the effects of forests on the flow of springs. 



I will take further examples in our own State, quoting 

 some that are of especial interest to us at this time because 

 they are on the catchment area of the Sydney Water Supply. 

 There " are places on slopes, e.g., at Oordeaux River and 

 East Kangaloon (e.g., the properties of Messrs. Brooker 

 and Kirkland) in which there were intermittently dry creek- 

 beds before the arrival of the white man. Since the felling 

 of trees has taken place from the vicinity of the creek-bed, 

 a permanent water-supply has resulted. In fact in one 

 case in which there was no creek at all within human 

 knowledge, the selector has had to provide himself with a 

 small bridge. 



1 Boussingault, quoted by J, Croumbie Brown, op. cit. 

 * J. Croumbie Brown, op. cit., page 167. 



