ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. XXX111. 



I do not approach the subject with any but the most 

 elementary meteorological knowledge, but I have had much 

 experience of Australian forestry. Taking an extensive 

 territory, it appears to be indisputably proved that forests 

 do not increase rainfall ; it is fully as well proved that they 

 conserve the rain that falls, and therefore every effort 

 should be made to save them from unnecessary destruction. 

 The historical method in regard to the treatment of the 

 " Forests and Rainfall " question is then dealt with, and it 

 is shown how defective is the evidence usually adduced 

 and that it must give way to the scientific method, which 

 relies on observation and experiment. The author deals 

 with trees on the water courses in the catchment area of 

 the Sydney Water Supply and discusses the question of the 

 transpiration of their leaves. He concludes, "I now submit 

 the whole subject to the consideration of members of the 

 Society. The matter of forest meteorology and the ques- 

 tions that crop out of it present many puzzling problems 

 to us in Australia, and some of them have as yet baffled 

 the meteorologists of long settled countries. A proper 

 understanding of the principles which underlie the relations 

 of forests and moisture is of special interest to us in two 

 special ways, first as regards the water supply of a large 

 city (Sydney), and secondly as regards the distribution and 

 conservation of moisture over the whole of the State. 

 Reasonable expenditure for research would be justifiable 

 if we could be thereby placed in a position to deal less 

 empirically with the rainfall we receive, and to know how 

 to conserve it more wisely than we do at present. A 

 certain quantity of rain falls upon New South Wales ; do 

 we take care that it will do us most good and remain with 

 us, benefitting us, as long as possible ? Many public ques- 

 tions that loom large in in the public eye should really 

 claim less of our attention than this." 



c— Nov 5, 1902.. 



