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is of such great local importance to both east and west of our State that I would 
not continue to leave it to be dealt with in a desultory manner, but would make. a 
sub-branch of the Forestry Department responsible for this service. 
Let me deal with the subject of the mitigation of floods by forestry 
operations. What follows is based upon a paper that I read before the Royal 
Society of New South Wales in 1902, with reference to the Hunter River, but most 
of what is written is of general application. 
I. The Situation Denudation. 
Coming to first principles, the beginning of streams and floods with which 
we are concerned is 1. Rain falls more or less on the land. 2. Some sinks into 
the ground. 3. The remainder drains away. Thus a single paddock may be an 
object-lesson in regard to forces at work in the whole of New South Wales, as I 
will endeavour to show presently. I shall seek to prove that our treatment of. 
paddocks affords an illustration of the truth of the ancient saying to the effect that, 
" Every act of man is the forerunner of a chain of consequences, of which no one can 
foresee the end." 
The natural forests on the rounded steep hills of the Upper Hunter, have, in 
many cases, been destroyed, and the sheep and cattle tracks are everywhere in 
evidence, even in the steepest places. The innumerable sheep tracks are accentu- 
ated, and the ground everywhere is pulverised liy the feet of the sheep wandering 
after the scanty herbage after a period of drought. When the rain falls, much of 
this pulverised soil, carrying with it grass plants (latent) and seed of grasses and 
various forage plants, must be washed into the creeks, and again into the Hunter, 
which becomes discoloured. As the country is nearly all rung, it is to be hoped 
that many of these seeds will be arrested by the fallen timber. As we proceed 
towards the hills from the watercourses, we come to the clay and sandy land and to 
the masses of undecomposed basalt, which have no manurial value, but are a 
potentiality for future ages. 
The poorer uplands can sometimes only be profitably used in conjunction 
with the rich flats on which they abut. This is clearly brought out in the evidence* 
in regard to the proposal of the late Mr. Price to dam the Hunter below Denman. 
In fact, if we lose our flats, large additional areas will be thrown out of occupation. 
(a) The Outlook serious. My view is that it is only a matter of a brief 
historical period when, unless preventive steps are taken, these rich river and creek 
flats will find their way into the Pacific Ocean. Some people, including men of 
great experience and careful thinkers, are, however, of a different opinion. They 
view the erosion with more or less equanimity, considering that what is taken off 
* "Hunter River, Floods Prevention." Minutes of Evidence, I'arlt. Stand. Committee, Public Works, Questions 
1128, 1385, Ac. 1901. 
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