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cme bank is deposited on the other. Of course, erosion is going on all over Australia, 
and to what extent compensating influences are at work is a question for geologists ; 
but I believe the amount of loss far exceeds the gain. 
I do not like the laisser faire argument as applied to the Hunter. It seems 
an argument analogous to that, because there will always be evil in the world, efforts 
for the betterment of man's position should be abandoned. As a matter of fact, 
man's existence in the world is dependent on his maintaining an incessant warfare 
against, what are called " the forces of nature." As regards the particular case now 
under consideration, it is, of course, a matter as to how far expenditure of effort and 
money are justified by the results they secure. 
Let us not act as if we were content simply for the agricultural flats to last 
our time, and then " Apres nous le deluge." Like the nuggets of gold, and the 
forest monarchs (now sadly diminishing) we convert into timber, human agency has 
done nothing to produce them. Let us not deal with these rich flats simply as if 
they are capital to be got rid of in a brief period, but rather let us act in the capacity 
f.f faithful trustees, realising that maintenance of the property is expenditure that 
must be incurred, and that it is vital to the very existence of the property. 
I do not wish to weaken my argument by overstating the case, but wish at the 
very outset to show how, in other countries, the seriousness of denudation by rivers 
is realised, and the conservation of forests is looked upon as a palliative. 
(U) European and American Experience. 

A. The rivers Volga, Garonne, and Loire afford special lessons to us, and 
since the injudicious felling of trees is attended by evil consequences the wide world 
over, we should lay the lessons to heart in New South Wales. 
" The Alps and Pyrenees, exposed to the same treatment, have been similarly 
affected. The deforestation paralyses the development of the pastoral industries in 
these regions by lowering the limits of forest vegetation. The valleys are ravaged 
by a devastating erosion. Entire mountains slide down slowly, carrying with them 
the pastoral villages which they bear on their surface, accumulating ruin and 
disaster.* 
" These processes do not affect the mountain alone. For, by the very fact of 
this deforestation, the rich plains of the Garonne and the Loire are subjected to 
disastrous floods which make the fate of agriculture in these regions very precarious. 
This state of things has not failed to arouse apprehension among the inhabitants. 
Researches with regard to the question have shown that the devastating character 
of these inundations is due to the destruction of the forests which formerly covered 
the Central Plateau and the Pyrenees. The waters, no longer absorbed and regulated 
by the forest vegetation, flow away on the surface in enormous and sudden waves. 
The debris thus carried away in vast quantities contributes to the formation of 
barriers, and gives to the waters their destructive power. 
Demonic/, " Traite pratiijue du reboisement, etc.," 2nd edition, 1882. Also J. Croumbie Brown. 
