A FOREST POLICY FOR AUSTRALIA. 
types of land that go to make up the forest estate must be taken in hand without 
loss of time. The destroyed forests require a scheme of reforestation, the 
partially-denuded areas one of utilization and reforestation, the milling country 
must be worked on lines which will assure a permanent yield, however small, from 
these poor remnants of our forest wealth. Lastly, the barren lands must form 
the subject of an exhaustive inquiry and of careful experiment, with a view to 
discovering the best species, indigenous or exotic, to be used for afforestation 
in each locality. All these schemes should be incorporated in what are technically 
termed forest working plans. These working plans are the forester’s bible; in 
these is set out for a long period ahead the whole of the scheme, the compartments 
that are to be dealt with each year, the nature of the work, the cost, in fact, every 
detail necessary to enable the officer in charge to carry the operations through on 
lines which assure a continuity of policy. In forestry, more than in any other 
industry, a continuity of policy is essential. The comments of the Committee 
reporting on forestry in England are worthy of note in this regard:—* 
Further, the afforestation policy of the State, once embarked upon, should 
be as little as possible liable to be disturbed by political changes or 
moulded by _ political pressure. We cannot, and do not, claim that it 
should be independent of parliamentary control, but when Parliament 
has once adopted a _ policy of afforestation, the decisions that have 
to be taken as that policy develops should not be taken by politicians, and 
if grievances and difficulties arise they should be adjusted in an atmosphere 
in which forest policy, and not political expediency, is the deciding factor. The 
last respect in which independence is important is with regard to funds. An 
element of control is, of course, essential, and it may well be strictly enforced. 
Farliament must be informed of the cost and result of each year’s work. The 
public, in fact, will want to know, and will have a right to know, that they are 
likely to get, value: for their money. This, however, ought not to be incom- 
patible with an arrangement under which the authority will have, during its 
early years at any rate, a greater degree of certainty as to the funds which it 
will administer than is generally produced under the system of submitting 
annual votes to Parliament. If there were a power to pull up the authority 
by the roots to see how it was getting on, the results might be almost as serious 
as if a similar process were performed upon the trees that it had planted. 
The authority, like the trees, must have a chance of striking deep root, and 
must, therefore, be able to plan its work for some years ah ith in 
that it will have funds to carry it out, gee gee aaa a 
The drawing up of the forest working plans demands the skill of expert 
foresters, and it will be therefore necessary to obtain the services of a number of 
technically qualified and fully trained foresters. Unfortunately, the number of 
expert foresters in. Australia to-day is so small that they can be counted on 
the fingers of one hand. Also the facilities for training foresters in Australia 
are not good. There is a lack of demonstration areas, model forests, where the 
student can learn how an area of timber should be managed. The theoretical 
training is given at Adelaide University. South Australia, owing to its climate, 
is particularly unhappily situated, so far as forests are concerned, and the 
students, while excellently grounded in the theory, lack that practical experience 
which can only be obtained in a forest under sound sylvicultural management. 
It will be necessary, therefore, to begin with, to import a small number of highly- 
trained and experienced foresters as working plans officers. Then, in order to 
build up the trained staffs to deal with the forests under plans laid down, 
it will be necessary to establish a school of forestry for the whole Common- 
wealth. There are indications at present that several of the States contemplate 
establishing forestry schools. A duplication of such institutions is the mistake 
that England and the United States of America have made, and which they 
deplore to-day. France has one forestry school, from which she turns out sixteen 
students annually. The school is situated at Nancy, in the forest country, and it 
hoasts a staff of eight professors. Tt is unattached to any University, and 
supplies the whole needs of the French Forest Service. The duplication of 
schools in Australia would result in four or five third-rate schools, mere lecture- 
ships attached to Universities, while what is required is one first-rate school. As 
to the site for such an institution, I do not think that there can be any doubt 
among foresters as to the State which would afford the largest range of forest 
conditions for the education of the student. That State is New South Wales, 
where the forests range from the edaphic formations on the Murray to the red 
mountain ash near the snow line; from the brush forests of the northern rivers, 
through the more open eucalypt ironbarks, &e., to the cypress pine on the sands 
*Final Report, Forestry Sub-Committee, Reconstruction Committee, pages 62-63. 
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