1 Jay., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 67 
In the continental countries of Europe and in the United States of. 
America, all the forests and timber reservations are in the hands of the State 
or (in Germany) often in those of the large “ Gutsbesitzer” or landed pro- 
prietors. Herein lies their protection. It would be out of place here to 
describe the elaborate forest laws of the Continent. Suffice it to say that 
certain portions of the forests are set aside, by recommendation of the 
numerous superintending officers, to be cut for the periodical requirements of 
the district. The timber is then either sold by auction, standing or felled, either 
by single trees or é” globo, or it is sold wherever a good market can be found, 
The same occurs in the United Kingdom. The rigour with which all condi- 
tions are carried out results in a constant supply of the most valuable timber, 
and in the fact that a single plantation or forest becomes a rich heirloom in 
families from generation to generation. How carefully the forests are there 
managed may be partly gauged by the fact that 1,000,000 acres of trees are 
annually cut down to supply the Kuropean railways with sleepers. 
- Mulhall gives the value of timber consumed in Europe annually as 
£190,250,000; in the United States, £77,400,000. In Europe the consump- 
tion amounts to 41 cubic feet per inhabitant, and in the United States to 
58 cubic feet. ; 
Our Queensland timber has not hitherto enjoyed such strict protection. 
Extirpation has been going on fora series of years, but until comparatively 
recent times very little anxiety has been felt as to future supplies. 
But action was taken by the Government in 1879, when certain 
regulations were issued defining the diameter of kauri pine and hoop pine, which 
it would thenceforth be legal to cut. Those first regulations, then promulgated 
by the Lands Department, prohibited the cutting down of any pine-tree having 
a less diameter than 3 feet. It will not be matter of surprise to those who 
know anything of timber-getting at the present day, that such a regulation 
should have caused consternation and a general outcry amongst the timber- 
getters. Leaving kauri pine out of the question, it is well known that not 
much hoop pine attains a diameter of 3 feet even in the most favoured localities. 
And when we consider that large quantities of this valuable timber grow in 
stony and clayey mountain scrubs, with bleak aspects, it may well be imagined 
that there a diameter of even 2 feet will be seldom exceeded. ‘Trees of 3 
feet are few and far between, and often, when they are obtained, they are 
found to be “ pipey,’* or else are at such a distance from a mill or navigable 
water as to render them of no value to the timber-getter, who would expend 
more in transporting the log to a market than he would obtain for it on arrival. 
The late Mr. Turnbull, who, at the time I am speaking of, was a surveyor at 
Mooloolah, and had ample opportunities of seeing the operations of the 
timber-getters, assured me that he had seen trees there of hoop pine which had 
attained a diameter of 3, 4, and even of 6 feet. They were not numerous, but 
there is the fact that in certain favourable situations the hoop pine will attain 
very large dimensions. Against this, a Pine Mountain timber-getter informed 
me that the largest pine-tree in that locality would not measure 2 feet in 
diameter, whilst taking the average of what had been cut there it would not be 
found to be over 18 inches. 
At the time of my visit to Mr. Turnbull, there were at least 3,000,000 feet 
of splendid cedar lying cut, ready for hauling, at distances averaging fifteen 
miles from the coast, and it was estimated that owing to the nature of the 
country it would be some six years before the whole of it would reach the 
coast. There were also at the same time thousands of feet of beech lying on 
Paynter Creek, Mooloolah, awaiting shipment to the mill. 
The kauri is a quick-growing tree, and one which attains a diameter. of 
from 6 to 8 feet in favoured localities. The tree, however, appears to be at 
its best, and most profitable to all concerned in its working, when it has reached 
* On a large timber reserve at the mouth of the Maroochie River, Mr. Pettigrew lately 
measured some pine-trees, and found them to be 18 feet in girt at 5} feet from the ground, These 
large trees were straight for 40 feet, but were “‘ pipey.” 
