1 Nov., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 495 
Besides these, there are other soft-wooded varieties, which exercise the same 
beneficient influence, and in the northern scrubs of Queensland, and in many 
of the southern ones, palm trees of various kinds and clumps of wild bananas 
are plentiful. All these, by their decay, help to keep up the marvellous fertility 
of the scrub soils. The scrubs are the natural home of the Ked, White, and 
Pencil Cedar (Cedula Toon7, Melia composita, and Dysoxylon Muellerii). The 
Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta), the Kauri Pine (Agathus robusta), the Hoop or 
Moreton Bay Pine (Araucaria Cunninghamii), the Crow's Ash ( Flindersia 
Australis), the She-Pine (Podocarpus elata), the Tulip-wood  (Harpullia 
pendula), the Deep Yellow-wood (Rhus rhodanthemum), the Beech (@melina 
Leichardtit), the Hickory (Acacia autocarpa), Bean-tree (Albizzia Thozetiana), 
and « multitude of other timber trees, far too numerous to enumerate here, 
but all of economic value either for building purposes or for ornamental work, 
are at present found in profusion in the scrubs al over the colony. ‘The Bunya 
Pine (Araucaria Bidwillii) cannot be classed amongst the chance scrub trees. 
Iii is of a gregarious habit, and constitutes really a “ pure ” forest. 
It is not, however, the purpose of this paper to describe the timber trees of 
Queensland, but rather to point to some means which might be adopted haying for 
their object the preservation of the forest timbers which still remain to us despite 
wholesale destruction in times past, and despite the denudation which is still 
going on notwithstanding that certain restrictions have of late years been placed 
upon the indiscriminate cutting of timber of all. sizes by the framing of the 
Timber Regulations, by which licenses are issued to timber-getters in the State 
reserves. These Regulations, however, do not appear to mect the urgency of 
_ the case. The few Crown land rangers, whose duty it is to see that only those 
persons having licenses cut down any timber for sale (and that onl y of certain 
sizes) cannot be everywhere at once, and the Reeulations are constantly being 
evaded. The following ideas have long ago suggested themselves to my mind 
as being suitable to the conditions under which the timber industry is carried on 
in Queensland :— 
5 y 5 FC 0} ISERVATION A} PERPET N OF 0 
Assuming that the largest proportion of the wooded areas of Queensland is 
under the control of the State, and that these areas are required for the twofold 
purpose of supplying the requirements.of the. colony for the purposes of the 
building trade of the railways and other public and private works, and of 
contributing to produce climatic and mechanical effects, then it would appear to 
follow that the State would have ample justification for taking the forests 
under its protection, and adopting measures for the maintenance of the 
valuable timbers now slowly but surely disappearing before the axes of: the 
lumberer and of the farmer. Several schemes have heen put forward by practical 
men for the conservancy of our forest and scrub timbers, but all of them, so 
far as I have been able to gather, are based on the necessity either for planting 
denuded areas or for employing labour to clear young naturally growing trees 
of surrounding encumbrances in the way of clearing off heads of trees 
left by the timber-getter, young vines, and, undergrowth. Such schemes, 
however, involve a large expenditure, and the least amount set down as 
requisite for the work is £10,000 per annum. 
Such expenditure is, in my opinion, not needed, at any event, for some 
years. What is required to keep our timber supplies constant is not a system 
of wholesale planting, but of helping nature a little. Indeed, the best method 
of dealing with the forests would be to close them against indiscriminate 
cutting under the licensing system, and to adopt the plan of closing them 
against all operations, licensed or unlicensed, until the marketable timber on 
certain blocks in every forest district has been marked by the officer in charge 
of forests. There are two methods which might be adopted in disposing of the 
timber. One of these is by selling it at auction to the highest bidder, the other 
by imposing a royalty at per 100 or 1,000 fect on all timber marked and cut 
by the licensee. 
Kl 
