AUSTRALIA'S FOREST WEALTH.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17430, 15 April 1922, Page 9

AUSTRALIA'S FOREST WEALTH.

(FBOII OTJE OWN COREEBFONDENT.) SYDNEY, April 8. VjiJuable vrork is done by the Australian Forestry Conference, whicli is holding one of its periodical sittings in Brisbane, in directing attention to the rapid demolition of Australia's forest we&;tfci,Thcrß is a popu'ter delusion that Australia still lias untold riches in Iwr forests. The contrary is the case. A long course cf improvement conduct has reduced our* forests to one twentv-iifth of our total area, and our permanent to one-hundredth. - let India, with an aim one-third of Australia, and* population 125 times as dense, has one-tenth of its total area reserved, and one-iourth. of the area under- forests. Such; facts speak for themselves; but, what is worse," the forest areas are rapidly diminishing, and Australia ii now 'importing four times aa much timber as she esparts. All this is the outcome of tho policy of wanton destruction of timber by mill and fire, whicu millers and agriculturists hare been permitted to pursue, without a thought of the future. A deplorable instance of tSiia disregard, alike for forest wealth ] and forest beauty, is to be fonnd in the | Acheron Volley. What was onoe one of the most beautiful tourist tracks in j Victoria is llow a scene oi desolation, otonig to the operations of sawmillers, | whose one object was to clear the coun- 1 try of its timber quickly and jbtiorough-1 ly. Frequent impaction by skilled foresters, protected from tlie interferons* of aotitikiiana. » neo—nqr, ' ,