The Government, By Way Of Trial, Raised 1,000 Tons Of Coal At A Cost Of
About 16 Shillings Per Ton.
The field is open to private enterprise, and
as the land may be leased on the lowest possible terms there seems to be
a good opening for the capitalist.
In considering other sources of revenue in the Colony I should be
inclined to put that of the timber industry at the head, and this the
more so that steps have been taken by the West Australian Government for
the proper conservation, systematic working, and efficient replanting of
the forest-lands. Hitherto in young colonies the disafforesting of
districts has been for agricultural and other purposes recklessly
proceeded with. Warned by example, the West Australian Government have
taken steps for the preservation and utilisation of their valuable
forest-lands. In 1895 Mr. J. Ednie-Brown was engaged by the Bureau of
Agriculture to make a tour of inspection in the Colony. This gentleman
having had experience as Conservator of Forests both in South Australia
and New South Wales, was eminently fitted for his position as Conservator
in West Australia. Having made his tour in 1896 he issued his report. It
is to this report I am indebted for the information contained in this
brief notice.
The principal commercial forests lie in the South-Western districts of
the Colony.
Mr. Ednie-Brown gives a list of thirty-five varieties of indigenous
forest-trees, but as only a certain number of them are known to be of
real commercial value, I shall confine my remarks to the better known and
more widely used species.
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