1289 1 9 1 2. VICTORIA. DEPARTMENT OF STATE FOREST& FOR THE YEAR E:NDED 30rrH JUNE, 1912. PRESENTED TO BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIA~IENT PrRSUANT TO ACT No. 2095, SEcTioN 12. !l:!! ~uthorl~ : ALBERT J, MULLETT, ACTING GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE. No. 43.-fls.]-12927. • APl'R0XIMA1iE C08T m• HEPOl{T. £ s. d. Preparation-Not g·iven. Prmting (1,150 copieli) 28 0 REPORT OF TIIE STATE l10RESTS DEPART~IENT OF VICTORIA~ 1911-1;2. To the Honorable Peter McBride, 1lfinister of Forests. SIR, In accordance with the requirements of Section 12 of the Forests Act 1907, No. 2095, I have the honour to submit the following Report for the twelve months ended 30th June, 1912, including a report by the Conservator of Forests of the work carried out by him and the Inspectors under the Act. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant, W. DICKSON, Secretary for Forests. Melbourne, 1st September, 1912. LEGISLATION. As stated in last year's Report, the passing of the amending Forests Act 1910 has greatly strengthened the hands of the Department. The work of administration points to the necessity for still further powers, and these may be asked for in the near future. At present, applicants for forest produce on certain areas have to deal with two Departments, a state of things which is cumbersome and unnecessary. This and other matters can be remedied by legislation. EXCISIONS FROM STATE FORESTS. A complete list of areas actually excised, and of those in a transition state between State l!'orest and ordinary Crown lands will be found hereunder. The work of examining and reporting on every scheduled forest by officers of the Lands and Forests Departments, in conjunction, has been long and arduous, but a period will be put to these labours on 31st December of this year, for on that day the power of excision given by Section 18 of the Principal Act ceases. Any further deductions from the already too small areas of reserved forest on and after the lst January, 1913, can only be made by Act of Parliament. Excisions extending over rnany years have reduced the total area of reserved forests in this State to something like 4,000,000 acres. If it were not that there are large areas of timber country reserved for water supply, and even larger areas of ordinary Crown lands and lands under leasehold and licence, containing forest cover, the position might easily become acute; and as these latter lands become denuded of their timber it possibly will be. It would be politic in municipalities if they encouraged forests within their boundaries. In many instances, hundreds of the ratepayers earn their living in the local forests, and without the forest workers, many thriving towns would be considerably diminished in importance. The application of the Width of Tyres Act would minimize any damage to the roads. AZ 4 The Department views with satisfaotion the uea.r approach of the time when the boundaries of the reserved forests may be reasonably regardf'd as tixf'd and permanent. The following list will show how we compare with other countries in the matter of reserved forests :- ~c"lJ Name. Percenta.gP of It orest, tu ·rotal Area. Victoria 7 Italy 14'5 France 17 Hungary 23 Norway 24'5 United States of America 25 Germany 26 Japan · 30 Austria 32 Russia (European) 33 FINANCE, ETC. A detailed balance-sheet for the year under review will be found at the end of the report. The totals of revenue and expenditure since the commencement of the Act are summarized hereunder. Period. Expenditure. Surplus. Helidi. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 1908* 12,211 7 0 9,882 2 9 2,329 4 :3 1908-9 40,647 15 9 27,065 17 5 13,581 18 '1 1909-10 41,929 14 2 38,101 12 2 3,828 2 0 1910-11 .. 41,367 2 7 40,517 4 5 849 18 2 1911-12 .. 49,287 14 4 54,096 14 1 4,808 19 9 .., As Fore.>;t Llct 19H7 came into force on l:o:t .Tanu:uy, only, viz., 1.1.190~ to It will be noticed that for the first time in the life of the Department the operations for the year have resulted in a debit balance. The deficit of £4,808 l9s. 9d. is a comparatively large sum, but is more than accounted for by an exceptional purchase of forest land at Woohlpooer, consisting of 4,998 acres, the cost to the Department being £9,369 Is. IOd. Sma1l parcels of land are purchased year by year for forest purposes, but nothing approaching so large a transaction has taken place in any previous period. It will be seen, therefore, that, but, for this exceptionally large deal, a surplus of £4,727 would be shown. The area, which was acquired on the recommendation of the Com;ervator of Forests, is a very fine tract of redgum country, situated some 16 miles from Cavendish, and having a frontage of some miles to the 3-chain road from Horsham to Hamilton. The property in its present state is estimated to supply nearly 2,000,000 feet of sawn redgum timber, and many thousands of sleepers. It is let at a gmzing rental that practically pays interest on the purchase money, and the transaction may be regarded as a very good investment for the Department. It will be noted that, though there was a slight set back in revenue for the year 1910-ll as compared with the preceding one, the figures for this year show the very substantial advance of nearly £8,000. Financially, the year may be regarded as having been a very sound one. For purposes of comparison, last year's balance-sheet is also shown hereafter. THE POLLUTION OF STREAMS WITH SAWDUST. A NEW FUEL. The difficulty of finding a cheap and innocuou::; means of disposing of vast quantities of sawdust has always been with the hardwood sawmiller. Piling it in heaps and burning it is a slow and eostly process. It is alsu a very dangerous one, more than one life having been lost in connexion with it. The fire eats the heart slowly out of the pile, and shows no sign of its existence on the surface. Only lately, a lad, 1293 5 walking over the top of an apparently innocent heap, fell through and was instantly roasted to death. The flushing of the dust by water power into the smaller creeks and streams naturally polluted the water, and was the subject of just complaint by the Chief Inspector of Fisheries and Game, Major Semmens. This flushing by water assumed such dimensions and caused pollution to such an extent that the Conservator had the following special condition inserted in every sawmill site licence :-- Special Condition. " 7. The removal or carriage of mill sawdust by water is prohibited. The sawdust must be removed by vehicles, trucks, or barrows, and deposited so as not to pollute any stream, spring, or pool of fresh water." In most cases, the dust was not actually flushed into the stream, but the WHter used in the flushing found its way there, and pollution resulted. Naturally, the millers do not like the trouble and expense of removing the dust by barrow-the usual practice- into pits. ln this connexion, it seems well to invite the special attention of sawmillers to an article iri the Age of llth May, 1912, entitled" A New Fuel-Power for Nothing." In this article it is shown how one of the largest manufacturers of packing cases in England "gets all the power he wants on the premises for nothing" by using the sawdust resulting from his operations. The proprietor is reported to have stated­ " The entire power used in these works, which have an annual turnover of tens of thou­ sands of pounds sterling, is derived from one thing, and one thing only-the carbon from common wet sa·wdust~-if air be excepted." A patent gas plant is required for using this fuel, and the Home cost of one capable of developing 100 h.p. is £300, and is Rtated to easily repay the initial expenditure during the first year of use. Besides sawdust, the plant can be worked with bark, coir, Indian corn cobs, dried grass, husks, leaves, Manila waste, spent tanning bark, straw, sugar-cane refuse, wood, chips, &c. "Most probably the sawdust referred to in the article is from soft woods, and it is poRsible that that from our hard woods would not prove suitable, but if a small parcel were !'ent Home to any of the firms mentioned in the artiele the matter could be pnt beyond dou ht. It is po::;sible also that our hardwood mills make more dust than, in conjunction with the e,treat quantity of their other waste, they could consume. If these plants were to become common, it would open up a market for a by-product which is now~ a difficulty and an expense. The invention is a1so worthy of the attention of our metropolitan softwood millers. While on the subject of a new fuel, it may be interesting to note that Mr. J. C· Palmer, of the Alma Distillery, Tomahawk Creek, is producing a fine sample of steel-grey coke from the common "nigger head" grass tree, which cumbers the land to a great extent in many parts of the State, and grows on dark sandy soils that produce good crops of potatoes, and, according to Mr.