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380 The casuarina, or shea-oak, has been found valuable to the cooper, as casks made from it have worn well, and given great satisfaction to buyers. But it is to the jarrah forests that the colony must look for any really large and important timber trade.

A commission of inquiry was held at Adelaide, a short time ago, for the purpose of investigating the real merits of Swan River mahogany, especially in connection with all descriptions of harbour works and piers, and it was then proved that, when properly felled and seasoned, the piles of jarrah are almost indestructible.

In India, also, a large demand for both railway sleepers and telegraph posts of this wood will be certain to arise the moment that engineers can depend upon having their orders executed with certainty and dispatch. Hitherto the difficulties of bringing the logs to the shore, and then of putting them on board ship, have been so great, that to load a vessel of eight or nine hundred tons with railway sleepers, has been a three months' work. Now that better prospects are opening, and that the Indian railway companies are aware that both energy and capital are embarked in the enterprise of developing this trade, there is every prospect that very large orders will reward the enterprise of the new timber companies. It was stated, on official authority, a year ago, that, if such an order could have been undertaken at that time, certain firms in India were desirous of contracting for upwards of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds worth of jarrah timber for immediate use.

Should the proposal of carrying out a large ship jetty and other similar works at Cockburn Sound, so as to