171. Tuesday Sept. 28: I had two reasons for arriving in Cairns ahead of the rest of the party. One object was to see about official clearances of our collections for export, the other to make arrangements for shipping the collections to Brisbane and begin work on the packing and crating of my plants so that I can leave as early as possible for Brisbane, where official calls have to be made in connection with winding up the expedition. Time is short for all that has to be done. Have booked space for our cargo on the "Wandana," which is due to arrive in Brisbane, on the completion of her final voyage on this coast, on the 11th October. Have two berths, for Geoff and Van, on the Wandana, and, to be on the safe side in the event of the Wandana being delayed on the coast, I have applied for train booking south for Geoff and Van. The winter tourist season is about over, but a post-war shortage of transport still prevails and bookings have to be made well in advance. Have air booking for Marie and self for Sunday. Clearance of the collections for export to the U.S. involves permits from both State and Federal governments. To Ern Stephens, who administers the State [illegible] protection acts, I have applied for a permit to export "Fauna and skins," a permit to export "Flora," and a quarantine clearance on the skins and pickled specimens, and he has wired Brisbane for instructions. The local Sub-collector of Customs says that, as [illegible] the actual port of shipment for our cargo for overseas will be Brisbane, he can not grant an "export entry," but both he and Stephens have waived the right to inspect the collections before they are packed. I anticipate no hitch in getting State permits to export (that was fixed by Arthur Bell, Under Secretary, Dept. Agriculture & Stock, before I came north in January), but I am not so sure of the Federal authorities. Thoughton has influence in Canberra. I know that in the beginning he tried to have shackles put on our expedition, and I would not put it past him to try [illegible] to get his hands on a share of the mammal collection for his museum. Cairns is experiencing an abnormally dry season. The season is unusually dry everywhere from Coen south to about Rockhampton. The wet season rains have been far below average for the past three years and this cumulative shortage is having serious effects. A very large area of the central-west and north-west of Queensland is actually drought-stricken, and sheep and cattle are being lost through shortage of water and feed. At Cairns, as at Cooktown, the air is thick with smoke haze , and jagged lines of grass fires light the sides of the mount- ains at night. There will be more fire-killed rainforest on the slopes after this season, and further inroads on rainforest land by grass. The fires, starting from the cane fields and edges of settlement near the coast, ascend the spur ridges, which are drier than the gullies in between the ridges. Thus it is that the mountain slopes facing the coast present an [illegible] pattern of alternat- ing grassy spurs and rainforested gullies and streamways. Much rainforest on the slopes was destroyed by fire during the dry season of 1947. The dead trees are still standing. The fire-killed areas will be invaded by lantana (L.camara). [illegible] This rampan?, scrambling shrub will form dense thickets, and cover the ground inches deep in dropped leaves. Lantana is a great builder of humus and enricher of soil. It is also a bad fire hazard in dry seasons. Given normal seasons, in a climate like this, it might be expected to set up conditions favorable for forest regeneration. No doubt it does fill this role in situations protected from fire, in places where it can grow undisturbed, such as in hollows and on the banks of streams, where soil moisture is always sufficient to maintain it in vigorous growth, and in waste corners and along roadways in cultivated areas, where no one bothers to light fires and fires can not enter from the outside. But on the spurs of the mountain [illegible] sides, where slope, shallower and often stoney soils, and exposure to wind are combining factors in producing conditions less favorable for plant growth and more favorable for the sweep of fires,