5

A.—2a

draw up containing copies and extracts from the Colonial Acts which he considers most generally suitable for adoption. 4. I have already in my circular despatch of the 28th of March recommended the question of forest conservation to the attention of your Government, but, as I observe in the reports which, have been furnished to this department upon the subject that there is a general tendency to under-estimate the importance of local action, in the expectation that an unlimited supply of timber will always be obtainable from other sources, whereas on reference to the digest of information respecting colonial timber it will be seen that out of the thirty-eight colonies referred to therein there are only four in which the timber is not diminishing, and in many cases rapidly diminishing, and without any steps being taken for replanting or preventing waste, I feel that it is only right that I should again press the subject upon the consideration of your Government as one of great and growing importance, and in which in many cases the health and prosperity of the colonies is very deeply concerned. I have, &c, M. E. HICKS BEACH. The Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand.

Enclosure in No. 2. Mr. Rogers to the Colonial Oeeice. The Institution of Surveyors, 12, Great George Street, Westminster, S.W., 16th October, 1879. Sir,— Colonial Timber. In reply to your communication of the 13th instant, in which you do me the honor of asking my opinion with reference to the suitability for adoption in the Windward Islands and other colonial possessions of certain laws and regulations relating to the conservation and production of timber in the forests of Ceylon, Mauritius, and New Zealand, I beg to submit, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the conclusions I have formed with reference to the papers submitted to me. Assuming, as I presume I may, the necessity for some form of legislative action in the cases referred to, there are, in my opinion, certain considerations which should receive attention before any existing scheme of forest conservation can be recommended for adoption iu the Windward Islands. These considerations maybe conveniently grouped under two heads: (1.) The regulations best adapted for the conservation and economical use. of large aboriginal forests. (2.) The regulations best calculated to re-endow a country with the forest growth of which it has been denuded. It would appear that these considerations have separate and distinct application to the case of the Windward Islands. For example, the Islands of Grenada, Tobago, St Lucia, and the Bermudas possess large tracts of forest land, and consequently fall under the first of the above categories. The main objects therefore to be kept in view as regards the conservation of timber in these islands consist in the imposing of restraints upon lawless depredations, the replanting of cleared areas, and the prevention of those culpable practices which result in the fires so disastrous to sub-tropical forests. To deal with this class of eases first. As the revenues of these islands may not be equal to the support of an effective forestry establishment, it is desirable, if possible, to adopt some system of an inexpensive kind which shall contain within itself the required elements of control. Under these special circumstances I am of opinion that the system of leasing Government wood-lands, contemplated in the 28th section of the Mauritius Ordinance No. 12 of 1872, accompanied by conditions aud safeguard's similar to those thereto annexed, and coupled with stipulations limiting the quantity of timber to be cut each year by each lessee, might, with advantage, be adopted in the case of the four dependencies enumerated above, where the Government have, I believe, large proprietary rights. The adoption of this system would carry with it the advantage of utilizing the principle of self-interest in the prevention of a wasteful use of the woods, and every lessee would become a sort of resident and interested custodian of the State forests. Whether, in addition, it would be practicable to appoint one or two inspecting officers I am not in a position to say. As regards the prevention of forest fires I may call attention to the fact that an Act was passed in the year 1870 for the Province of Nova Scotia, and another by the Legislature of Quebec (cap. xix ), both of which probably contain provisions which might with advantage be imported into any legislation having reference to the conservation of forests in the Windward Islands. In the case of the Island of St. Vincent, where the area of the Crown property is ill-defined, I would suggest that an enactment similar to section 70 of the Mauritius Act might work well. The second of my two categories will embrace the class of cases of which Barbadoes and the Bahamas are apparently examples. I would suggest that the machinery provided by the Mauritius Ordinance before referred to —viz., the establishment of a Woods and Forest Board, and, if practicable, the creation of a small fund by the means therein described for the gradual acquisition and for defraying the expense of planting and maintaining of lands as State forests —'would be specially valuable in the case of these two dependencies. I may remark here that forests of heavy timber are of such slow growth that it is vain to look to private speculators for their re-establishment when destroyed. Interests of so remote a kind are most fitly committed to the care of a continuous owner like the State.