5

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Remarks. —Column 1 : From information supplied by the Survey Department, the total area of bush land in the colony which may be available for the purpose of immediate systematic treatment consists of— Acres. In the North Island ... ... ... 3,328,797, out of 9 blocks. In the South Island ... ... ... 2,418,284, out of 8 blocks. Total ... ... ... 5,747,081, out of 17 blocks. There is also in the South Island a total area of bush land of 6,314,012 acres situated in country said to be inaccessible. The total area as taken in this column has been reduced by 747,081 acres, on account of presumed open spaces in the interior of forests, dilapidations, &c. Column 2 : For 1875—76 the supply taken out of the public forests for sawn timber only, as given by the Commissioners of Lands, amounted to about 150,000,000 superficial feet. The increase from 1875 to, say, 1882, is, approximately 80,000,000 „ The exportation to Australia already exceeds ... 10,000,000 „ The expected exportation to Europe, at beginning, is taken as ... ~, ... ~, 60,000,000 Total, as above ... ... ... 300,000,000 „ Column 5 : The demand for that class of forest produce is enormous, but the lack of information does not allow any basis for estimation. Should the right extent of the required acreage be above the one taken—should it be, for instance, 30,000 acres—then the area per column 7 should be short by 1,250,000 acres. Column 6 : The annual acreage is here taken as the total surface of separate lots of ground occupied by the trees to be felled. The forest is supposed to be worked by thinnings, and the produce given by the said totalized acreage is in reality supplied out of a field of operation extending farther than the stated totalized acreage, the extension itself depending upon the local condition of the forest. Column 7 : The activity of the arboreal vegetation in New Zealand, as bearing on the intrinsic value of the timber, renders it advisable that trees of the most valuable descriptions should not be felled under the age of 125 years; besides which, it may be remarked that annual crops of trees at that age will be found more profitable than crops under it. The above observations relating to the subject of extent of State forests in the colony will be resorted to as a basis for rules and regulations further suggested. IV. Administration of the State Forests in the Colony.—Transitory Organization. When the establishment of State forests shall have been definitely proclaimed, and also a special department organized for the management of this most important portion of the public estate, the Administration of Forests will then take rank among other colonial institutions whose function it is to supervise and improve the production of the public revenues. All collateral and scientific considerations touching forestry being set aside, the duty of the forester on executive service will consist in obtaining from the forest intrusted to his care all the revenue it can afford consistently with the permanence of the supply derivable from it. At the head-quarters of the department, forest interests will be observed and taken in hand from a more general point of view; production, as arising from either public or private forests, will be encouraged and fostered by showing the practical advantage of working forests on right principles, and also by reliable information being issued to the public in respect to the exportation of New Zealand timbers; so that the timber trade may soon be relieved from a state of stagnant depression, the effects of which bear so severely on all other commercial transactions, for forest industries and trade are paramount in this colony, and the prosperity of the community at large is greatly dependent upon their welfare. No serious argument against the advisability of forming a forest department could ever have been upheld ; and only difficulties of execution—however, more apparent than real—-have, it seems, hitherto caused delays in the carrying out of the enactments of the forest law. These difficulties may apply to wholesale necessary changes in the present system of management of the Crown timber lands, which changes would involve, it is presumed, extra expenditure as well as the difficult task of organizing the requisite body of foresters, &c. There cannot be any doubt as to the absolute necessity of introducing sweeping reforms