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age shall be given to the purchaser until the completion of the said verification ; but, should the forest officer in charge fail to perform the verification within the said period, the purchaser, at the expiration of the two months' delay, will be exonerated from all responsibility in the case. VII. Exportation op New Zealand Timbers to Europe. There is a recent work, modestly called a " Hand-Book of New Zealand," by Dr. Hector, M.D., C.M.G., F.R.S., Avhich commands the attention of all persons of intellectual and philanthropical disposition, besides touching the more immediate interest and pride of the colonists. Therein, next to statistics evidencing the great progress already accomplished by the young colony in all directions, may be observed a magnificent tableau of the natural riches of the colony, not painted in gleaming or dazzling colours, but as simply shown by stern, official, and indisputable figures. In this admirable work will be found some most valuable information respecting the forests of New Zealand. The total area of public and private forests is stated to be about 20,000,000 acres. Also is given a descriptive list of the principal forest trees in New Zealand, and tables showing the intrinsic value of the timber, the quantities exported, &c. The immense demand in Europe for timber of the economic value which it is shown, by the tables just referred to, that New Zealand timbers possess, makes it a matter of surprise that the question of exportation to Europe lias been so long neglected. From these tables, it appears that timber, up to the present time, has only been exported in any appreciable quantity to the neighbouring colonies, whilst little or none has found its way beyond. Has not the time, therefore, arrived when this question of exportation should receive serious consideration ? The exportation of New Zealand timbers to Europe should be directed with the view of specially supplying the place of the hardAvood timbers thereto indigenous or imported; scarcity of, and consequent high prices for, that particular class of timber being very much felt in England and France at present, Avliile the demand for the same is increasing out of all proportion to any quantity available from the old sources of production. New* Zealand timbers should be placed in the European markets for such commercial value •as may be indicated by a comparison of their intrinsic value with that of oak, taken as the standard timber. An important distinction should be made in reference to the intrinsic and commercial A ralues of oak. There are two varieties of the species which are most in demand —namely, the hardwood oak (the English and Continental " pedunculata "), and the soft, or rather softer Avood oak (Continental and American " cerris "). The former gives a strong, durable, compact, and fine-grained timber, which, although it is difficult to work, reaches the highest price in the English timber markets; but the production of this species has been so much reduced, and its timber is now so scarce, that it has little commercial importance when compared with the immense demand in favour of the latter species, whose timber is also included in the class of hardwoods in Europe, and which is admitted to be a more suitable timber for coopers' and joiners' Avork than the " pedunculata." Experiments made in England on the strength and weight of the English oak " pedunculata" show its strength to be 1761b. as the breaking weight on a sample one foot long and one inch square, and the weight per cubic foot to be from 46 lb. to 51 lb. Tables of experiments made here will show that very many species of Ncav Zealand trees arc superior in strength to the English oak, which is now sold in England at from £6 to £7 10s. per 100 superficial feet, in its green state. iYs regards the Continental and s\.merican oaks, the experiments at hand apply to the strength of the American oak only. Mr. W. N. Blair, C.E., the experimenter, attributes to that timber a degree of strength not exceeding the breaking weight of 155 lb., under the same process of experimentation as above mentioned. Now, the intrinsic value of this class of timber may be, to a certain extent, deduced from its market value: 1. The French oak "cerris" and also oak imported into France from Austria, Hungary, Gallicia, and the Adriatic, is quoted outside of the toll-gates of Paris at the rate of £2 per 100 superficial feet (Revue des Eausc et Forets, October, 1878). 2. The Quebec oak is quoted at ,£6 per ton in the London market (European Mail, February, 1880). 3. The Dantzic and Memel oak is quoted in the same market (the same source of information) at .£5 per ton. It may be inferred from the above facts that the requisite strength for our indigenous