H.—2o.

Large collections of native seeds and live plants of the rarer species have been sent in exchange to the Botanic Gardens at Kew, Jamaica, Hobart, Washington, Melbourne, and to other correspondents in France, United States of America, Canada, and Great Britain. The Board has to acknowledge the receipt of valuable donations of plants and seeds from Sir T. D. Hooker, X.5.1., Sir George Grey, X.C.8., Baron yon Mueller, Archdeacon Williams, Hon. W. Peter, Hon. W. B. D. Mantell, Messrs. Abbott, Mason and Harding, Gillfoyle, H. Travers, Buchanan, McNab, Drake, Donald, and the United States Department of Agriculture. The appended report, which was prepared for the information of the Minister of Lands, shows that since its establishment the Board has devoted two-thirds of its annual income in the promotion of forestry in New Zealand (Appendix I.). The attached statement of accounts shows the revenue and expenditure of the Board during the past year. The balance now to the credit of the Board is £195 14s. 4d. Approved by the Board. Wm. P. Deummond Jeevois, Chairman. James Hectoe, Manager. 3rd August, 1883.

Accounts op Botanic Gabden Boaed, 1882-83. Bbceipts. Expenditube. & s. d. £ s. a. Balance in hand, Bth August, 1882 .. 302 1 8 Garaen work (inoluaing keeper's salary, Contribution from vote for public aomains .. 200 0 0 nursery work, roaas, ana preparation of Share of rents from city reserves, Ist April to ground for economic plants) .. .. 351 1 3 30th September, 1882 .. .. .. 73 2 9 Purchase of plants .. .. .. 616 6 Sale of plants and flowers.. .. >. 16 11 8 Materials —paint, ironwork, tools, and miscellaneous .. .. ~ .. 38 4 0 Balance .. .. .. 195 14 4 £591 16 1 £591 16 1 - - - Abthue Stock, 3rd August, 1883. Hon. Treasurer.

APPENDIX I. Memobandum showing the Position which the Board of Governors of the Botanic Garden has maintained in relation to the Expenditure of Government Grants since its Establishment. In 1866, or soon after the establishment of the seat of Government in Wellington, it was represented to Government that important results might follow the establishment of a garden that would form the basis of operations for a system of forestry throughout the colony. These views were urged on Government in Parliament, especially by Messrs. Ludlam, Potts, Mantell, and Travers, and were cordially entertained by the Premier (Sir E. Stafford). The result was that a small strip of land thirteen acres in extent, which had been set apart in the original survey of Wellington as a botanic garden, but which was not used for that purpose, was resumed by Act of the General Assembly in 1868 as a public domain, and the Governor's powers respecting the same were delegated by Order in Council to the Manager of the Geological Survey (Gazette, 1868, p. 506). Persons illegally squatting were warned off the ground, and a small portion' was enclosed to form a nursery, in which trees and shrubs were raised for planting round Government House, Parliamentary Buildings, and the official residences, but without aid from a special vote or grant. In the session of 1869 the Botanic Garden was established by Act, and the land granted to the present Board —a fund of £376 7s. 6d., held in trust for such purposes, being by the same Act vested in the Board. In 1871 an Act was passed extending the boundary of the garden, and in 1872 the gardens were permanently endowed by an Act vesting one-sixth of the annual revenue of the Wellington City reserves in the Board. The other sources of revenue have been from the parliamentary grants voted from year to year, but not regularly, and from the sale of plants. The Board has always kept in view the fact that the sources of revenue are both local and colonial, and in the expenditure of the funds at their disposal an endeavour has always been made to effect a fair allocation of the funds, so that the local revenue might be devoted to the development and maintenance of a domain or recreation-ground for the inhabitants of Wellington, while the funds derived from colonial sources were used for the experimental cultivation and distribution of trees and shrubs throughout the colony, and especially to the planting of public reserves. The following schedule indicates the division of the revenue and expenditure of the Board on this basis : showing that an average sum of £268, or two-thirds of the average annual revenue of the Board, has been hitherto spent in the promotion of forestry, for which object the Board was originally constituted as a colonial and not as a local establishment. The direction in which it is most desirable that the Board should continue its efforts is in the raising of trees for distribution, especially those which are not usually to be obtained from nurserymen, and in the experimental cultivation of introduced plants having economic value, such as produce dye and tan stuffs, medicinal plants, and the like. 17or this purpose the expenditure will be chiefly for the preparation of ground and the erection of houses and frames ; and" the extent to which the work can be advanced in a year will depend on tne amount of funds at the disposal of the Board for the purpose. In the last two sessions of Parliament no provision was made to enable the Board to carry out this work.

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