C.—4

1907. NEW ZEALAND.

DEPARTMENT OF LANDS: THE TIMBER INDUSTRY IN NEW ZEALAND IN 1907.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency the Governor.

Sir, — Department of Lands, Wellington, 20th May, 1907. I have the honour to submit herewith report on the timber industry of New Zealand as at the commencement of this year. In 1905 a similar report was presented to Parliament, being the first attempt made to show the exact state of this great industry, and the following is a more complete and up-to-date statement dealing with the subject. I have, &c, William C. Kensington, Under-Secretary. The Hon. Robert McNab, Minister of Lands.

REPORT. The information contained in these pages is the outcome of systematic inquiries made by the various Commissioners of Crown Lands, Timber Experts, and Crown Lands Rangers belonging to the Department of Lands. Every sawmiller in the colony has been approached on the subject, and in many cases has been good enough to supply full particulars of the operations at the mills under his control. These details have been ca-efully checked and added to, and as the result it is now possible to estimate very fairly the annual output of timber from the mills, and the manner in which the timber resources of New Zealand are being utilised. As is we 1 known, the Crown has for some time past parted with its forest lands by way of sale, and consequently is not now able to control the felling and destruction of the remaining forests to any great extent. The following tables show approximately the amount of timber still existing in the colony.

Schedule showing the Approximate Quantity of Milling Timber on Crown Lands.

I—C. 4.

District. Kauri. Ilium Kahikatea (Red-pme). (Wbite-pine). Totara. Matai (Black-pine). Birches. I Miscellaneous. Total. Auckland i twke's Bay L'aranaki iVeliinuton llarlbocuiigh kelson .. /VeS'.land Canterbury )tago Southland Sup. ft. 270,575,777 Sup. ft. Sup. ft. 928,400,852 119,436,823 625,255,000 217,437,000 18,635,000 9,130,000 2,010,714,000 553,749,001) 72,000,000 25,000,000 1,080,000,000 13,000,00(1 3,723,800,000 325,000,000 1,100,000 8,800,000 458,000,000 ' 13,000,000 1,130,835,000 48,587,000 Sup. ft. 94,387,998 50,692,000 1,416,000 197,40:5,000 450,000 3,000,000 51,000,000 2,000,000 6,200,000 4,885,000 Sup. ft. 100,987,631 121,980,000 2,401,000 938,124,000 6,500,000 5,500,000 28,000,000 500,000 72,000,000 13,240,000 Sup. ft. 1,850,000 3,220,000 4,473,750,000 50,000,000 26,800,000 60,000,000 Sup. ft. 5,973,000 •999,184,000 to,000,000 117,000,000 240,000,000 Sup. ft. 1,519,795,081 1,017,214,000 40,775,000 4,705,234,000 108,950,000 5,592,250,000 4,417,800,000 34,200,000 899,200,000 330,882,000 290,000,000 §33,090,000 270,575,777 9,054,745,8521,828,189,823 411,493,998 1,295,232,631 4,715,865,000 1,590,247,000 18,666,300,081 * Mire i, rnaire, hinau, &c. t Beech. 1 Yellow an. silver pine an. kawaka. § Miro.