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LVIII

2. In the districts subject to droughts, forest areas liable to be destroyed by fire should be utilized for sawmilling purposes as quickly as possible without waste. 3. Forests on land suitable for agricultural or pastoral purposes should also be sold for sawmilling purposes and the land put to profitable use. ■ In reference to 2 and 3, the methods of disposal of timber and granting of cutting-rights should be standardized throughout • New Zealand. Methodical and economical systems of granting and working cutting-rights in forests under the control of the Crown Lands Department should be instituted. 4. The dual control of Warden's. Court and Crown Lands Department over timber-areas should be abolished. 5. A reliable estimate of all standing milling-timber should be made before it is offered for sale. 6. Royalty should in all cases be based on the log measurement of standing trees, and strict and efficient supervision by officers of the Crown Lands Department of the proper working of timber-areas to prevent unnecessary waste. 7. The disposal of all lands cleared by millers for settlement purposes as soon as possible after surrender, so that the settler may take advantage of the tops, &c, felled by the miller for burning operations. 8. If evidence proves that it is possible to grow timber cheaply enough to supply local demands in the future, a vigorous extension of the afforestation works of the Forestry Branch should be started at once. The training of suitable officials to carry out the work necessary to get the best results should be undertaken, and in this connection it might be advisable to offer travelling scholarships to enable locally trained men to visit the countries where afforestation has proved a success. To induce good men to take up this branch of science, none but locally trained applicants should be considered in appointments to the afforestation branch of the Forestry Department. 9. In view of the lack of demand for this class of timber in New Zealand it is not advisable to impose an export duty on white-pine. I have, &c, The Chairman, Forestry Commission, Wellington. D. Allman Maechant.

No. 8. Dear Sir,— Cambridge, 18th May, 1913. I have received your letter dated the 7th instant. I regret that owing to my absence at Waihi I did not receive your letter until my return last night. In reply to your question as to whether my statement as to the height, 200 ft., is reliable: my authority is Mr. John McCaw, then A.R.B. Manager. Re length of clean barrel, I measured that myself —130 ft. —there being several trees lately fallen with the branches removed ready for crosscutting at the time Matamata was being valued for the Government. I had a roving commission from Mr. Tole and was not subject to the Waste Lands Commissioner, whom I found it necessary to refuse to recognize, much to his indignation. For the information of your Commission, I sowed the pine-seed, prepared the land, and planted the 40 acres of maritima myself, with one assistant; 2,000 a day was our day's work. Re the Pinus insignis, 16,000, I used three ploughs, three planters ; myself and a Native made the holes, and completed the job in two days and a half. An 80-acre plantation completed with four ploughs and a corresponding lot of planters in four days. I have a Pinus insignis tree growing in my grounds here 4 ft. through, 50 ft. without a branch, and 30 additional feet of knotty timber. Mr. Roache, engineer at Hororata Rapids, estimates it at 5,000 ft. of clean building-timber and 1,500 ft. of rough timber. I enclose a strip of outside heart of, Pinus insignis fifteen years old and fifteen years fallen; heart, 9 in. through. Yours, &c, W. L. C. Williams.

No. 9. Department of Agriculture, Industries, and Commerce, Sir,— Wellington, 11th April, 1913. With reference to your letter of the Ist instant, in which you ask to be advised of the result of an experiment which this Department carried out some time ago with a view to testing the suitability of poplar timber for the manufacture of butter-boxes, I have the honour to forward herewith, for your information, a memorandum of the Bth instant from the Director of the Dairy-produce Division of this Department, in which full particulars of the experiment are given. I have, &c, The Chairman, Forestry Commission, Wellington. F. S. Pope, Secretary.