C—l 2.

LXIV

well as white-pine, especially if treated with paraffin-wax, as is done in some cases with white-pine. Certainly the colour would be somewhat darker, but not so dark as an oak keg. Might I suggest that your Commission recommends that a test of the suitability of rimu sap-wood for butter-boxes be made under Government supervision. Ruatapu, 29th April, 1913. Joseph Butler.

No. 15. Sib,— Waihi, 29th April, .1913. I read with considerable interest the various paragraphs which appear in the Herald re your researches, and your remarks on same. During the thirteen years in which I was manager of the Matamata Estate I dealt with various modes of planting forest-trees. The English method of digging holes I condemned from the first, and it was several years before the owner handed over the arboiicultural production entirely to me, after which no planting was done except on land specially prepared by the plough, and from that time there was always success. I have heard the present system adopted on the Government plantations is 3 ft. by 3 ft. and then thin out, which is expensive and unnecessary, especially in pine plantations. I note from your remarks that you are in favour of planting large areas of Pinus insignis. Well, if the Commission come to no other conclusion, and the Forestry Department carry your recommendation out, you will have conferred an inestimable boon on the country. A plantation of 16,000 Pinus insignis and 40,000 Maritima, and another plantation of 80 acres which were planted under my direction at Matamata (and which I recommended the Waste Lands Boards to reserve when I reported on the Matamata Estate for the Government), I am told has been ruthlessly destroyed. The majority of the Pinus insignis were 200 ft. high and 18 in. to 20 in. through and 150 ft. without a branch, and would now be forty years old. They were planted 9 ft. by 6 ft. apart, and I did not record a single miss in the plantation. I have a Pinus insignis near my residence in Cambridge 50 ft. of clean barrel, 30 ft. small knotty barrel, and 4 ft. through. The clean timber is estimated by Mr. Eoache, construction engineer of the Horahora Electrical Works, to be 5,000 ft. The tree is thirty years old, probably a year less. A tree planted at the same time, and cut down when it was thirteen years old, has now 10 in. of solid heart remaining either not affected or beneficially affected by the weather. Place the solid heart of a Pinus insignis in the ground as a gate-post and the solid heart of an oak of the same age in the ground, and the Pinus insignis post will be standing good and sound when the oak has gone to decay. There are some trees of the Californian redwood varieties growing opposite Colonel Bloomfield's property on the slopes of Mount Eden you ought to see. Mr. Richard Reynolds has also a variety of quick-growing gum producing imperishable timber. Every seed of both trees ought to be preserved for the benefit of the future of our country. I remain, &c, The Chairman, Forestry Commission. W. L. C. Williams, Cambridge.

No. 16. Dear Sir,— Culverden, 29th April, 1913. Mr. Wilson handed me your letter re insignis timber, and I will give you what information I can regarding it. I was in hopes that the Forestry Commission would have looked over my trees, as I believe it would have been worth their while. We commenced planting insignis on a fairly large scale in 1873, and in 1904 a number of large ones were blown down. I got a sawmiller towards the end of 1905 to come up and saw these, and cut down some others, totalling 113,000 ft. I sold a quantity of timber from the mill at 9s. per hundred superficial feet, and charged Is. 6d. extra for timber seasoned in the shed. In 1907 I got 60,000 ft. cut, selling most of it at 10s. 6d. In 1911 I got 132,000 ft. cut, selling at 12s. to 12s. 6d. The timber was planted in 1877. I have to ask now from 12s. to 12s. 6d. for seasoned timber, but if purchasers would send orders to the mill it could be sold at 11s., as the cost of moving to shed, turning over, and drying in shed soon runs away with any profit. I had to pay 6s. 6d. per hundred for the mill, but if I got constant sale could afford to do it a little cheaper. I built stables and outhouses in 1905, and the timber is very satisfactory. If I had to rebuild my own house I would use insignis for scantling, weatherboards, and flooring in preference to rimu, as I believe it to be immune from the borer. Yours truly, The Chairman, Forestry Commission. J. H. Davison.

No. 17. Dear Sir,— School, Ban- Hill, 18th April, 1913. I beg to acknowledge your communication of the 12th instant, and am glad if I in any way gave information of value. In pursuance of your desire, I find on inquiry and personal observation that Pinus insignis has proved a thoroughly reliable and stable timber where a coat of oil or paint has been applied and the timber has been built clear of the ground. Mr. Wason's buildings, thirty-seven years of age, are quite