C.—lo.

APPENDIX. REPORTS OF NATIONAL PARK BOARDS. TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK BOARD. (W. Robertson, Under-Secretary for Lands, Chairman.) Meetings of the Wellington Executive of the Board were held on the 28th April and 12th June, 1936, to deal with the business of the Board. Disposal op Dead Timber on Park Lands near Ohakune. The dead trees as marked by the Forest Ranger in the Park land adjacent to the Ohakune development block were disposed of to the Small Farms Board at the royalty assessed by the State Forest Service for the purpose of posts and battens. The felling, logging, and splitting operations are being carried out under the control of the Forest Ranger. The royalty value of the timber is £232 16s. Winter Sports and Excursions to the Park. The manager at the Chateau reports that the New Zealand Ski-ing Championships and first interDominion meeting were held in August last, and a representative team from Australia competed, victory going to the Australians by a narrow margin in the inter-Dominion competition. The fact of an Australian team being present added largely to the interest shown in the winter sports, and the accommodation at the Chateau and the huts was taxed for many weeks. Unfortunately, the weather was not good for the sports period. The following clubs have kindly submitted short accounts of visits of their members to the park during the year under review, and extracts from these accounts are quoted : — The Ruapehu Ski Club (Inc.). —The past year has been characterized by atrocious weather athigh altitudes, but in spite of this frequent visits were paid to the Park, mainly by ski-ing parties. This has been rendered possible by the use of the club's new Glacier Hut, which was completed last Easter. " The club's usual Winter Sports Party was held in August in conjunction with the Dominion and inter-Dominion championships, and was attended by over a hundred members —a record to date. Owing to the almost continuous blizzard conditions and the need for giving first place to the championships, many of the club events had to be cancelled. " During the visit the hut was opened formally by Mrs. Syme, the wife of the President, in the presence of about fifty members and visitors. " A summer ski sports meeting was held on the Whakapapa Glacier during the Christmas holidays, when handicap ski races were tried out, and novelty events such as roped pairs were run off. " There were large club parties on the mountains on every public holiday, and smaller parties on many other occasions. Although weather conditions tended to keep climbers to the better-known parts, quite a lot of climbing and exploring of new routes on the western and northern sides of the park was undertaken. " A feature of this last summer has been the relatively low level at which the toe of the Whakapapa Glacier has remained, due probably to the heavy winter precipitation and the absence of really hot weather. Snow conditions have generally been very good, and all-the-year-round ski-ing has been available within reasonable distance of the hut." The Tararua Tramping Club (Inc.). —"One trip to the Tongariro National Park area was organized by the Tararua Tramping Club during the year. The total strength of the party which visited the Chateau during the winter-sports season in August was thirty-nine, of whom thirty-one were members of the Tararua Tramping Club, the remainder being members of other tramping clubs in the Wellington District. On the arrival of the party there was a tendency to a scarcity of snow, but during the last three days of the stay heavy falls of snow occurred. Weather conditions were disappointing, there being not one fine day during the nine days of the party's sojourn, and at times conditions were very unpleasant on the ski-ing grounds. " Most of the members at some stage saw something of the sports, a portion of which was run under great difficulty owing to adverse weather conditions. " The Tararua Tramping Club's ski-ing championships which are usually run in conjunction with the visit of the club's official party to National Park were not held. " Small parties of club members were also organized for Easter, 1936, and Easter, 1937. In both instances the parties camped near the Ohakune Hut on the southern side of Mount Ruapehu. The parties climbed all the peaks possible, visited the various places of interest in the district, and a few were able to practice ski-ing." The Alpine Sports Club (Inc.). —" The only officially organized club expedition to the Tongariro National Park took place during Easter, 1937, when a well-attended party camped in some old mill huts on the northern outskirts of the Park. " Although the general bad weather was experienced, a successful climb of Mount Ngauruhoe was made via Ketetahi and the Tongariro craters. " Visits were also paid to Lake Roto-a-Ira and neighbouring places of interest. " While there was no official visit to the Park during the earlier part of the year, various club members paid individual visits to the Park during the winter-sports season, and occasional long week-end visits were made during other times of the year."

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