162 Transactions.- — MisceUaneous. 



who live " over the garden-wall " in Central Otago it will be 

 necessary in many places to provide for ii-rigation. The 

 annual reports of the United States Irrigation Survey, from 

 the conunencement in 1888, are to be seen in our library, and 

 if those members who are interested in the subject will con- 

 sult these volumes I am able to promise them an interesting 

 and valuable series of memoirs on the progress of the investi- 

 gation of the hydrographical and topographical problems of 

 irrigation. Amongst other things, attention is called to the 

 more modern metbods of gauging river-flows, and the great 

 discrepancies sometimes found to exist in this respect between 

 theory and actual results. 



The question also of the water-supplies for our towns is 

 one of great importance, but has scarcely received the atten- 

 tion it is entitled to. I trust that the local authorities will 

 take care that the catchment areas of our town reservoirs are 

 kept well covered with either bush or native scrub ; otherwise, 

 as I have pointed out, the rainfall over the whole area is 

 thrown off more quickly than it should be, and the town suffers 

 either from a flood or a water-famine. None of the catch- 

 ment area should be used for grazing either sheep or cattle. 

 The alpine and subalpine forests are, of course, of great 

 importance in regulating the supply of water available for 

 gold-mining operations, and should be strictly conserved and 

 increased where possible. 



In thus glancing at some of the points connected with the 

 forest question in New Zealand, and at the manner in which 

 other countries have been compelled to grapple with the 

 question, I trust that I have not been too diffuse for the short 

 time at our disposal ; but my object will have been gained if 

 our members, and members living in Central Otago in particu- 

 lar, will endeavour to gather information bearing on the ques- 

 tions and send it to the society, and so long as I continue in 

 office I shall have much pleasure in doing my best to collect 

 and arrange such facts ; and I trust that in the not-very- 

 distant future some member will be found who will take the 

 matter in hand, and upon those data write a paper showing 

 what is required to be done in definite districts, and how best 

 to do it. It is only by recording and studying past successes 

 and failures that progress is to be made ; and a record of the 

 experiments made by the various County Councils, Eoad 

 Boards, and private individuals would have a permanent 

 value ; and it w^ould be an interesting work, involving, how- 

 ever, some labour and time, to collect the information regard- 

 ing the kinds of trees that have been planted, and those 

 most successful. We must all hope that the days when 

 nothing but Pinus insignia and Cupressus macrocarpa were 

 planted are passed away. 



