464 Transactions. — Geology. 



partly to its value and partly to the fact that in nearly all 

 cases its conveyance to the mills was a matter of compara- 

 tive ease. The numerous tributaries of the river, many of 

 them deep, well supplied with a constant flow of water, and 

 reaching far back from the main stream, furnish the best of 

 all waterways for the conveyance of logs. When the natural 

 supply of water is not sufficient to float these they are forced 

 along by driving-dams or hauled out of the bush, either by 

 bullocks or steam-engines. Great ingenuity is brought to bear 

 on the removal of trees from difficult positions — huge logs, 

 weighing many tons, are hauled from the bottoms or sides of 

 steep gullies or lowered from the tops of lofty hills. Timber 

 whose position a few years ago would have rendered it value- 

 less is now worked with profit; indeed, there are few patches 

 of kauri sufficiently inaccessible to be beyond the reach of the 

 axe and the wire rope. 



A good deal has been written on the slow growth of the 

 kauri. The following contribution to the literature of this 

 subject by a northern settler may be of interest : " In 1896 a 

 number of trees, measured 7 ft. from the ground, girthed some- 

 thing under 3ft. 4in. Ten of these trees, measured under 

 similar conditions in 1901 (five years afterwards), girthed as 

 follows: 3 ft. 5 m., 3 ft. 6 in., 3 ft. 7 in., 3 ft. 8 in., 3 ft. 10 in., 

 3 ft. 11 in., 4 ft., 4 ft. lin., 4 ft. 2 in., 4 ft. 3 in. This would 

 give an average girth of 3 ft. 10 in., and hence an average in- 

 crease of girth of 6 in. in five years, slightly over lin. per 

 annum. These trees were in sheltered positions ; in those 

 growing on exposed situations there was no perceptible 

 change." 



On the low land bordering the river there is still a great 

 quantity of kahikatea — a valuable timber for some purposes, 

 easily obtained and easily worked. An immense kahikatea 

 forest, estimated to contain between ninety and a hundred 

 million feet of timber, covers the northern and eastern por- 

 tions of the Tokatoka Swamp. A mill has been erected and 

 is now in full operation at Raupo, where many years of work 

 await the enterprising owners. 



