OBITUARY. 



SIR DAVID ERNEST HUTCHINS, 1850-1920. 



The late Sir David E. Hutchins, born on the 22nd September, 1850, was 

 educated at the well-known Blundell's School, Tiverton, England, and after 

 leaving went, when twenty years old, to the famous Ecole Nationale des 

 Eaux et Forets at Nancy, France, where he gained his diploma in forestry. 

 From Nancy he went to India as Deputy Conservator in Mysore, and 

 spent some ten years in the Indian Forest Service. Here he showed his 

 wide views of forestry in two papers which he wrote on Australian trees 

 in the Nilgiris and on the coastal planting of Casuarina. These papers 

 are still standard works on their subjects. From India he was transferred 

 in 1882 to Cape Colony, where, after some years passed in charge of the 

 Knysna forests, he succeeded Count Vasselot de Regne as Chief Conservator 

 of Forests, and remained until 1905. Sir David's work as a forester in 

 South Africa has received the highest praise from such well-known autho- 

 rities as Sir W. Schlich, the late Professor Fisher, M. Parde, H. R. 

 McMillan, and others. Under his regime in South Africa not only was 

 scientific management applied to the remaining indigenous forests, but 

 extensive plantations were made of eucalypts and other exotics, which 

 ■are now yielding an annual revenue of about £20,000. 



On his retiring from the South African Forestry Department Sir David 

 was later employed by the British Government to report on the forests 

 of British East Africa, where he succeeded in demarcating reserves, and, 

 among other things, in establishing economic plantations of the Chinese 

 coffin-wood tree (Persea nanmu). He was appointed Chief Conservator of 

 Forests for this territory, and after three years' service there he retired 

 from regular Government employment. At various times in his career 

 he was called upon to visit different countries and report on forestry 

 problems. In 1907 he was employed by the Colonial Office to report on 

 the value of the Kenia forests, and in 1909 to inspect the forests of Cyprus. 



In addition to his experience in India, South and East Africa, Sir David 

 during several visits had gained an intimate knowledge of the forests of 

 Algeria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, France, and Germany. 



Sir David came out to Australia in 1914 with the British Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, and remained there to study forestry in 

 that land. Whilst in Australia he wrote a valuable book on Australian 

 forestry, A Discussion of Australian Forestry, with Special Reference to 

 the Forests of Western Australia (1914-15), and by his persistent advocacy 

 stirred up such an interest in the matter that in all the various States of 

 the Commonwealth Forestry Departments are now firmly established. 



In 1916, on the invitation of the Government, Sir David Hutchins came 

 to New Zealand to report on forestry in this Dominion, and it was mainly 

 on his advice that it was decided to establish forestry as a separate and 

 independent State Department here. He was also the original promoter 



