Report of tlu- M^ork of the Forestry Branch. 901 



REPORT OF THE WORK OF THE FORESTRY 



BRANCH. 



A. W. Crooke. 



Notwitlistaiidiug' tlie geiiei'al assuuiptiou to the contrary, good 

 forest couservation work h;i.s been achieved during the year iinder 

 trying and difficult circumstances. Such unpopularity as attaches to 

 the branch doubtless arises, to ;i great extent, from the fact that 

 system has been introduced into the exploitation of nearly ever}' class 

 of forest produce. 



The strong efforts that have been made ti> im])rove the reserves 

 and conserve timb(>r for a continuity of future, whilst adequately pro- 

 viding for present requirements, necessitated the imposition of restric- 

 tions and proper modes of conversion that are strenuously objected to 

 by many of the persons immediately interested. 



Though there is a cry, it may be pro]3erly doubted if there is any 

 very strong popular feeling for systematic and regulated forestry at 

 present, and every improvement has to be fought for to obtain and 

 retain. If there really is a general desire for true forestry at this 

 juncture, the experience of the writer is that it is not made manifest 

 by the bulk of the people and indTistries most vitally concerned. 



Other countries did not awake to the value of systematic 

 forestry until their forests had almost entirely disappeared. Our 

 areas have been going fast for many years, and only the future will 

 be able to tell if we have continued to slumber. 



Very many valuable forests have been lost, never to be regained; 

 still there are enough left to supply the timber needs of the community 

 in perpetuity — if they are spared to us — and sufficient strength is 

 given to the administration to witlistand the everlasting encroach- 

 ments of interested persons and corporaticms. However, it is most 

 gratifying to note that the Government is seriously taking the matter 

 in hand, and that consequently there is more than a fair chance of a 

 Forest Act. One is sadly needed. 



Under present conditions, bar one or two inadequate sections of 

 the Land Act, the whole business is conducted under regulations by 

 the Governor in Council. These are more or less easily made, accord- 

 ing to circumstances, and quite easily unmade or altered. They give 

 no kind of security for consistent administration or fixity of ])urpose. 



Alienation of Fokest Lands. 



This is a depressing subject. Alienation of these lands has been 

 going on steadily, and sometimes furiously, year after year, since the 

 creation of a Forest Branch, and the past year has only differed from 

 its predecessors in degree. Much of the time and energy of the 

 administration has been taken up in battling for the retention of 



