Wai-sh. — Efjecti^ of Disa piiearainu of lln yen- Zcaldiid Jhiiili. 447 



111 endeavouring to demonstrate the effect of the wholesale destruction 

 of the New Zealand bush on the climate and on the topography of the 

 country, and to show that these effects are far more productive of evil than 

 of good, I do not pretend to have started any new or original theory. The 

 science of forestry, the influence of standing timber on climate, and the 

 action of running water are perfectly well understood in many parts of 

 the world. In France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, and Nor- 

 way, and many other European countries, stringent regulations on the 

 subject arc in operation, and have long since justified the wisdom of their 

 enactment. Even in the United States of America it is coining home 

 to the people that the " forest primeval " is neither boundless nor inex- 

 haustible. Congress has already wisely provided for the setting-aside out 

 of the public domain some 70,000 square miles of valuable forest land, 

 with the view of protecting the streams and perpetuating the timber-supply 

 in the western States and Territories ; while at the present moment a 

 scheme is under consideration for acquiring by purchase the whole of the 

 Southern Appalachian Mountains, a district containing no less than 12,000 

 square miles, or over 7,000,000 acres, in one block, for a forest reserve. 

 It would be well if we in New Zealand were to follow the example of other 

 countries. But so long as we see the stream of logs coming down the rail- 

 way or coming up the harbour, so long as the distant hills appear to be 

 clothed with bush, and so long as our timber companies are paying a good 

 ■dividend it is probable that no very earnest or systematic action will be 

 undertaken. We fail to notice that the logs are getting smaller and smaller 

 all the time, and we do not perceive the gaps in the sky-line of the hills, 

 a sure indication that the bush is already far on its way to destruction. 



It is my earnest hope that by a plain statement of the case, based on the 

 experience and observation of over forty years, spent more or less in the 

 bush, pubhc attention may be aroused to a sense of our loss before the loss 

 has become altogether irretrievable. 



In concluding, I should like to record my grateful thanks to Mr. James 

 Nicholson, of Waihi, for much valuable information on some of the subjects 

 treated. 



