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obtained, it will be known to a certainty what farther 

 extent of land may be given up to cultivation with- 

 out injuring the climate or fertility of the soil. In 

 addition to its beneficial effect upon the climate, soil, 

 &c, there arc other advantages of great value to a 

 community to be derived from keeping large tracts 

 of land under forest, viz., an abundant supply of 

 cheap fuel, timber for house and ship building, for 

 sugar factories, and all other industrial purposes con- 

 nected with the colony. In this way large sums of 

 money will be kept in the colony that otherwise would 

 have to be sent out of it annually. The case of 

 Mauritius may be quoted as an example of this. 

 Prom that small, though not unimportant island, 

 about £20,000 is sent annually to India, Singapore, 

 and Australia for timber, the produce of tropical 

 countries, which might have been grown in the 

 colony. This sum does not include the value of pine 

 imported from Europe, which could not be grown in 

 Mauritius. The Fijian clalma and dakua-salu-salUy 

 are equal if not superior to any pine for all the 

 purposes for which it is used, and quite as easily 

 worked. It may therefore be anticipated that by the 

 sale of the timber, and other forest produce, these 

 forest reserves will not only be self-supporting, but 

 when the colony is fully settled, and the demand for 

 various forest products greater than at present, they 

 will yield an annual revenue to the colony. There are 

 persons who hold the opinion that no timber ought to 

 be felled in Government reserves, which they say are 

 maintained solely for climatic purposes. This is 

 equivalent to taxing the community to keep up pro- 

 perty from which they receive only half the benefit 

 which that property could yield. By the sale of 



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