217 



Remarks. 



allow land to be unwooded which, for the purpose contem- 

 plated, it was desirable to keep in timber. To meet these 

 difficulties, and give a tangible base, the ordinary level of 

 water in streams has been selected. 



Where the land plants of a locality cease to grow at edge 

 of the stream, be taken for the ordinary level of the water. 

 Taviuni's place in this article is doubtful. To judge from the 

 conformation of that island, if this rule were applied, Taviuni 

 would be unwooded, and so might be rendered barren, and 

 yet, were one-third of it reserved in timber, too large an area 

 of valuable land would be kept out of cultivation. Of the 

 two evils I am inclined to choose the last, as by the former 

 the whole might be rendered worthless. Its case would be 

 best met by dealing with it separately, but to this there are 

 embarrassing objections. 



8. It is scarcely possible to be more than a mile from the 

 sea in the other islands of the group, and none of them con- 

 tain high mountains or large valleys opening into each other, 

 and the base suggested for them is a natural and fair one. 



9. Here, although arbitrary, a line must be drawn, and for 

 the future welfare of Fiji keeping one-third of the elevation 

 of a hill top or ridge in timber cannot be considered too much. 

 This article should be considered conjointly with the next two 

 (10th and 11th). 



10 and 11. It is not possible to fix a natural limit, and an 

 arbitrary one has been selected. Considering the numerous 

 ridges on the mountain sides in Fiji, with the fact that unless 

 they exceed a height of 150 ft. from the base no part of them 

 will be reserved, it would follow that nearly all these ridges 

 would be left unwooded. I therefore think the limit should 

 be lowered to 75 or 100 ft., under which there be no reserve. 

 To have all ridges of a less elevation than 75 ft. reserve, and 

 one-third of elevation of those above that height, would cause 

 too much good land to be kept in wood ; and to adopt the 

 rule of one-third in all cases would in many instances reduce 

 the part left for cultivation to a mere strip. Much may be 

 said for either way and while I consider a low elevation the 

 best to be adopted, the opinion of others may be worthy of 

 consideration. If in practice the elevation of 75 or 100 ft. be 

 found too low it can easily be raised, but it would cause trou- 

 ble and expense to lower the limit if one too high were taken. 



12. Practically, it is not profitable to cultivate slopes of an 

 angle greater than that mentioned. Including them in reserves 

 will keep them in timber and so prevent landslips. 



