HISTORY OF AFFORESTATION, ETC. 21 



extract from the resolution will indicate the scops of the work 

 which was contemplated : 



" Among the peasants' greatest needs are firewood to replace 

 manure, small timber for houses and wood for implements, as well 

 as grazing and fodder for his cattle. It has been recognised with 

 increasing clearness that forestry has an important vocation as 

 the handmaid of agriculture, and that she is called to come down 

 from the hills . . . Sir John Hewett is convinced that a stage has 

 now been reached in the economic development of the province 

 when a systematic examination of the possibilities of afforestation 

 is imperative . . . 



' With the agricultural and industrial development of the 

 province a rapidly expanding demand for forest produce, and in 

 particular for fuel, small timber and grass, must ba anticipated, 

 and the Lieutenant-Governor believes it essential that action 

 should be undertaken to provide well-distributed areas for the 

 production of these commodities. 



"Afforestation is, however, a branch of forestry which differs 

 widely from the management of existing forests, and it is a branch 

 in which the officers of the Forest department have as yet had 

 little experience. The Lieutenant-Governor therefore considers it 

 essential that, before a definite scheme of afforestation is embarked 

 on, a systematic survey of the available areas should be undertaken 

 and that this survey should be combined with a series of experi- 

 ments on various classes of waste lands with a view to determining 

 the best methods of dealing with different soils, the species best 

 adapted to various conditions and the cheapest and most efficient 

 methods of propagation." 



With this resolution was inaugurated a strong and active 

 policy in afforestation, and the subsequent developments and 

 success achieved are described in the following chapter. 



The graphs shows the progress since 1880 of the Forest depart- 



f t 



ent in area, revenue, expenditure and surplus. The latter will revenue, 



no doubt be considered by some the final test of success in and 



expen' 



diturt. 



