462 Transactions.—Botany, 
colony, attains large dimensions, and, under the name of white pine, is used 
in the southern part of the colony for inside work and other purposes where 
great durability is not required, but by no means to an extent commensurate 
with its actual merits. Unfortunately, in the converted state it is liable to 
the ravages of a small boring beetle. The tawa forms fully one-fifth of the 
entire forest of the North Island, but can scarcely be said to be utilized in 
any way except for firewood. i 
It would be difficult to over-estimate the advantages to be derived from 
the utilization of so large a quantity of neglected material; and with this 
view of the importance of the subject, I venture to suggest the desirability 
of experiments in this direction being undertaken by the Publie Works 
Department, the more especially that they may be made at small cost, A 
cistern containing a solution of chloride of zinc, pyrolignite of iron, chloride 
of lime or kreosote, all of which are suecessfully employed in Europe, might 
be elevated some eighteen or twenty feet above the ground, The logs to be 
operated upon should be placed in front, and a cap firmly attached to the 
end of each, the cap being connected by a pipe with the tank above, when 
the pressure of the solution from the higher level would be sufficient to 
drive out any sap that might remain in the timber, which would then 
become charged with the preserving agent. 
Our white pine is greatly superior to the American spruce, and would 
successfully compete with the best Baltic white deal in the English market, 
if it could be supplied at a low rate, say to sell retail, at from 12s. 0d. 
to 13s. per 100 superficial feet. It should be shipped in the form of 23 
by 7, 8 by 7, 8 by 9, or 8 by 11-inch planking, or in bulk. Wider 
planks, say 14 to 20 inch, would fetch proportionately higher prices. It 
would, however, be impossible to pay the present high rate of freight, but 
as ships not unfrequently leave our ports in ballast, it is possible that lower 
rates might occasionally be óbtained. A gentleman engaged in supplying 
the Kaipara mills with kauri, informed me that he should be glad to deliver 
kahikatea logs at 1s. 6d. per 100 feet superficial; so that, allowing for 
waste and cost of conversion, the planking might be turned out at the mill 
at 4s. 61. per 100 feet, but even this would require a very low rate of freight 
to allow of a fair profit to the consignee. 
I may be permitted to mention a singular instance in which the develop- 
ment of our railway system has promoted the utilization of our neglected 
resources. In all parts of the colony, except Auckland, the rimu, or red 
pine, has long formed the chief timber used in the manufacture of furni- 
‘ture, but in most parts of the Auckland district it has been completely 
neglected. Even within twenty or thirty miles of the city of Auckland, 
hundreds of noble trunks, from forty to sixty feet in length, and of large 
Sie chek IUE E NIS IURATI ICE EA Ku EMT IUDICEM o RS 
