xlviii Appendix, 
away; and therefore it requires, I think, little argument to oblige one to 
admit that the existence of forests on the land must equalize the evapora- 
tion, and therefore to a great extent regulate the water supply of a country. 
Till I came into this room and heard the lecture, I was totally unaware of 
the line of thought which Captain Campbell-Walker intended to pursue, 
and therefore I am not in any way prepared to express any very decided 
opinion upon what has emanated from him, and I daresay many others are 
in the same position; but at the same time I think you will all agree with 
me that his lecture, from first to last, has taken a very practical turn, 
He has shown us that the existenceof forests has a very decided and a 
very beneficial influence on climate, and while he has not presented 
to your view any magnificent scheme of forest regeneration—perhaps I am 
hardly correct in using that term, for I am happy to say there is no neces- 
sity for regenerating forests in New Zealand ; but while he has not pre- 
sented to your view any scheme for forest maintenance at a large cost to 
the country, he has told you whatever plan he adyises will have the merit 
of being self-supporting. I entirely agree with him that it should be 80, 
and I am equally confident that it might be made so, and that a scheme 
such as he suggests might be very easily and successfully carried out. I 
have been accustomed to live in forest countries, and nothing has struck 
me more than to see the gross way in which forests aro abused and wasted. 
It has been my fortune on various occasions to visit the forest tracts of 
British North America, and I may say there is no doubt that while there is 
an enormous amount of very valuable timber annually extracted from those 
lands, yet there is a very much larger amount annually wasted. Still—I 
speak subject to correction, for it is some time since I left Canada—I be- 
lieve the Government derives a considerable revenue from the forest country. 
In this colony I have constantly been told, ‘ Oh, in this district the soil is 
exceedingly good, but it is impossible to settle it, because the forest is so 
dense nobody can afford to clear it.’ That was told me only the other day 
on the West Coast. Well, if this is the case, I think it becomes self-evident 
that if, before introducing the settler to such land, you can introduce the 
saw-miller, and so abstract the heavy timber, and further get rid of some of 
the smaller timber in the shape of firewood, not only will you be doing the 
intending settler no harm, but you will in fact be enhancing the value of 
the land by removing that which checks enterprise. For my own part I 
must own, from the experience I have had in new countries, I believe that 
the settler who can establish himself on forest land—I admit all the diffi- 
culties, the loss of time, and the expense of labour to be encountered—will 
reap a much better reward for his enterprise than will he who takes up land 
which requires no clearing. As I said before, I was totally unprepared for 
