TRANSACTIONS 
NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE, 
1879. 
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I.—MISCELLANEOUS. 
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Art, L— The Forest Question in New Zealand. By A. Lecoy, M.A. 
LL.B. Univ. Paris. 
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 26th July, 1879.] 
Introduction. 
I. Statistics V. Revenue in Europe. 
. Premises. VI. Estimated Revenue for New Zealand. 
III. State Forests, VII. Scheme of Management. 
IV. Revenue derivable. VIII. Value of Timbers. 
Inrropuction. 
Amone the various systems already adopted for the purpose of turning to 
profit the natural resources of the public estate, stands prominently what 
is called the Public Works policy. This was a broad and bold enterprise, 
involving future rather than present advantages. Therefore, the time for 
us to fully appreciate the merits of that policy has not yet come, and 
what seems desirable to be done in the interval, would be, to avoid the loco- 
motive crossing the path of the chariot of the State; for our attention may 
be called to the facts, that the incessant progress of the colony will have the 
effect of increasing the State expenditure, and that such increase may be 
required before an adequate augmentation of the revenue is available. 
Parallel with the Public Works system might be initiated a new policy, 
tending to promote the interest of the Colonial Treasury, by im- 
proving and consolidating, instead of exhausting, the revenue derivable 
from the public estate, by a systematic treatment of the Crown forest lands, 
which revenue might be increased to such an amount as to provide at any 
time for the largest portion of the expenditure required for general State 
