Lecoy.—The Forest Question in New Zealand. 18 
VII.—MawacEMENT or Stare Forusts IN New ZEALAND ACTUALLY 
PRACTICABLE, 
The methods generally adopted in Europe for the purpose of determining 
the proportion of the annual fellings which forests can afford permanently, 
involve lengthy and complex operations, having to be performed by a special 
staff of trained forest officers. For that reason, among others, those methods 
are not at present wholly applicable to the colony. Meanwhile, and until 
the department be fully organized, a system of forest conservation not 
particularly requiring high technical attainments on the part of foresters 
on executive service, may be carried out with benefit. 
The fact that the supply derivable from our State forests, even under 
technical rules, is for the present in excess of the demand, will allow, 
generally, that the extent of the annual fellings may be determined by the 
quantity in actual demand. ‘Therefore, the approximate quantity of the 
demand being given, the forest officers will have to perform the following 
operations :— 
(1.) To select and mark, on sections to be worked, trees to be reserved as 
may be required for the purpose of securing the natural regeneration of 
the forest. (2.) To brand with a different mark all the standing timber 
intended for sale, calculating at the same time the cubic volume of that 
product, and proceeding thus ‘so far as necessary to provide the requisite 
quantity. (8.) To estimate the market value of the produce to be sold, 
upon which valuation upset prices will be determined. Official advertise- 
ments of the auction sales specify the number, species, approximate yield 
in cubic feet, and locality of the trees to be sold, also the special conditions 
of the sale, but the money valuation is not made known to the public. 
The foresters will then have to verify, supervise, and enforce the execution 
- of the by-laws and special conditions of the sales. 
It is not within the scope of this paper to enter into further details on 
forest operations, the purport of those just mentioned being to show that 
no extraordinary qualifications are required for foresters on executive 
service, and that for practical purposes a sufficiently efficient staff may 
be at once formed here, while forest schools would gradually fill up any 
deficiencies in the service. 
The importance of the whole matter does not allow of half measures, 
and the following tables, being the explanation of the previously stated 
amount of the departmental expenditure, are intended to show the require- 
ments of the forest service at the beginning :— 
