Lecoy.—The Forest Question in New Zealand. 15 
of a living equal at the least to that of any other of the working classes. 
Still, with such earnings, it may be very hard for many of those people to 
save enough for the bread of old age. Forest guards, as the guardians of 
public property, must feel independent in the execution of their functions, 
and that independence would naturally arise from the fact that the fulfilment 
of their duty on all occasions will be the guarantee of their means of sub- 
sistence for life. 
For the purpose of meeting the amount of expenditure required for the 
formation of the Forest Department, also for the good of the service and that 
of those it may concern, the following outlines of a scheme are submitted :— 
Ist. Creation of a colonial pension fund, or deferred life annuities, to be 
constituted under such principles :— 
(1.) That the amount of the pension should not exceed £60. 
(2.) That the amount of the monthly instalments towards the pension 
should be calculated to the effect that neither loss nor profit would accrue 
to the State. 
(3.) That the subscription to a pension of £60 should be compulsory for 
all Government servants receiving a salary under £100 per annum, but to 
be free, up to or under the said amount, to the working classes of the 
community. 
(4.) That the right to the pension should be acquired by 25 years of 
payment of the subscription, and the pensioner not being under 55 years 
of age. 3 
Cases of forfeiture : Failing to pay the monthly instalments, premature 
death, judicial condemnations in criminal cases, dismissal from the Govern- 
ment service for non-fulfilment of duty, etc. 
2nd. The creation of a civil pension fund applying to all Government 
servants receiving a salary of or above £100 per annum.—The subscriptions 
to be compulsory, five per cent. reduction on the salary, causes of forfeiture 
as above, adding the case of voluntary resignation of functions, amount of the 
pension half that of the salary, reversion of half the pension to the widow of 
the pensioner, 90 years of service and 60 years of age giving right to the 
pension. 
The enactment of such institutions would create means more than 
sufficient to meet the expenditure of the forest department. 
As regards a systematic treatment of our indigenous forests, some 
technical points of importance might be reseryed without prejudice until 
the service had attained sufficient experience to decide upon such questions, 
as for instance that of determining the age of maturity of the various species 
of trees. Meanwhile an average age of 100 years may be fixed, so that no 
valuable timber under that age should be felled. On this subject it may be 
