4 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



purposes. Had measures in that direction been carried out ten years ago, 

 when in tlie House of Eepresentatives Mr. Potts moved, " Tliat it is desirable 

 Government should take steps to ascertain the present condition of the forests 

 of the colony, with a view to their better conservation;" — had the forest ques- 

 tion been then more practically investigated and considered in all its aspects, 

 especially in that of the income which State forests, under systematic treat- 

 ment, can afford to the public purse, without either their climatic advantages 

 being disturbed through the felhngs, nor the supply being reduced below 

 the demand, as evidently would have been (and still would be) the case in 

 New Zealand — we might have had by this time the same extent of railways, 

 less a heavy indebtedness, and also fewer alienations of valuable timber 

 lands. Furthermore, we should have now a surplus income, which fund 

 would afford a means for a more equitable distribution of the public revenue 

 towards municipal interests than the present allotment of lands for such 

 purposes can allow. 



The Government may yet be in time to recur to such a policy, and there 

 are facts demanding their immediate consideration of the question. Thus, 

 the probable duration of the financial resources at present derivable from the 

 sales of the forest lands requires serious attention. If we compute the total 

 area of the Crown forests, which may be accessible and available for absolute 

 disposal, we shall find that it could hardly comprehend more than one- 

 eighth part of the area of the whole estate, officially stated, in 1877, as 

 29,000,000 acres, valued at £16,000,000. Then, by selling yearly those 

 forests to the amount of £400,000 or £500,000, with the addition, mean- 

 while, of the land grants, endowments, etc., and also adding the value 

 of destruction perpetrated on the leased forests, it becomes evident that 

 these operations, if continued, will, in the course of a few years, com- 

 pletely alienate the most valuable portion of the public estate. Thereby 

 a source of State income, by nature made lasting and abundant, will be 

 dried up for ever. Tiie alienated forest will gradually disappear under the 

 exigences of individual interest, which demand more immediate returns 

 for labour or capital than the conservation of forest lands can afford, and 

 the destruction of the forest areas will lead to disasters resulting from floods 

 and droughts, which will be severely felt by the Colony. 



However, the State expenditure must be provided for through the ways 

 and means allowed by the Legislatm-e ; and the purport of this paper is 

 simply a humble attempt to ascertain, so far as data and information at 

 hand will permit, whether the material interest of the Colonial Treasury, as 

 well as that of the country at large, may not be further promoted through 

 the estabhshment of State forests than by the temporary financial resources 

 derivable from the forest alienations. 



