Lecoy. — The Forest Question in New Zealand. l5 



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 wiU 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 : — 



1st. Creation of a colonial pension fund, or deferred life annuities, to he 

 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. 



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 j^er 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, 80 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 reserved without prejudice until 

 the service had attained suflicient 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 



