469 Transactions. — Botany , 



colony, attains largo dimensions, and, under the name of wliito pine, is used 

 in the southern part of the colony for inside work and other purposes whero 

 great durability is not requii-ed, but by no means to an extent commensurate 

 with its actual ments. Unfortunately, in the converted state it is liable to 

 the ravages of a small boring beetle. The tawa forms fully one-fifth of the 

 entire forest of the North Island, but can scarcely be said to be utilized in 

 any way except for firewood. 



It would be difficult to over-estimate the advantages to be derived from 

 the utilization of so large a quantity of neglected material ; and with this 

 view of the importance of the subject, I venture to suggest the desirability 

 of experiments in this direction being undertaken by the Public Works 

 Department, the more especially that they may be made at small cost. A 

 cistern containing a solution of chloride of zinc, pyrolignite of iron, chloride 

 of lime or kreosote, all of which are successfully employed in Europe, might 

 be elevated some eighteen or twenty feet above the ground. The logs to be 

 operated upon should be placed in front, and a cap firmly attached to the 

 end of each, the cap being connected by a pipe with the tank above, when 

 the pressure of the solution from the higher level would be sufficient to 

 drive out any sap that might remain in the timber, which would then 

 become charged with the preserving agent. 



Our white pine is greatly superior to the American spruce, and would 

 successfully compete with the best Baltic white deal in the English market, 

 if it could be supplied at a low rate, say to sell retail, at from 12s. 6d. 

 to 13s. per 100 superficial feet. It should be shipped in the form of 2J 

 by 7, 3 by 7, 3 by t), or 3 by 11 -inch planking, or in bulk. Wider 

 planks, say 14 to 20 inch, Avould fetch proportionately higher prices. It 

 would, however, be impossible to pay the present high rate of freight, but 

 as ships not unfrequently leave our ports in ballast, it is possible that lower 

 rates might occasionally be obtained. A gentleman engaged in supplying 

 the Kaipara mills with kauri, informed me that he should be glad to deliver 

 kahikatea logs at Is. Gd. per 100 feet superficial ; so that, allowing for 

 waste and cost of conversion, the planking might be turned out at the mill 

 at 4s. 6d. per 100 feet, but even this would require a very low rate of freight 

 to allow of a fair profit to the consignee. 



I may be permitted to mention a singular instance in which the develop- 

 ment of our railway system has promoted the utilization of our neglected 

 resources. In all parts of the colony, except Auckland, the rimu, or red 

 pine, has long formed the chief timber used in the manufacture of furni- 

 ture, but in most parts of the Auckland district it has been completely 

 neglected. Even within twenty or thirty miles of the city of Auckland, 

 hundreds of noble trunks, from forty to sixty feet in length, and of large 



