4 
gum-tree plantations ought to supply the balance of the sleepers 
required, 
It is ie on that Natal cannot possibly prosper without a Forest 
ment, and the Colony will have cause to regret having abandoned 
the inion to form one, after such an excellent beginning has been 
made. The Government wished to retain Mr. Schópflin's services up 
to March 31, 1894, but would not undertake to employ him after that 
date. Under these circumstances, he was obliged to resign his appoint- 
ment last September, in order to return to the Baden forest service, 
The following note was prepared for publieation in a Kew Report 
some years ago. The state of things described is not likely to have 
om bas e or to ms made some measure of forest conservation less 
two kinds, light timber and ioe 
Mimosa, and 
"The former sts of “ POP. 
pacipally used for oe end io some extent for waggon-making, &e. 
It occupies * a belt of land about 30 miles in width, extending along, 
but about eight miles distant from the coast- line.” The 
ineberi is rds found on the mountain slopes, in the interior of the 
E C Colonia i Timber Returns i in isis the area of forest 
emaria nisl ormerly a consid export 
of sawn timber to the SOS five Free § State xal a Piiriks, This 
had almost entirely ceased, and a large amount of timber for building 
S WAS Voas into the Colon 
A Commission appointed by the Natal Government te inquire 
generally into ex vesdions of the forests and weodlands of the Colony. 
This repo 
Ee: general drift of the evidence printed by the Commission points 
ive destruction of the forest. Thus, * Mr. James Ralfe 
eite that one-third of the wood has been destroyed 
sindo Tirat (20 yekis igo) BEW this part of the Colo a 4 us 11 
* For many years after the ment of ion 
forest lands belonging to the city of Pietermariisbarg ed timber fit 
for m waggons, &e. About 20 years ago the spem dwindled 
down to only Maias “which the citizens had the right to rera icis upon 
payment of 1s. 6d. per waggon-load of probably two tons weight 
“ There being no attempt at conservation of any kind, a very few 
years sufficed for the entire destruction of the forest growth; and 
although nearly 20 years have passed away since under severe 
hibitory regulations, the situations occupied by the heavy timber have 
protected, scarcely any signs are present of the spontaneous return 
of the noble trees which the ‘intelligence of the municipality had not 
seen fit to protect." (p. 13.) 
. . * The evidence laid before the Commission respecting the condition of 
forests on private lands, points generally to the same reckless waste as 
in the forests on the Crown lands. Both the European owners and 
their native servants and tenants appear to have almost entirely dis- 
regarded all precautionary measures for the preservation ofthe timber and 
its economical application in the supply of Colonial necessities. Nor 
has it o toany of the numerous owners of forest lands to plant 
out either indigenous trees, or trees of any kind, on the dotem of land 
that have in course of many years been denuded. The owners of forest” 
ds, desirous of in every wa le encouraging > than native 
: y possib 
servants to reside on their lands, have avoided the imposition of restric- 
