8 
The forests. 
A sub-JepArt- 
mcnt of rural 
Industries and 
agriculture. 
and preparing tlie products to be raised on the suggested farms or gardens. The 
Industrial School at Suubury exhibits nothing like an example, and is, in fact, we 
believe, a well-conducted Infant Poor House, instead of being an Industrial School. 
In this institution there are no boys fit to work at any I'ural employment, while in the 
Nelson training ship there are, and the great anomaly presents itself that while the 
demand for apprentices for sea purposes is not moi’e than ten per cent., and the demand 
for land purposes is ninety per cent., the ninety per cent, are habitually trained for 
purposes for Avhich they are not required, and are never taught anything connected 
wdth rural industries, in which direction their training is required. A few of these boys 
are now employed at the Botanic Gardens, and would thus have an opportunity of 
becoming skilled in a most useful occupation, but they are not allowed to remain long 
enough to become experienced in any branch of garden work. This surely does not 
deserve the name of industrial training. But, judiciously used, the labor at the disposal 
of the State might be turned to valuable account, in establishing among us those 
rural industries which ought to be encouraged both 1)y precept and example. 
19. The urgency of the appeals for a more strict preservation of our native 
forests proves with how much alarm the residents in many districts now view the rapid 
decrease in their available supplies of tunber. The cpiantity consumed as fuel by the. 
steam-engines on the goldfields is becoming very large, and is every winter obtained 
with greater difficulty, and, of course, at increased expense. Thousands of miners are 
now depending for their bread on the working of these engines, and it has already 
happened that, during an unusually wet winter, several could not be supplied with fuel 
at a rate low enough to allow of work being continued. The stopping of the engine 
is of course followed by a reduced demand for labor, so that full employment for the 
miners, as well as the maintenance of the yield of gold, has become intimately 
involved with the forest question. Then the timber supports — technically, the props — 
whicli are required in deep sinking, have to be cai’ted a long distance already in 
many of the most thickly populated districts, and are becoming so scarce in others 
that the supply must soon cease unless measures be taken to protect the young 
saplings. The Board of Land and Works has issued regulations with this object, and 
vdth a view of checking the i-eckless waste and destruction of timber, which has become 
a habit owing to the profusion with which we found it supplied by nature ; but in many 
of the forests these regulations cannot at present be enforced. It has, therefore, been 
suggested tliat the State forests should be placed under the charge of local boards of 
management. However, although as a people we have been slow to avail ourselves of 
the warnings from other countiies, the threatened failure of the supply is now causing 
the preservation of the forests to become a cpiestion of very genei’al interest. 
20. Seeing then the great advantages to be derived from the establishment 
among us of the rural industries of Europe, the Commission desires earnestly to express 
tlieir liigli approval of the proposed agricultural sub-department, under the super- 
vision of the Minister of Lands. The knowledge to be imparted must emanate from 
a well matured and comprehensive system, containing both the scientific and practical 
elements. The wants and peculiar circumstances of this country must be studied, and 
information already at our disposal applied to these. And, with regard to providing 
the sort of knowledge specially bearing on these rural industries, much remains to 
be done. For their successful prosecution they rec[uire besides a greater amount of 
care and attention to the crops on which they depend than prevails here Avitli our rough 
and injudicious mode of farming ; therefore they must lead to, or, more correctly 
speaking, be the result of an imjn-oved general system of husbandly. To bring about 
this improvement, we would respectfully call your attention to the Agricultural 
Department of the United States of America, established in 1862. The reports of 
the Commissioner of Agriculture, published yearly, contain information obtained from 
all parts of the States, as well as from all parts of the world. The value of this 
system is best shown by the following resolution adopted by the House of 
Eepresentatives ; the Senate concurring : — “ That there be printed of the annual 
report of tlie Commission of Agriculture for 1869, two hundred and twenty-five 
thousand extra co])ies, one hundred and eighty thousand of which shall be for the 
use of the House, twenty thousand for the use of the Senate, and twenty-five thousand 
for distribution by the Commissioner of Agriculture.” The founding of agricultural 
schools and colleges is also proceeding rapidly there. In Euro])e these have been 
the first consideration. Here, pi’obably, it will be found advantageous to follow more 
immediately the American example, and make it the fii’st object of the proposed sub- 
