194 TlMEHRI. 
shipping timber ; comparatively little of this latter size 
is used in the colony. 
The first step, I think, to be taken in the way of 
forest conservancy in this colony, must be made by 
settling the rights of ownership to the land producing the 
timber, by deciding whether it belongs to the colony or 
to the persons who lay claim to it. These lands were 
originally granted to the ancestors of the present 
claimants, on certain conditions, and with the intention 
to promote colonisation by establishing cultivation. It 
was generally an express condition of the land-brief, that 
the land should be put into cultivation, and suitable 
buildings erected thereon. No very intricate enquiry 
is necessary to determine whether these conditions are 
being complied with. In no single instance was the 
land granted for the purpose of cutting timber only. 
The settling of this matter is, I think, of paramount im- 
portance owing to the size of the tracts of land claimed, 
and their undefined boundaries ; this being settled, it 
becomes necessary to consider what restrictions should 
be placed on the wood-cutter with regard to the size of 
the different timber trees they are to cut, the gathering 
of seed and the time of cutting. 
Greenheart, which is the only timber shipped from 
the colony in any quantity, and is the one that most 
needs conservation, ought not to be cut under 
twelve inches square, and Indians should not be al- 
lowed to cut this wood. The trade in greenheart should 
be limited to licensed wood-cutters, as some compensa- 
tion for what, for a time, they will consider a grievance, 
— the imposition of any restrictions upon them. No 
