204 
The N.Z. Journal oe Science and Technology. 
[.July 
3. The Indigenous Forests generally. —The Commissioners suggest, in the public 
interest, the following classification :— 
(a.) Forests with valuable milling-timber in positions suitable for settlement. 
( b .) Forests with valuable milling-timber in positions unsuitable for settlement. 
(c.) Forests with insufficient or unsuitable milling-timber on land suitable for 
settlement. 
( d .) Forests with insufficient or unsuitable milling-timber on land unsuitable for 
settlement. 
The Milling Forests. —The trees should be measured and the contents calculated 
before the timber is offered for sale, through the agency of the Commissioners of Crown 
Lands and the Land Boards, so that the State receives proper payment for the timber. 
The Beech Woods are the only indigenous forests which regenerate themselves rapidly 
enough to warrant their permanent retention. Beech timber is steadily coming into 
use. An expert survey of the beech woods is recommended. 
Supply of Timber for the Butter Industry. —The kahikatea, or white-pine, appears 
in pure woods on low-lying swampy ground, and also in smaller quantities mixed with 
other trees of the coniferous forests of New Zealand. The soil of the white-pine 
swamps when cleared and drained forms the richest agricultural land, and the mixed 
forest where white-pine appears is frequently situated on good agricultural land. The 
plea has been advanced that the white-pine swamps might be made available for 
agriculture, but the difficulty is to find a substitute for white-pine for butter-boxes 
which does not impart a taste or odour to the butter, and which is light and holds nails 
well. There is not sufficient information available to show how long the stock of 
white-pine will last at the present rate of consumption, but it seems that substitutes 
for it must be imported until the New Zealand plantations of suitable substitutes are 
ready for cutting. The Commissioners consider that poplars and the Monterey pine 
(Pinus radiata) and tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa) are likely to answer. The present 
amount of these species in New Zealand is extremely small, and tawa is found chiefly 
on land which will soon be taken up for settlement. Of other timbers, that of Norway 
spruce seems also suitable, and it is cheap. Boxes have also been made of pulp. 
Experiments were recommended to be made with P. radiata, P. Laricio, various species 
of poplar, Oregon pine ( Pseudo-tsuga Douglasii ), New Zealand beeches, and others. 
| Afforestation. 
Probable Future Demand for Timber. —The Commissioners found great difficulty 
in estimating future requirements, because the statistics of the past were given in a 
great variety of units, such as pieces, number, superficial feet, and values. Their 
estimate is therefore only an approximate one. They state that the annual con¬ 
sumption in the immediate past amounted to 358 million superficial feet (equal to 
35-8 million cubic feet, equal to 716,000 tons of 50 cubic feet each). Assuming that 
the population will be doubled in thirty-five years, the annual requirements at the 
end of that period will be about 716 million superficial feet (equal to 1,432,000 tons). 
According to the Commissioners, the nature and kind of timber required will be as 
follows:—■ 
(1.) Pines of various kinds for building purposes. 
(2.) Australian gums (eucalpyts), yielding most durable timber. 
(3.) Timber for the carriage of agricultural and other produce. This should be 
provided by fast-growing species, such as Monterey pine and poplars, which would 
also yield suitable material for wood-pulp. 
Holding the view that the indigenous species are of too slow growth to be con¬ 
sidered in any scheme for the future, they estimate that plantations would yield, when 
mature, on an average 50,000 superficial feet per acre; they do not directly state at 
what age, but from the context it seems that they meant fifty years. Hence, every 
year 7,160 acres should be ready for cutting to provide the present requirements, and 
that area should be planted every year. The average annual increment per acre is 
assumed to be 1,000 superficial feet, but it differs very much according to species. 
Monterey pine, it is said, might yield timber fit for butter-boxes at the age of twenty 
years, and that it might give 150,000 superficial feet per acre at the age of thirty-five 
years—a most astonishing estimate. Nothing is said about the age at which eucalypts 
will give timber of the desired dimensions, but it is known that most of the species are 
very fast-growing. As to the pines, which are to yield the timber for building 
purposes, no information is given of their expected age of maturity. Nor is it stated 
how much of the total requirements is to be allocated to each of the three classes of 
timber. Under these circumstances it is a somewhat risky proceeding to give even 
.an approximate estimate of the area to be planted. In a later report, that for the 
