1919.] New Zealand Institute Science Congress. 349 
In forestry “ the cheapest methods ” should be the motto ; but imme¬ 
diate financial considerations should not cloud the horizon to the exclusion 
of all other considerations. Other points which may be emphasized include 
the covering of bare and comparatively unproductive areas with a crop 
of forest, the prevention of erosion, and the necessity for the establish¬ 
ment and maintenance of protective forests in high country for the con¬ 
servation of our water-supply and the prevention of floods on the lower 
levels. 
In forestry, more than in any other productive industry, “ long views ” 
are necessary, for the harvest is not gathered for many years after the 
sowing—perhaps not for forty, sixty, or even a hundred years—but the 
returns are invariably rich, and no more profitable enterprise could be 
undertaken by the State. Obviously, any scheme of afforestation requires 
“ long views, 5 ’ but in the case under consideration perhaps rather longer 
views than usual must be taken. The scheme, however, commends itself 
from the viewpoint of economy. 
Ample machinery already exists for the setting-aside and control of 
areas for afforestation. To further the scheme under consideration, would 
it not be possible to insert a clause in any lease covering high country, 
reserving the right to the State to plant trees for natural-regeneration 
purposes over all suitable areas at altitudes of 2,500 ft. and over, thus being 
fairly certain of not interfering with profitable pastoral country ? 
To some extent provision is being made for the timber needs of the 
comparatively near future by the excellent artificial plantations which 
have been in course of establishment for the past twenty years by the State 
Forests Branch of the Lands Department, and which are yielding revenue 
at even this early stage of their development. For the period of twenty 
years, over which afforestation has been carried on, the area annually 
afforested works out at approximately 1,632 acres, the total area artificially 
planted to the year 1917-18 being 32,645 acres. 
In the report on afforestation for the year 1915 it was computed that 
our native timber reserves were being depleted at the rate of 24,000 acres 
yearly. To replace this great annual depletion of our native forests an 
area of less than 2,000 acres has been afforested yearly, or less than 
one-fourteenth the area deforested. Over a period of about twenty years 
an area of approximately 32,000 acres is afforested to replace deforestation 
to the extent of about 480,000 acres in the same period. These are startling 
figures, and in no small measure afford a convincing argument in favour 
of wider methods and an extension of our afforestation operations. By all 
means, let the afforestation of our more accessible waste areas continue 
under the excellent methods now in practice ; but let “ Mother Nature ” 
deal with our high country. 
This scheme is not one of my own making, but one that the trees them¬ 
selves have shown me to be practicable ; and why not follow “ Mother 
Nature,” that often slow but always successful worker, who has here given 
the clue to the successful afforestation of such areas as those I have described 
Preservation of New Zealand Fauna, by E. G-. Stead. 
Press Notice ( The Press). 
Mr. Stead said that from the scientific point of view alone our native birds should 
were the only means of preservation we possessed. Even as it was, the sanctuaries 
be preserved for the use of scientists of succeeding generations. Our sanctuaries 
must be overrun in time by imported birds, against which many of the native species 
found it hard to survive. We must make the most extraordinary efforts to give 
them a chance. Therefore the sanctuaries should be made as complete as possible. 
It was not generally known in this country that a bird removed from one district to 
