KAURI, THE WORLD'S LARGEST TIMBER-TREE. 43 
Tutamoe Forest, near the Waipoua Forest, and which were measured 
by Ranger H. S, Wilson. The largest of these two trees, on the east 
side of the Tutamoe Forest, was called ‘‘ Kairaru’’* by the Maoris, 
and measured 22 ft. in diameter, with 100 ft. of bole to the first branch. 
This, therefore, was the record big Kauri tree of New Zealand, and 
the biggest timber-producing tree in the world! Ii sawn up without 
waste in a good mill, as calculated below, it would have yielded 
221,841 sup. ft. of sawn timber; or, taking a common American log 
rule, 213,333 sup. ft. 
The other large tree in the same forest, which also had a special 
Maori name, ‘‘ Nga-mahangahua,’’ was of the same diameter, but this 
forked at a height of 22 ft, , 
The Hon. E. Mitchelson quotes as the thickest Kauri he has known 
a tree in the Mangakahia district, which was 16 ft. in diameter. It 
was left standing as being too large for milling purposes, and was after- 
wards burnt. 
Mr. W. B. Buckhurst sold a giant Kauri at the headwaters of the 
Wairoa River which was 20 ft. in diameter and had 60 ft. of clean bole. 
At page & of the Lands Department yearly forest report for 1907 
(C._4, Timber Industry) is shown a photo of a large Kauri tree 16it. 
in diameter and 42 ft. in length, containing 78,750 sup. ft., at Matakohe. 
Height, 275 ft—Charles Darwin has recorded 90 ft. of clean bole 
as occurring in the virgin forest; Kirk, 100 ft. bole as the official 
measurement of the giant Kauri tree ‘“‘ Kairaru’’; and of other trees, 
the tree with the longest bole of which I have heard is stated by Ranger 
Maxwell, of Waipoua, to have been some 125ft. It cut up into four 
lengths of 30ft., so that it must have been at least 125 ft. long. 
Mr. Mitchelson tells me that the longest Kauri spar he has known was 
124 ft. Colenso mentions a spar free of knots, and therefore cut out 
below the crown, which was 106 ft. in length. He gives 200ft. as the 
maximum height of the Kauri tree generally (Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1868). 
Of the total height of big Kauri trees I have no records. The 
loggers and millers do not look above the top of the bole. The trees 
I saw in the Waipoua Forest had usually about half their height in 
their crowns. Applying this rule to Ranger Maxwell’s tree, it would be 
some 250 ft. in height. Probably one may take the maximum height of 
the New Zealand Kauri at its best as having been about 275 ft. 
AUSTRALIAN GIANT TREES. 
The big Australian trees are discussed in an interesting pamphlet 
by Mr. A. D. Hardy, of the Victorian Forest Department (Annual Report, 
Forest Department, Victoria, 1910-11); and in my ‘“‘ Australian 
Forestry,’’ p. 315. It is probable there are or have been Australian 
Eucalypts with a total height of 400ft. It 1s certain that there are 
trees now up to 350 ft. total height, but all these are slender, tapering 
sticks compared to the massive columnar Kauri. The biggest Karri I 
could hear of in Western Australia yielded 3,750 c. ft. of log timber 
(Properjohn). This is under one-eighth the timber of the record Kauri 
tree called ‘‘ Kairaru.’’ The largest Karri (Huecalyptus diversicolor) I 
was able to see during a week’s stay in the heart of the best Karri forest 


* Mr. W. B. Buckhurst, Crown Lands Ranger, Christchurch, knew “ Kairaru”’ well 
by repute, in the old days, He has even seen a photo of it. He tells me it grew at the 
base of the Tutamoe Range, on clay soil, There is still Kauri in the Tutamoe Forest, 
one of the Kauri forests that most urgently needs demarcation and redemption. (Vide 
“ Waipoua Kauri Forest,’ p. 51.) The discovery of “Kairaru” by Mr, Perey Smith 
late Surveyor-General, is described in a note at page 189. 
