146 FIRE. 
I have come to the conclusion—and I have seen nearly every class of 
forest fire—that only reasonable precautions are necessary to preserve 
the Kauri forest from fire, whether as virgin forest or whether in the 
worked condition; whether the ‘‘ over-wood ’’ be pure Kauri or mixed 
Kauri forest. 
Mr, Atkinson protected his fine little Kauri forest (300 acres) near 
Auckland City for thirty years merely by putting up notice-boards and 
keeping an eye on it. This forest, now Atkinson Park, was cut down 
sixty years ago and all burnt, The fine stretch of forest we see to-day 
is entirely natural regrowth. The natural reproduction one sees Is a 
perfect object-lesson, especially as the original cutting was not done so as 
to favour natural regeneration. An application of some of the methods 
described at p. 116, or a little inexpensive interplanting, would have 
produced a completely stocked normal forest of Kauri. 
Burnt Kauri Forest and Swamp “‘ Gum.’’—Judging from present ap- 
pearances and from what I have heard of fires in the past there seems little 
doubt that the coast side of the Waipoua Forest has been destroyed by 
fire—first the fires of the Maoris, latterly the Maoris and ‘‘ gum-diggers ”’ 
combined. The shrinkage of the Kauri area from the area of the pre- 
sent gumfields to the small area of the present Kauri forest has been 
caused solely by fire. Of this, to a forester who has lived in South 
Africa and seen the action of fire on the similar forest of that country, 
there can be no doubt. It is not necessary to invoke changes of level 
or changes of climate to account for the presence of Kauri fossil “‘ gum ”’ 
in swamps. The Kauri trees grew there once and were destroyed by 
fire. That is the natural explanation of Kauri “‘gum’”’ now found 
in swamps. Both Kauri ‘‘gum’’ and Kauri timber in all stages of 
preservation are found in swamps. The rank vegetation of swamp land 
burns fiercely in exceptionally dry years, while the gum-droppings 
and crown pieces of ‘‘gum’’ sunk in the lower wetter parts would 
be protected, or only scorched by fire. That is the appearance of 
the swamp ‘‘gum’”’ one sees to-day. It has been stated that Kauri 
does not flourish on swampy land, and that may be true for swampy land 
near the coast. Kauri certainly grows freely on swampy high land in 
the Waipoua Forest, and I have seen large. Kauri logs and ‘‘ gum- 
spearing *’ in swamps elsewhere. 
Fire and Timber-working.—It is not only Kauri timber that is so 
valuable, but the shapeliness of the Kauri log. Soundness and absence of 
taper are the characteristics of Kauri logs. Yet this very shapeliness 
of Kauri has helped to destroy the Kauri forests. The great logs are 
cut up into sections like tubular boilers; and these, when the forest has 
been burnt, are rolled down the slopes, or jacked and levered along the flat 
to the nearest stream, to await a flood or the breaching of an artificial 
dam, auri-log working and the burnt forest is well pictured in the 
Lands Department, 1907, ‘*‘ Report on the Timber Industry of New 
Zealand.”’ 
Usually one fire will not clear the bush. Then repeated fires are set, 
by which time the Kauri sapwood is usually riddled by borer; but the 
heartwood remains sound for an indefinite period, and is always worth 
rolling out as long as the forest is kept burnt and the way clear. 
BurninG oF a Kaurt Forest: a Worp-prorure. 
. I quote lengthily, from the pen of Canon Walsh, tho following descrip- 
tion of the destruction of a Kauri forest by fire, because (1) its word- 
