tional scheme of Afforestation on a gi- 
gantice scale is now contemplated as a 
remedy for unemployment. But these 
are in a sense side issues, and I am 
willing to stake the case for Reforesta- 
tion and Afforestation in New Zealand 
solely on the pleas that I have already 
so often recapitulated—the rapid dis- 
appearance of our native bush, the ur- 
gent necessity for replenishing our 
stock of timber, the imminence of the 
approaching timber famine, and the 
terribly devastating effects of the ex- 
tirpation of forest trees, as seen in the 
denudation and erosion of hill sides, the 
destruction of fertile soil, the drying up 
of streams, the silting up of rivers and 
harbours, the regular recurrence of dis- 
astrous floods, and the deterioration in 
the climatic, meteorological, and hygi- 
enie sense of every country, which has 
once sacrificed its natural heritage of 
trees without making any adequate ef- 
fort to replace them. 
A LAST APPEAL. 
shall we do to combat 
The answer is indicat- 
in 
What then 
these dangers? 
ed, I hope with sufficient clearness 
all that I have already written. We have 
a Forestry Department and we have 
already inaugurated a system of af- 
forestation. We must extend our opera- 
tions and spend more money over the 
work than before. We must not be con- 
tent with a few thousand acres, but we 
must lay our plans on a generous scale, 
for the establishment in all parts of the 
country of large plantations of quick 
growing and valuable timber trees. We 
must as far as possible protect our 
State forests against tire, by employing 
large numbers of rangers; for though 
this may seem an expensive. process, the 
result will amply repay us. We must 
prevent the indiscriminate clearing of 
the bush on land that is really unfit for 
settlement, and under no circumstances 
should we permit timber to be cut away 
along the upper courses and headwaters 
42 
ot rivers. But above everything 
else we must plant, plant, plant, and en- 
courage everybody who owns land to 
plant, by every means in our power. 
Arbour Day is still in theory a public 
institution here, but it sadly needs the 
aid of a little popular enthusiasm. Of 
course, the indiscriminate planting of 
worthless trees in unsuitable localities. 
is simply waste of time. But our For- 
estry Department is in a position to 
circulate any quantity of useful infor- 
mation on such subjects, and to control 
and direct such efforts at afforestation 
or reforestation as the people may 
choose to make. This great work, as I 
have already tried to show, is primarily 
the function of the State; and what 
money the State expends upon it will 
soon be repaid tenfold by our immunity 
from the disastrous losses that deforesta- 
tion necessarily entails. But the fact 
that Government has already taken up 
this work does not relieve individual 
gitizens of their responsibility in the 
matter. Every man who possesses a 
piece of land should reflect upon these 
memorable words of Stephen Girard: “If 
I knew that I must die to-morrow, I 
would plant a tree to-day.” For even 
if an enlightened sense of self interest 
does not teach him to regard tree-plant- 
ing as one of the most profitable occu- 
pations he can take up and one of the 
most lucrative ways in which he can 
turn his land to account, every intelli- 
gent citizen should realise that he owes 
it as a duty to his neighbours, his child- 
ren and his country, to conserve our 
forest wealth and to replace our trees 
at least as rapidly as they are cut away. 
Even on purely selfish grounds we must 
admit all this, because even within our 
own day and generation the timber 
famine is almost upon us, and the evils 
that I have endeavoured to describe are 
already manifesting themselves on every 
hand. But on such a question as this 
I do not think that I need appeal to 
self-interest alone. Even though the 
our 
