ADDENDA, 301 
In numerous instances the reports state the matai employed was not 
mature, or that it was too young, or that the proportion of sapwood was 
large, &c. Unfortunately, no information is afforded as to the season in which 
the timber was felled. 
A careful study of the entire series of reports leads to the following con- 
clusions :— | 
t. That matai should be felled during the dormant season, and thoroughly 
seasoned before being worked up. 
2. That only fully-matured timber should be used. 
3. That matai growing in elevated dry situations is more durable than when 
grown in lowland swamps. 
4. That the sapwood of matai speedily perishes, and communicates the 
decay to the heartwood. 
5. That decay is often caused by water being allowed to gain access to 
joints. | 
6. That miro is often fraudulently substituted by contractors for mata, 
causing an unfair prejudice against the latter. 
7. That when used for ground-plates, machine-beds, &c., ventilation should 
be given beneath, to prevent the growth of dry-rot. 
8. That matai should never be painted or tarred until it is properly seasoned. 
Most of the conclusions stated above apply with equal force to nearly all 
kinds of timber. I see no cause whatever to modify the good opinion of the 
value of matai expressed in the body of the work. The majority of cases of 
premature decay mentioned in the reports have obviously been caused by the 
timber being immature when felled, or having been felled during the growing 
season, and, generally, having been used in an unseasoned condition. 
Page 13. Podocarpus Halli, 1. hirk. 
Mr. R. Helms, late of Greymouth, has kindly forwarded specimens of this 
species in which the peduncles of the male catkins are very short indeed, but the 
catkins are never sessile. 
This species ascends to upwards of 3,o00ft. In an account of visits to the 
Ruahine mountain-range by W. Colenso, F.R.S., published in 1884, but which 
has only recently come into my hands, Mr. Colenso writes, ‘‘On my way down 
the mountain I discovered a plant of what I believed to be a new species of 
Podocarpus, and therefore named it P. Cunninghami (after my dear old friend 
and early botanist in New Zealand Allan Cunningham, who first described 
P. Totara). Its leaves and male amente, with the squamule at their base, were 
very much larger than those of P. Totara, and the amente were also on long 
peduncles. Its bark, too, was semi-papery, more like that of some large speci- 
mens of Fuchsia excorticata, and not at all resembling that of P. Totara. I 
subsequently found a small tree of it again in the same forest, but, as before, 
having only male flowers. I have little doubt of its being a distinct species. 
The Natives call it totara-kiri-kotukutuku (fuchsia-barked totara).”” The 
bark of P. Hallii resembles that of the true totara much more closely than that 
of Fuchsia, but differs from that of totara in being very thin; and the peduncles 
could scarcely be described as “‘long:’’ yet it is extremely probable that P. 
Hallii and P. Cunninghamii are identical, Should the fruit of Mr. Colenso’s 
plant agree with that of P. Halli the name of P. Cunningham must take 
precedence. I regret not having seen Mr. Colenso’s short description until fully 
a year after my diagnosis was printed. 
76 
