D.—No. 22.

3

The value of the best timbered land may be taken at from £10 to £12 per acre; the average "value of the freehold would probably be about £5 per acre, and the remainder at the nominal price of £2 per acre, that being the price at which the waste lands in this Province are disposed of. Prom 20,000 to 25,000 acres of this forest have been more or less injured from fires. Oxford Forest is situated due west of Christchurch, at the back of the plains, under Oxford Hill, and contains 56,000 acres, of which 2,344 acres are freehold. The timber trees consist chiefly of Fagus Solandri, F. Menziesii, and F. Fusca, with a sprinkling of Nesodaplme Tawa and Memw Dacrydium Colensoi. The value of the best timber land may be taken at £10 per acre. The freehold would probably average £4 ; and the remainder, with the exception of about 30,000 acres situate at the back of the hills, may be valued at the nominal price of £2 per acre. Uaukapuka Bush contains 928 acres, of which the whole is either freehold or reserved. The timber trees are principally Podocarpus Totara, P. Dacrydioides, P. Spicata, and Manuka. It may be valued at £12 per acre. Waihi Bush contains 2,052 acres, of which 1,372 acres are freehold. It consists chiefly of Podocarpus Totara, P. Dacrydioides, P. Spicata, Manulca, and the different Fagi. The freehold may be valued at £6 per acre, and the remainder at £2. Peel Forest contains 1,460 acres, of which 860 acres are freehold. It consists chiefly of Podocarpus Totara, P. Dacrydioides, P. Spicata, Manuka, and the different Fagi. The freehold may be valued at £7 per acre, the remainder at £2. Waimatemate contains about 3,700 acres, of which 2,663 acres are freehold. It consists chiefly of Podocarpus Totara, P. Dacrydioides, P. Spicata, Manulca, and Fag us, in the upper parts. The freehold may be valued at £10 per acre, the remainder at £2. Alford Forest contains about 10,000 acres; the freehold amounts to 1,329 acres. About 4,000 acres are supposed to be inaccessible. The freehold may be valued at £4 per acre, the remainder at £2. This forest consists chiefly of Fagus Solandri, Menziesii, and Fusca, with a sprinkling of Podocarpus Dacrydioides and P. Spicata. There are several other small bushes scattered over the Province, some on the plains, but chiefly in gullies or valleys on the seaward faces of the hills; they are mostly freehold, and contain about 12,795 acres, and may be valued at £5 per acre. The remaining bushes within the Province, amounting to 128,000 acres, are situated in the backcountry, and are at present of nominal value only, as there is no use for the timber, excepting for the requirements of a few runholders. They consist almost entirely of Fagus Solandri, F. Menziesii, and F. Fusca. 2. About 300,000 acres. 3. About 223,243 acres. 4. The destruction of timber on Crown Lands and on freeholds has been in equal proportions. 5. Fires in the forest have been occasioned in different ways ; sometimes purely by accident, often from utter disregard of the possible or even probable consequences of firing the scrub for the purpose of clearing bush land for cultivation, also from carelessness on the part of bushmen in leaving fires in or near their huts and camping places, and from the universal custom of allowing all lops and tops to remain on the ground after the timber has been felled. Fires also frequently extend into the forest from the custom of burning the long grass and rough growth on runs. This also is sometimes by accident, often by design. I do not think that the holders of bush licenses have been the means of causing more fires than would have occurred from any other equal number of men employed in bush work. The greater part of the Canterbury Plains were probably covered with timber at no very distant period. Numerous indications that such had been the case could easily be seen not more than eighteen years since, and to my personal knowledge, extending over the greater part of the Province. From whatever causes the first fires may have originated, there is no doubt that each succeeding fire penetrated further and further into the forest until such parts only remained as were protected from the fires by swamps or rivers. "We have now brought the fire into these forests, and I believe that it will be utterly impossible to preserve the remaining portions for any length of time. I do not think that cattle have destroyed any appreciable extent of forest. The growth of New Zealand trees in this Province appears to be a very doubtful matter after the large trees have been removed, or after the fire has gone over the ground. "Whenever the light and air is let into the forests, the Native trees appear to die out., The only trees to which this does not apply are the Fagi. Many persons in Canterbury have at different times endeavoured to grow the Native timber trees,, but with very little success. The flourishing plantations of Tasmania, and European forest trees which are to be seen everywhere within the settled districts of the Province have not arisen so much from any predilection on the part of the Colonists for these particular trees as from the extreme difficulty of making any progress with the Native trees. 6. I do not know of any damage which has occurred to agricultural districts from floods or droughts having been rendered more severe through the destruction of the forest. Second Series of Questions. 1. Bush reserves are not advisable. It is impossible to exercise any efficient supervision over them, and the law does not appear to afford any sufficient protection. It has been extremely difficult to procure convictions for unlicensed cutting. lam decidedly of opinion that the forests should be allowed to pass into freehold, as the only chance of their ultimate preservation. I am of opinion that bush licenses are not advisable, and this I believe is the unanimous opinion of every one who has been immediately concerned in the administration of the Waste Lands in Canterbury. They give men the right to go anywhere through the forests in their district, and to cut and destroy any quantity of timber. Having no permanent interest in the soil, they look only to the present, and often destroy as much valuable timber as they bring into the market. The revenue derived from this source is quite insignificant.

THE FORESTS OE NEW ZEALAND.