5

C.--3

Export of Timber. The following return, furnished by the Comptroller of Customs, shows the total quantity and value of the undermentioned kinds of timber exported from New Zealand, and the timber export duty collected, during the year ended 31st March, 1919 : —

From the above it is found that the export for the year under review was less than for the year ended 31st March, 1918, by roughly 2,000,000 sup. ft. ; but in the former case, though the quantity was less, the value was £132,000 more. There was an increase of roughly 3,000,000 sup. ft. in the export of rimu for the year just ended over that of the previous year. Output of Sawn Timber. Information supplied by the Board of Trade shows that the total output of all timbers (luring the year was, in superficial feet, as follows : Rimu, 111,318,579 ; white-pine, 63,136,665 ; kauri, 21,835,023; totara, 13,387,038 ; matai, 11,930,040 ; beech, 4,466,116 ; taraire, 228,377 ; Pinus radiata, 1,501,274 : or a total of 227,803,112 superficial feet for all kinds. The output is 20,000,000 superficial feet below that for the year ended 31st March, 1918, as obtained from the reports which were sent in for that year by the Conservators of State Forests. Area of Forest Lands owned by the State. Returns received in October last showed that the approximate total area of all forests owned by the State was as follows :— Forests controlled by the Commissioner of Stale Forests. The Commissioner of State Forests Iras control over only State forests proclaimed under the State Forests Act and certain forest reserves made under the Land Act prior to 1885. The total area of both these classes is 1,654,214 acres, of which there are approximately 1,464,214 acres under forest, but only about 364,000 acres carry kauri, rimu, white-pine, matai, totara, and miro in sufficient quantity to be commercially valuable at the present time, though it may be possible by interplanting and other treatment to establish a crop of milling-timber trees on the balance of the land. Forests not controlled by the Commissioner of Stale Forests. (a.) The area of forest on Crown lands is approximately 3,899,832 acres, but of this only about 494,400 acres are milling-forest. (6.) The approximate area of forest on national-endowment lands is 2,205,575 acres, but only about 417,500 acres of this area are milling-forest. In Westland the forests on national-endowment lands are far more valuable than those on Crown lands. (c.) The area of forest on lands acquired under the Land for Settlements Act is 66,735 acres, and of this area there are approximately 58,000 acres of milling-forest. (d.) The area of forest on forest reserves, reserves for the growth and preservation of timber, timber reserves, and other reserves made under the Land Act, other Acts, or taken under the Public Works Act, is approximately 371,269 acres, but of this only about 37,200 acres carry milling-timber. At present there is no authority to mill timber on these classes of reserves. (e.) The total area of scenic reserves under both the Scenery Preservation Act and the Land Actis 389,065 acres. Most of this area is under forest, some of which is millable, but as the object of reservation is primarily to preserve the forest in its natural state none of the area can be considered in connection with the timber resources of the Dominion. (/.) The total area of National Parks is 2,817,389 acres, of which about 2,081,000 are under forest, but the proportion of milling-timber is very small, and at present there is no authority to cut timber on National Parks.

Item. Quantity. Duty collected. Value. Kauri White-pine Rimu Beech Miscellaneous (New Zealand) ,, (not New Zealand) Sup. ft. 9,280,213 28,385,105 27,977,703 1,254,091 1,797,425 2,566 £ 11 4 £ 97,084 233,680 194,282 10,670 16,224 33 68,697,103 15 551,973 Tanning-bark (New Zealand) Tons. 8 122 Total £552,095