o.—3a.

4

The problem is blurred in the public eye because destruction, not construction, of forests lias marked the nation's history. Because the first: settlers in this Dominion found here more forests than they needed or could use they soon lost the habit, learned in Europe, of using forests sparingly. As a result, we as a people are to-day using several times the amount of wood per capita per annum that is used in many of the older nations of Europe. Area of Provisional State Forests. The probable area of absolute forest soils carrying potential or matured timber stocks is 8,000,000 acres. Of this quantity the State has now allocated as provisional State forests 4,610,000 acres; but it is necessary in the public interest that the total area be brought up to 12,000,000 acres. At this time it is impossible to state authoritatively the annual and sustained productive capacity of this land, but it is quite safe to say that all this aggregation, and more, will be required to be placed under forest management if a safety margin is to be attained against high prices and famine. This land must be subjected to an orderly and regulated forest management. (The cost of conducting forest regulation without forest devastation will usuallj' add to the cost of logging; in some cases it may be nominal, in other cases material. Whatever are the costs, they will be insignificant compared with the prices that the consumer already pays, and they will be altogether trifling compared with the prices which will have to be paid if unrestricted fior-est-destruction continues. For instance, in 1909 0.8. rimu sold in Wellington for 12s. 6d. per 100 ft., while in July, 1920, the price for the same material was 31s. per 100 ft.) Classification of Forests. The forests of New Zealand may lie classified according to their sociological value: (1) Supply forests; (2) public welfare or protection forests; (3) recreation forest areas, regional plantations. tinder Class 1, which represents the purely commercial forest, there are only two main regional forest areas of prime consideration from a national-supply stand point. The first is in the inland empire or central interior of the North Island, with Lake Taupo as a focal point. The second area is that region on the west coast of the South Island extending from Cape Farewell through to Milford Sound. Upon these two areas will the main work of forest-management be concentrated. The local-supply forests are, and will be, distributed throughout Auckland, Wellington, .Marlborough, Canterbury, and Otago Districts. Class 2 comprehends chiefly forests for — (a) Regulation and preservation of stream-flow; (/;) maintenance of .climatic stability; (c) protection of the productivity of adjacent agricultural land. The protection forests are located along the backbone of Hawke's May, Wellington, Taranaki, and Auckland, and on and contiguous to the Southern Alps or uplands of the South Island. Class 3 includes — (a) National parks; (I/) scenic reserves; (c) regional shelter-belts, ifee. The forests of this class are distributed widely throughout New Zealand. It will be apparent that classes 2 and 3 overlap. All these classes of forests have become endowed with great direct public interest, and arc, moreover, proper subjects for State regulation and control through its Forest Service.

Consumption of Timber per Head in New Zealand.