C.—3.

PREFACE.

REVIEW OF PERIOD 1919-1936. The outstanding features of the past seventeen years are:— (1) The control by the State Forest Service in 1936 of 7,910,172 acres of forest land, as compared with 1,654,214 acres in 1919. (2) The dedication as permanent State forests of 4,043,693 acres, as compared with 2,196,033 acres four years ago and 1,654,214 acres seventeen years ago. (3) The systematic prevention of fire losses in State forests. (4) The protection of Native-owned forests, securing to the Maori owner his full equity. (5) The planting of 385,536 acres of exotic forests. (6) The cleaning and underscrubbing of 23,000 acres and thinning of 12,000 acres of the earlier-planted exotic forests. (7) A commencement with establishment and assessment surveys, working plans, thinnings, and minor utilization projects in the older exotic forests. (8) The experimental underplanting of exotics in the indigenous cut-over forests. (9) The adoption of general working plans to regulate the cutting of kauri timber on a sustained-yield basis, and the application of similar plans to the rimu pole-type forests of Westland. (10) A substantial reduction in forest wastage and a marked improvement in the utilization of both exotic and indigenous timbers, by the establishment of modern timber-grading and kiln-drying practices. (11) Numerous demonstrations of the suitability of New-Zealand-grown timbers for creosoted posts, poles, &c., including the manufacture of pulp and paper products. Credit for these achievements must be given not only to the State Forest Service, but also to numerous other Departments—e.g., the Lands and Survey, Public Works, Internal Affairs, and Native—for valuable co-operation. PROPOSALS FOR PERIOD 1936-1940. A five-year programme of forest works should include the following essential features:— (1) Extension of fire-protection methods. (2) Further planting of exotics to be limited to consolidation and blanking of existing forests. (3) Further experimental underplanting of indigenous cut-over forests with exotics. (4) Placing the major kauri forests, portions of the silver-beech forests of Southland, the rimu pole-type forests of Westland, and the mixed rimu forests of the North Island under working-plan management, and substituting log sales for block sales of standing timber wherever practicable.

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