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lease or demise of any forest, or grant or accept or contract to grant or accept any right or license to fell standing timber. Under this regulation 424 (520) consents were granted during the year. The transactions fall into three groups : (a) Privately Owned Forests : Consents for the sale and purchase of privately owned forests chiefly affect insignis-pine trees from small farm wood-lots or shelterbelts. Of the consents given during the year, 360, or more than 80 per cent., were in respect of exotic trees in this group. (b) Maori-owned Forests : Three notices affecting forests in Rotorua and Wellington Conservancies were issued pursuant to Regulation 3 of the Timber Emergency Regulations 1939, as amended by Regulation 2 of Amendment No. 1 (Serial number 1943/106), which authorizes the Timber Controller to require Maori owners of forest to sell their interests to such proprietors as he may nominate. A notice requiring such a sale is given to the Maori Land Board on behalf of the owners. In all cases as many owners as possible are consulted and, wherever practicable, their prior consent obtained. In effect, the. procedure under the regulations simply provides the machinery for sales to be dealt with expeditiously, and in some cases the Maori owners have asked for the sales to be dealt with in this way. Under the regulations the owners are given twenty-one days in which to lodge objections to a sale. In only one case was an objection received, and it was made under a misapprehension. In two cases, one following a direction notice issued before 31st March, 1945, and one •following a direction notice issued this year, it was necessary to issue authorizations enabling the sawmillers to proceed with logging pending the usual appraisal and issue of a license. In such cases the sawmillers are required to make substantial deposits and pay monthly for the timber cut. Three licenses for the sale of forest were granted following direction notices issued during the preceding year and one following a notice issued this year, and three licenses were confirmed by the Native Land Court. The normal procedure under the Native Land Act, 1931, is a lengthy process, and the shortened procedure of the Timber Emergency Regulations has proved to be extremely valuable in making available supplies of logs to meet emergency needs. All sales of Maori-owned forest require the consent of the Commissioner of State Forests in terms of section 35 (2) of the Forests Act, 1921-22, and in all cases a cruise and valuation of the timber in the forest is prepared by the Forest Service before consent is given. The same procedure is followed in sales under the Timber Emergency Regulations, and as such sales are subject to confirmation of the Native Land Court the owners are assured of receiving full value for the timber sold and their interests generally are protected by the supervision of cutting by the Forest Service. (c) Exotic Forests (Commercial). —No consents for the sale and purchase of forests established for commercial timber production by afforestation companies were granted during the year. In accordance with the conditions of consents granted during the preceding year, two forest working plans, each covering the sales of 500 acres and prepared by a qualified forester, were received and approved, and one working plan, covering an area of 2,104 acres, is under consideration. In all cases of the sale for milling of commercial forests consents are subject to the condition requiring the owner to submit a forest working plan, which is a detailed written scheme, including map or maps, of the operations to be undertaken for the silvicultural management and progressive reforestation of the area as it is cut over, and also for fire prevention and control. Where a forest is situated in a fire district, close co-operation is required with the forest officer in charge. A case occurred during the year in which, in order to prevent an important sawmill being closed down as the result of the refusal of a landowner to renew an easement 1 over his property, it became necessary to exercise the compulsory powers of the Timber Emergency Regulations 1939, as amended, and to authorize the sawmiller to continue using the access. The conditions were similar to those attaching to the expired easement and the sawmiller completed his operations without further difficulties. 109. The Timber Position. —Although the-war was still in progress when the year under review commenced, it had receded so far from New Zealand's shores that little demand was made on the Dominion for timber for large-scale defence works, military

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