III. Expenditure of Forest Departments in Europe. A Serious Omission in Parliamentary Debates in New Zealand.

In the House of Representatives here, in 1874, the original Forest Bill introduced by Sir Julius vogel had to be withdrawn on the ground that the conservation of natural forests would not pay, judging from the results obtained in Germany, etc. It had been stated that the expenditure of the Forest Department in Prussia amounted to about 50 per cent. of the annual revenue.

Such a large amount of expenditure ought to have been explained, and the French Forest Department, which stands so high in the opinion of foresters all over Europe, might have been mentioned and compared with that of Prussia. It seems desirable the omission should not be overlooked.

The total area of the State Forests in France is now about 3,000,000 acres, the annual revenue of which is about page 9 £1,400,000. The expenditure of the department per annum is about £68,000 (rather less than 5 per cent).

The Communal Forests in France represent an area more than double that of the State Forests. They are managed under the direction and supervision of the State Forest Department, and the Communes have only to pay for the salary of their own forest guards.

Private forest property in the same country exceeds the area of the above. The owners are compelled by law to reserve a certain quantity of growing timber, even where they cultivate coppice wood; and they are not allowed any clearings of their forests without special authority.

Had the administration of the Forest Department of France been known here, the organization of the Forest Department of this Colony might have been practically settled by this time.

A fact well worth the attention of Statesmen and Economists is that in France, where the management of the State Forests may be considered as a model system, those forests may be assimilated to a capital invested at 30 per cent interest. In that country, landed property under cultivation, and forest included, is estimated as affording a nett revenue of 8 per cent. So, a property bringing in an annual revenue of 8,000 francs will be considered as representing a capital or money value of 100,000 francs.

The area of the State Timbered Forests of France under systematic treatment, is about 1,000,000 of hectares representing (as money and by assimilation to actual page 10 value of private property of same nature and quality) a capital of 100,000,000 of francs (£4,000,000), bringing in annually, a nett revenue of £1,332,000.

Although that revenue may be assimilated to the interest of a capital, it is, in fact, nothing else than a portion of the inexhaustible and self-reproducing capital (forest) that falls in every year. Why should not the same advantageous management be applied to private forest property ? The reason of it is that those timber forests are worked by rotation, the period being generally 150 years for oak forests. Therefore, a system of forestry where trees are to be felled at the age of 150 years can only apply to immense areas, etc., etc.

In Prance, private property in wood consists principally of coppice-wood, (taillis) which can afford seven crops within the period of rotation of a timber forest, each crop bringing in high financial returns on account of the bark and firewood they afford. Coppice-wood for bark is available from the age of 15 to 20 years,—older, the quality of the bark would be less. The felling takes place in the spring when the sap is ascending,—which facilitates the skinning of the wood. Bark should become here one of the most important articles of export to Europe.