Forest Conservation.

Referring to the conservation of our forests, I must confess that it has often struck me that when expressing gratification at the great productive powers of our saw-mills, we cannot but feel regret that every vibration of the saw but brings us nearer to a time when, although it may yet be far in the future, the strictly finite quantity of marketable kauri must cease to exist. I had cherished a hope that certain of the forests yet in the hands of the Government could have been reserved from sale and kept for the benefit of young New Zealand, who in twenty or thirty years hence might decide for themselves what they thought best to do with them. But after making careful inquiry, I have the almost unanimous opinion of experts that, so far as our indigenous kauri bushes are concerned, to attempt to conserve them is simply to waste them, exposed as they are to the fires of the gum-seeker, and that the persistent working of them is becoming yearly more of a necessity. But all forests are not equally susceptible to this danger, and it is to be hoped that some practical good may come of the proposed legislation on this question as affecting the vast totara, kahikatea, and other bushes of the interior. Then, as to tree planting. Mr. Baber, of Remuera, in his practical paper, recently read before the Auckland Institute, shows most conclusively, from his own experience and observation, that within an average lifetime many of our indigenous trees, particularly the puriri, pohutakawa and totara, can be grown to become a source of profit. A great element of future wealth, therefore, hangs in the balance of our legislators' decision at present, both as regards native bush and tree planting.