G.—No. 16,

8

MEMORANDUM OE ACTION TAKEN IN ACCORDANCE WITH

No. 8. The Undee Seceetaet, Public "Works, to Mi-. Q-. Allen. SlR >— . Public Works Office, 21st December, 1871. I am directed by Mr Ormond to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 28th November, in which you afford valuable information as to New Zealand timbers; and, in reply, to inform you that the attention of the Engineer-in-Chief has been called thereto, and that instructions have been given to have all native timbers experimented on. I have, &c, George Allen, Esq., Hutt. John Knowles.

APPENDIX C. No. 9. Mr. A. Kelloo to Dr. Hectoe. Sib,— San Francisco, 18th October, 1871. The order for Californian forest tree seeds came to hand so late that I find it impossible to send a full supply. These seeds are mostly from my South Californian Coast expedition. My North Coast expedition is not in by the time allotted, and though often urgently written to for whatever could be sent here before the 10th inst., none have come in, and only a few have been received from the Sierras. lam unable to send any of the silver firs, and some of the spruces here seldom open before frost, which sometimes holds off late. Hence the list is meagre, compared with what it ought to be, had a previous understanding of the urgency of your requirements been impressed upon the parties. Under the circumstances, I felt reluctant, hesitating whether to make up a package or not; but, at the suggestion of Mr. Collie, I concluded to do so. Another year they can mostly, if not all, be ready perhaps early enough for—say the 10th October. The box is packed in such a manner that I think all the seeds will arrive in a good vital condition. I have delayed until the last hour, expecting seeds by express from the interior. Did time allow, a word might be offered with regard to, the culture of these trees. Thuja gigantea thrives on foggy coast, and well north. Cupressus mewrocarpa in fogs further south, and with Pinus insignis and tuherculata, and also murieata, tolerate bleak windy coasts as shelter trees. Good seed often proves poor by the forester violating its nature, planting them beneath the soil, where nature never intended them to be. They should be sown literally on the soil, with a compost of forest leaves or sawdust sprinkled over them, and wetted with a rose so fine as to sprinkle lightly, and not disturb the seed ; they will then grow, even though they do not touch the soil at all. Ask nature's laws whether there be any pith in the root, and if none, and the seed be below, deep in the soil, the point of the departure of the stem and root being beneath the earth, the pith turns black and is diseased, and growth is delayed, if indeed they grow at all. If sown, therefore, on the soil, they will not disappoint your just expectation. In haste, Tours truly, Dr. James Hector, Colonial Museum, "Wellington. A. Kellog.

APPENDIX D. No. 10. Memoeandttm on the Manufacture of Condensed Milk. The manufacture of condensed milk is beginning to attract some attention in England; and it is worth considering whether it might not be made a profitable industry in such a Colony as New Zealand. Although this preparation has been for many years past a standard article of home consumption in America, it has only recently come into notice here; and at present there is only one factory in England —the works of the English Condensed Milk Company, established at Aylesbury—where the manufacture is carried on upon anything like an extensive scale. The value of the condensed milk as a dietetic preparation is, however, being more widely recognized every day, and it is fast rising into importance as an article of commerce. At present the English market is mainly supplied with it from three sources, viz.,—l. The English Condensed Milk Company's Establishment at Aylesbury, already mentioned; 2. The AngloSwiss Company at Cham, in Switzerland ; and 3. The Irish Factory at Mallow. And it is said that already the demand is far in excess of the ordinary supply. It comes upon the market in sealed tins, and is gradually becoming a common article of household consumption, being in reality far purer and better than the so-called fresh milk sold in cities, which is always more or less adulterated with foreign substances or diluted with water. The only drawback at present to its universal use appears to be the prejudice attaching to the dessicated milk of commerce, which, however, is a totally different thing. In this preparation, which is commonly known as ''Preserved Milk," the butter globules are necessarily broken or decomposed, and the article not only loses its principal nutritive properties and its milk-like aroma, but is apt to become more or less rancid and unpalatable. In the condensed or concentrated milk, on the contrary, all the original substances—namely the globules of cream, the curd, and the whey—are actually preserved in their unchanged, natural condition ; and, by the addition of the necessary amount of water, a milk as pure and wholesome as the original is immediately reproduced.