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and that the conservation of these forests, and the regularity of the supply derivable therefrom, should be provided for by subjecting the said forests to skilled management aud proper control : Now, therefore, I, the Governor of the Colony of New Zealand, in pursuance and exercise of the powers vested in me by the said Act, do hereby order and proclaim that the total area of the Crown timber-lands in this colony shall, from the date of the promulgation of this present, order, be Avithdrawn from sale, leasing, or licensing, and shall be reserved for State purposes, saving and excepting from such general reservation such portion or portions of the forest lands as it may be deemed expedient, from time to time, to open up for purposes of actual settlement or public works; and that the timber standing on the said lands shall be disposed of and yearly offered for sale by auction upon the scale and in the manner hereunder specified; and, in pursuance and exercise of the said poAvers vested in me under the Act, I do hereby make the rules, regulations, and orders hereunder set forth for the management and administration of the said forests :—

1. There shall be a special administration for the management of the State forests, to be intituled " The Forest Department." The Forest Department shall be administered under the immediate authority of the Minister of Lands. The general direction of the Forest Department shall be provisionally added to the ordinary duties of the officers of the Crown Lands Department. The Commissioners of CroAvn Lands shall, under the direct instructions of the Land Minister, exercise the duties of general inspectors in respect to the executive service of the Forest Department. Inspectors and Rangers of Forests shall be appointed by the Governor, on the recommendation of the Land Minister; Forest-Guards shall be appointed by the Director-General of the Forest Department. Forest-Guards shall be made responsible for any damages ami wrongs perpetrated on the sections of forest specially assigned to their supervision, uidess the said damages and wrongs have been duly authenticated by the Guard and reported by him to the Ranger.

Administration.

Rangers and Forest-Guards shall be required to take the oath prescribed for constables. 2. All actions, suits, and proceedings at huv, respecting State forests generally, shall be prosecuted by the Commissioners of Crown Lands, acting in exercise of their powers and duties as defined by sections 11 (subsections c, d, e, f, g, li), 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, of "The Land Act, 1877."

Law proceedings.

All purchase-moneys in respect of sales of the standing timber-trees, and moneys payable by way of deposit, or in respect of moneys due for damages and Avrongs, or due from any cause whatsoever in respect to State forests generally, shall be paid to the Receiver of Land Revenue.

Finances.

3. All State forests in this colony shall be subject to systematic conservation, and the quantity of timber and wood annually derivable therefrom shall be ascertained and determined as soon as practicable, to the effect that the annual fellings in each forest should be restricted to such a quantity of forest-produce as may be available regularly and permanently.

Systematic corf serration.

4. Timber-trees in State forests shall be annually offered for sale by public auction at such upset prices, and in such quantities expressed in cubic feet, as shall be determined by the Minister of Lands, on the report of the Director of the Forest Department. The standing timber-trees, or any timber or wood, being found cut down in State forests, accruing from damages and wrongs therein perpetrated, shall be sold as approximately estimated in cubic feet. No such timber shall be offered for sale unless the same shall have: been previously marked Avith the special stamp-hammer. The Commissioner of CroAvn Lands shall be the Chairman, and will be assisted by the local' forest officer and the Receiver of Land Revenue at the timber auction sales. On the receipt of special instructions from the Minister of Lands respecting the timber auction sales, the Commissioner of CroAvn Lands shall give notice of the time and place at Avhich the auction sale is intended to be held, and the notice shall be published in the Gazette, or in a local newspaper, not less than six weeks before such auction shall take place, and the special clauses and conditions and general terms of the sales shall be inserted at the same time in the Gazette or newspaper. If any purchaser of the timber at the auction sale declares that he has a saw-mill, or any other establishment in connection with the timber trade, situated in the interior of or near a State forest from which he used to draw his ordinary supply, and that he shall require for the maintenance and working of his establishment a quantity of timber equal or about equal to 2—H. 3.

Timber sales.

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