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Owing to the very bad state of the road between the railway-station and the plantation a distance of four miles—the cartage of trees was a very expensive item, amounting to £50 Is. Bd. 395,500 pits were opened up, at a total cost of £316 Bs., the average cost per thousand being 16s. 23,500 pits were reopened at a cost of 12s. 6d. per thousand. The total number of pits available for this season's planting is 35,400. A hundred and thirty acres of fern land was burnt off, at a cost of Is. 4jd. per acre, and 90 acres of dry timber and manuka were felled by contract for 4s. 6d. per acre. As the fern in this district grows so quickly, it was decided to try cattle as an experiment, to test their suitability as a means of destroying the growth of tVin on boundary as a precaution against fires, and for this purpose 160J chains of fencing was erected 1 chain inside boundaryfence, at a cost of Bs. per chain. A dividing-fence of three wires, 54 chains long, was erected in horse-paddock, at 7s. sd. per chain. The plantation being situated in a very bleak position, it was found necessary to erect a fourstalled stable. During the early part of the year it was decided to build quarters for the accommodation of the workmen, but, owing to the Department resuming certain areas of land with cottages already erected thereon, the building was not required. Two cottages were purchased one for £10 and another for £7. Trees planted out during the season have taken well, with the exception of Oregon pine, these having all died—for no visible reason other than being unsuited to the climate and soil. American white-ash and redwood have done exceedingly well. Some of the Eucalyptus redunea planted four years ago have attained a height of 20 ft., with a girth of 18 in. I'odocarpus totara have taken fairly well, there being about 15 per cent, dead ; the rest are growing slowly. Clearing round and pruning trees, and clearing and chipping fire-breaks, cost £529 6s. 6d. The average number of men employed during the year was 1T97. The following is a record of the rainfall and temperature for the year :

• Expenditure. f s d Amount at the 31st March, 1907 ... ... ... ... 3,103 9 8 • Pitting ... ... ... ... ... ... ... '370 2 6 Tree-planting ... ... ... ... ... ... 286 4 6 Clearing ... ... ... ... ... 29 5 3 Cartage of trees ... ... ... ... ... ... 50 1 8 General upkeep of plantation ... ... ... ... 529 6 6 repairs ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 18 7 Horse-feed purchased and grown ... ... ... ... 0 17 5 Fencing ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 8 7 18 5 Buildings ... ... ... ... ... ... 63 15 8 Tools, implements, &c. ... ... ... ... ... 38 15 9 Miscellaneous works ... ... ... ... .. 9 16 4 Salaries— Foresters ... ... ... ... ... ... 160 0 0 Nurseryman's proportion of, and travelling-expenses ... 18 0 0 Supervision ... ... ... ... ... ... 16 3 0 Tree-seeds ... ... . . ... ... 10 1 9 Road-formation ... ... ... ... ... ... 316 4 £4,788 13 4 Chas. Hooper, Assistant Forester. A. Gordon, Nurseryman in Charge.

Month. Rainfall. Number of Davs Rain fell. Maximum Temperature. Date. Minimum Temperature. Date. 1907. Inches. 1201 403 12-06 17 71 1445 301 496 675 12-59 Degrees. 78 72 68 64 66 72 78 88 84 April ... May ... June ... July ... August September October... November December 1908. L4 13 11 i20 24 15 13 11 12 1st and 9th 12th 13th 22nd 29th 25th 21st 20th 19th Degrees. 36 30 28 34 32 28 34 38 36 29th 14th 16th 10th 21st 17th 5th and 16th 14th 27th January February March 0-41 208 2006 3 13 18 86 88 84 10th 16th 5th 50 50 44 6th and 19th 17th 16th and 17th Totals 11012 170