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1908. NEW ZEALAND.

TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK (REPORT OF THE BOARD OF THE).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency. My Lord, — Department of Lands. Wellington, June, 1908. I have the honour to submit to Your Excellency the report of the'Tongariro National Park Board covering its operations up to the present time. I have, &c, Robert McNab, Chairman of Tongariro National Park Board. His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand.

EEPOET. Although the Tongariro National Park was set apart as a reserve by the passing of " The Tonga-riro National Park Act, 1894," it has remained untouched and undeveloped, except to a limited extent, until the last summer, when it was explored and reported on in a scientific manner. Under the above-named Act the Crown accepted the donation of an area of about 6,508 acres bj the late Te Heuheu Tukino, chief of the Ngatituwharetoa Tribe, for the purposes of a national park, and further enacted that adjoining areas of Crown and Native land should also be included in the proposed reserve. This was accordingly done, first by the description of such lands in the Schedule to the Act, and subsequently in a more formal and legal manner by the issue of a Proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette No. 76, of the 29th September, 1907, by which a total area of about 62,300 acres was permanently set apart for the purposes of a national park. By the same Act certain Trustees were permanently appointed to manage the park, and power was also given for the Governor to appoint other persons to act as Trustees for periods of five years. The persons so appointed have been :--Under the Act: The Minister of Lands (as Chairman), the Surveyor-General, the Director of Geological Surveys, together with Te Heuheu Tukino, the younger, the chief of the Ngatituwharetoa Tribe. By Governor's appointment in Gazette: The Under-Secretary for Lands; the General Manager of the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts; and the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Wellington Land District, for five years as from the Ist November, 1907. So as to more effectively manage, the park to the best advantage it was deemed desirable to ascertain whether the most suitable areas and boundaries had been selected for reservation; whether it was advisable to include in the reservation any of the adjacent lands; and what was the value, from a botanic, thermal, and scenic point of vit>w, of the region surrounding the great

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