C—4.

Private Lands. Sup. ft. Rimu (red-pine) .. .. .. . .. .. 52,700,000 Kahikatea (white-pine) .. .. .. .. 14,200,000 Matai (black-pine) .. .. .. .. .. .. 1,800,000 Totara .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 182,000 Beeches .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3,000,000 Miscellaneous .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 2,000,000 Total .. .. .. .. .. .. 73,882,000 The miscellaneous timber is pukatea, hinau, miro, &c, and a quantity of timbers not usually cut by the sawmills, although many are either rejected or sold under some other name, when they have qualities of their own sufficient to secure a ready sale if they were known. F. Stephenson Smith, Commissioner of Crown Lands. F. Ward, Crown Lands Ranger.

NELSON. The Nelson Land District, comprising an area of 7,322 square miles, is situated at the northwestern corner of the South Island, extending from latitude 40° 30' south to about latitude 42° 30' south. It is bounded towards the west and north by the sea from Perpendicular Point, on the west coast to Pelorus Sound (a distance of about 520 miles) ; towards the south-east by the range leading over Elliot Peak and the Rai Saddle to the Pelorus River, thence by that river to its source in Slaty Peak, and by the western watershed of the Wairau River, the St. Arnaud Range, and the Spenser Mountains to the northern watershed of the Grey River ; towards the south by the watershed between the Grey River and the Inangahua River, and the watershed between the Inangahua River and the Mawhera-iti River to Mount Faraday, and thence by the Paparoa Range to Mount Pecksniff (4,250 ft.), and by the Pororari River to the sea. Of the varieties of timber trees of great durability, &c, it is ascertained that there are in the Nelson district fifteen kinds, and among the latter the following are too rare and small in dimensions to be of any commercial value—viz. : Podocarpus totara, Podocarpus Hallii, Podocarpus spicatus, Dacrydium Kirkii, Leptospermum ericoides, and Sophora tetraptera. Pahautea (Libocedrus Bidwillii), although not so rare as the varieties mentioned, is small, and so scattered that to secure 100,000 ft. of timber it would be necessary to work a very large extent of forest. The silver and yellow pines, together with Fagus fusca and other species of Fagus, are the most valuable timbers in the district. The silver and yellow pines are used almost exclusively for railway-sleepers, the yellow-pine more particularly, as it is acknowledged superior in every respect to silver-pine. These pines are growing in patches locally known as " yellow-pine bushes," and are rapidly becoming " worked out" ; as a matter of fact, clumps of virgin pine are rarely found. That these species of Dacrydium can be cultivated with ease on the large areas of waste " pakihi " land in Buller County is the opinion frequently expressed by experts, and in this connection Ranger Hursthouse has observed young trees growing in " pakihi," and on old clearings which have escaped the ravages of fire. Fagus fusca, popularly known as brown-birch, tawhai (Fagus apiculata), Fagus Blairii, Fagus cliffortioides or mountain-beech, and Fagus Menziesii known as silverbirch, constitute four-fifths of the forest of this district. Fagus fusca is used in heavy constructionworks, and is the most valuable of all the birches ; but no doubt in the near future Fagus Solandri and the other species will be brought into use for general building purposes, cabinet-making, and furniture. A small table made out of birch, silver-birch, and red-pine (the birch-wood of the table was used as studs and weatherboards in the Inkerman Battery, Reefton, for twenty-five years), is an excellent specimen of how birch can be utilised. Of the twenty-one varieties of timber suitable for general building purposes, but of less durability than the varieties in Class I, only thirteen are found in this district, and rimu stands out pre-eminently as the most useful. The quantity available is estimated at 529,284,000 sup. ft. This estimate is rather under than over the mark. The difficulty of obtaining supplies of rimu for milling purposes is increasing every year in this district, owing to the inaccessibility of the trees. The only forests of rimu of much value for working on a large scale are situated at Karamea and Cape Foulwind. There are isolated patches at Little Wanganui, Mokihinui, Ngakawau, and throughout the Buller Valley, sufficient to supply local requirements. Kahikatea (white-pine) is scattered all over the district, and the estimated quantity is 62,003,000 sup. ft., a little less than one half of which is growing on private lands, Native lands, and reserves. The other timbers in Class 11, with the exception of silver-birch, are all more or less valueless for milling purposes on account of their small dimensions and scarcity. They are useful for mining-props and kindred purposes. Of the timbers of small dimensions enumerated in Class 111 thirty-one are found in the Nelson district. They comprise scrubs or'small trees, several of which —such as tarata, wharangi, ake, puka, heretara, neinei, ngaio, and houhere —are suitable for garden-cultivation as hedge plants and shrubs. All of these varieties are easily grown, and many bear a wealth of beautiful flowers. Out of a total of 4,572,886,780 sup. ft. of millable timber, the various species of Fagus account for no less than 3,954,389,080 sup. ft., equal tojibout four-fifths of the millable timber in this district,

6—C. 4.

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