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" Prior to the war the local prices of petrol and the cheapest petroleum oils used in Diesel engines were approximately Is. and (id. per gallon respectively. At these prices the value of Ihe oils distilled from No. 5 sample would be, — s. d. ' Motor-spirit (3 gallons at Is.) ... ... ... 3 0 per ton of peat. Fuel-oil (23-2 gallons at 6d.) ... ... ... 11 7 Total ... ' ... ... ... 14 7 "To this must be added the value of the ammonia recovered in the process. The pre-war price of ammonia sulphate in Britain was about 2d. per pound. At that price the ammonia recovered would be worth 2s. 4d. per ton of peat. From this must, be deducted the cost of the sulphuric acid required to combine with the ammonia; but on the large scale, with a properly constructed retort, it is probable that the yield of ammonia sulphate would be considerably increased. About Is. may also be added for the acetic acid, making a total value of approximately 18s. per ton of peat. This does not give a very large margin for cost of treatment, but it should be sufficient, provided that the industry is carried out on a sufficiently large scale with an efficient plant and under capable management." The Kauri-gum Lands of New Zealand a Valuable National Asset. These lands lie scattered throughout that portion of the North Island lying between latitudes 34° 20' and 38° 20' south, approximately north of a line drawn from Kawhia on the west coast to Tauranga on the east. The total area of the gum-bearing lands was estimated in 1898 at 814,000 acres; of this area 435,000 acres were then Crown lands, the balance being made up of privately owned lands and Native land which had not then been through the Court. Of the Crown lands 276,000 acres were set aside in 1898 as kauri-gum reserves; since then about 120,000 acres have been withdrawn from the reserves for settlement and other purposes', the greater proportion of the land having been found to be not gum-bearing. The gum lands are of two main classes, the "clay lands" and the peal, swamps. The clay lands are practically exhausted as far as the ordinary methods of the gum-digger are concerned, but the kauri-peat swamps still contain valuable products which can be exploited with profit to the State, and the land afterwards utilized for agricultural purposes. 1 have from time to time, since my first association with these lands early in 1.914, drawn public attention to the value of the gum lands and the possibilities of their successful development. Owing perhaps to the lands being situated in a locality somewhat out of the beaten track their value has not been properly appreciated by the people of New Zealand. The more I have become familiar with these lands the more I have realized the wealth contained in them and their value to the State. One of the first acts of the Royal Commission which reported on the gum lands in June, 1914, at its first meeting at Houhora about the end of March, 1.114, was to have a «ample of kauri peat sent to the Dominion Analyst. Dr. Maclaurin's report on this sample was published in C.-12, 1914, page 90. From that time onwards, as various possibilities of the products of these lauds presented themselves, samples have been sent on for investigation by Dr. Maclaurin. First the kauri-peat timber was investigated; next the problem of Separating the dirt and foreign matter from the hue gums was considered, resulting in the invention of the salt vacuum process; again, the present gum-content of the peat-swamp areas, and the best methods of winning the gum ami other valuable products from the soil, have received consideration. As a consequence of the work he has done up to the present it is satisfactory to be able to place on record the fact that Dr. Maclaurin is now as much impressed with the great value of these gun, lands as I am. In a letter of the 9th November, 1917, he says, "As you arc aware, i ieei strongly that the Government, instead of disposing of any kauri-gum lands, should increase the amount they already hold." I may say that this goes further than anything I have urged. I have always been contented with affirming that the Government should retain all the gum lands fhev now possess until such time as all the kauri-gum and other valuable products have been extracted from them. With the knowledge I have now acquired of the value of these lands I find it difficult to view at all calmly the way m winch this valuable asset has been in such a large measure wasted owing to the failure in past years to recognize their value. I have before directed attention to the fact that some of the peat swamps contained kauri-gum to the value of from £2,0(10 lo ,£3,000 the acre, and there were many thousand acres of such lands. Altogether flu-re wvre upwards of a million acres of gum lands which were thrown open for indiscriminate digging upon the payment of a license fee of a few shillings a year. The value of the kauri-gum exported from New Zealand to the 31st March last, as will be seen by the table on another page, was over eighteen and a quarter millions sterling. A considerable part of that large sum passed into the hands of the Austrian (Dalmatian and Croatian) gun,-diggers, thousands of whom swarmed on to the gurnfields over twenty years ago, and very soon much of this wealth found its way to Austria. But in spite of these facts, and in spite of the fact that the best of the gum lands have been intensely potholed, these lands are still valuable, and, as I have before said, probably still contain as much wealth as up to the present has been won from them. As a result of the facedigging operations it has been proved that there are large areas of the shallow peat swamps—that IS, swamps where the peat is 3 ft. to 6 ft. deep above the sandstone—which contain at least three shillings worth of kauri-gum to the cubic yard. From tests which have been made of the

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