C.—3

16

Concrete evidence of the attitude adopted towards this pest by settlers residing near infested areas was recently furnished to the Service in a peculiar manner, when the Crookston farmers, who have suffered severely from the depredations of fallow deer for many years, urged delay in the State forestation project in the Blue Mountains in South Otago on the grounds that the exotic forests so created would become a refuge for these animals. An impression of how serious the deer menace has become in this district may be obtained from the fact that out of 5,877 deer-tails collected by forest officers in the South Island for the purpose of payment of the bounty of 2s. per tail, 3,890 tails were received from the Blue Mountains area alone. Native Birds. Recognizing that without the indigenous forest most of the native land-birds cannot live, and that many tree species are dependent on the indigenous birds for the dissemination of their seeds and their protection from invading insects, the Forest Service lias endeavoured to assist the New Zealand Native Birds Protection Society in its laudable work of preserving our native birds. All forest-conservation regions report that the 1925-26 season has been one of the worst seed years on record, and as a result of this shortage of food-supplies a dimimution in the number of native birds of some species may be expected. Commenting upon this subject, the Conservator of the Auckland region states : " The failure of the taraire, hinau, and nikau berries this season in the Waipoua State Forest has been the cause of a very severe famine among the native pigeons. Dead birds have been quite a common sight in the bush, and it is quite certain that many hundreds of birds must have perished during the months of November, December, and January." In order to attract native birds to the exotic plantations where they would have freedom from interference the Service has. under consideration the question of the introduction of nectariferous shrubs and indigenous fruiting-trees suitable for this purpose. Opossums. During the trapping season 1925 a total of 720 licenses were issued, and 145,778 skins were taken largely from State forests, and the share of license fees and royalties credited to the State Forest Account was £4,073 15s. Id. In the seasons of 1923 and 1924 the number of opossums trapped were 109,905 and 95,639 respectively. From these figures it will be seen that the trapping of this important and valuable fur-producing animal has assisted in reducing unemployment during the slack period of the winter months. Reports of illicit trapping and illegal disposal of skins in certain districts have been received, and in this connection two offenders were convicted and fined during the year, Police Court proceedings are pending in one district, and general trapping operations will be under close surveillance by the Service during the current season. Recognizing that a. future profitable industry might be ruined at the outset by overtrapping and consequent extermination of the opossum in certain districts, it has been the practice of the Forest Service to obtain, at the commencement of each season, a report from the various conservation regions with a view to recommending, where necessary, closed seasons. Reports received indicate that, generally, the opossum has not been overtrapped, but in some districts the time is approaching when it will be desirable, in the interest of conservation, that closed seasons be observed. Wild Pigs. The Departments of Agriculture, Lands, and the Forest Service again assisted to alleviate the wild-pig nuisance in certain parts of the North Island. Up to the 30th November, 1925, the Forest Service, in its capacity as organizing and controlling agent, collected and paid out the bonus upon 17,227 wild-pig snouts in the Wellington conservation region. Arrangements have been made whereby all persons who presented wild-pig snouts for counting and payment before the 30th November, 1925, but after the exhaustion of the appropriation, will be paid the bonus during the current financial year. During the latter part of the period under review the system of granting a bonus for the destruction of wild pigs was extended to cover a portion of the Opotiki County, with the result that 2,026 wild-pig snouts were destroyed in tha>t district. The payment of the bounty has been responsible for the total destruction of 19,253 wild pigs in the aforementioned infested areas. For the current year the Departments of Agriculture, Lands, and the Forest Service have again joined financial forces to continue operations for the destruction of wild pigs in the North Wellington, Taranaki, and Opotiki districts. 6. ESTABLISHMENT OE ARTIFICIAL FORESTS. State Forestation. The State's annual contribution to the Dominion's artificial forest reserve has again exceeded that of previous periods ; 15,964 acres of new State-forest plantations were formed, and the total area, planted in trees from the commencement of State-forestation operations in 1896 up to the 31st March, 1926, aggregates 78,953 acres. The waste farming pumice lands of the Rotorua and Taupo Counties are now growing a timber crop on 55,053 acres, while the acquisition of over 55,000 contiguous acres for tree-growing purposes will further assist in the profitable utilization of this poor land, and its conversion from a wind-swept,-bracken-fern, manoao, manuka covered, unproductive area into a huge State timber farm with splendid potential values. The balance of the State plantations, with the exception of Puhipuhi -and Tangimoana, are situated in the South Island, and are more particularly described in the following summary : —