C.—3

National Endowment Account's Share in State Forest Timber-sale Receipts. From the forested national-endowment land under the forest-management of this Service the National Endowment Account benefited by the receipt of the sum of £15,658 15s. 4d., being the amount due at the 31st March, 1926, under section 39 of the Forests Act, 1921—22, which provides for the payment to the National Endowment Account of one-half of the revenue derived from any national-endowment land comprised in a State forest remaining after the deduction of the expenses of the administration of that land as a State forest. 3. Operation. Timber-sales. During the period under review 64,639,000 ft. b.m. were produced by mills cutting State-forest timber, and the sum of £103,524 was received from all timber licenses in force. The receipts for the sale of timber show a decrease of £26,608 on the figures for 1925 -26.

Note. —Receipts shown above for the periods 1920-21 to 1923-24 do not include the half-share of receipts paid into the National Endowment Account from State forests on national-endowment lands. Reference to the attached graphs shows the' quantities of the various species comprised in Forest Service timber-sales for the last two years.

Statistics of the Service Timber-sales for Years ended 31st March, 1926-27, Quantities shown in Feet Board Measure.

Log-scale Tables. During the past fiscal year the State Forest Service has introduced the system of selling State timber on the cubic-foot measurement. In all timber-sales the equivalent cubic-feet measurements are given as well as per board-foot measurement. Timber-export Regulations. Permits issued for the export of timber for the year ending the 31st March, 1927, totalled 250, as compared with 263 for the previous year, and, although the maximum quantity was granted in respect to each species, the permits were not utilized to their fullest extent. Moreover, as stated in a subsequent portion of this report, the total exports were the lowest for many years (see Chapter V and Appendix IV). Forest-improvements. The access to the State forests is being steadily improved, and during the year forty-five miles of new track were formed. At Puketi Forest, North Auckland, a bridge was built and five miles of road opened to improve the communication between the officers stationed there. The expansion of the afforestation acreage necessitated the formation of fifty-nine miles of new roads, eighty-seven miles of fire-breaks, and the erection of seven miles of telephone-line.

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Number Value of Timber Quantity of I T Quantity cut from Fiaeal Year. of , sold during the Timber sold 1 • State Forests Sales. Year. during the Year. | Year during the Year. £ Feet, B.M. £ Feet, B.M. 1926-27 .. .. 52 52,125 43,144,000 103,524 64,639,000 1925-26 .. .. 65 80,565 73,659,000 130,132 79,009,000 1924-25 .. .. 54 96,158 69,253,000 1.34,731 102,369,900 1923-24 .. .. 61 266,388 212,085,000 68,295 52,297,000 1922-23 .. 52 95,357 78,830,000 47,462 1921 22 .. .. 40 38,208 35,669,000 24,320 1920-21 .. .. 5 17,055 6,987,000 16,815