C.—3.

Interest and loan expenses have increased by £7,414, but net expenditure from the vote has decreased by £125,302, principally in the following items :— £ Afforestation .. .. .. .. .. 86,761 Staff salaries . . .. . . .. .. 8,552 General management charges on indigenous forests .. 19,438 Local-body and National Endowment Account payments 7,088 Research and experimental .. .. .. .. 3,666

4. State Afforestation. TABLE 4. Summary of Operations in Plantations to 31st March, 1932.

The area planted, 41,009 acres, shows a marked falling-off when compared with the figures for the three previous years, and will probably decline still further for some years to come in accordance with Government policy to taper off the afforestation operations of the Service. It will be seen from the table that more than half of the area recently established is located on the Kaingaroa Plains, where 92,500 acres are still available for future planting. The next-largest is 5,728 acres at Tairua, Auckland Region; while Nelson, with nearly 4,000 acres (Golden Downs Plantation), was third in point of area. It will also be noticed that the second-last column of the table shows the gross area of each plantation, and by subtracting therefrom the corresponding figure in the preceding column and making due allowance for the implanted areas (in the case of those units not yet fully established) some idea is obtained of the extent of the land taken up by roads, fire-breaks, native bush, unplantable country, swamps, officers' quarters, &c. Plantation Cleaning and Thinning. As a means of providing work under various unemployment-relief schemes, thinning or cleaning of plantations was carried out during the year on a substantially large scale. In Southland Region the thinnings were: Dusky Plantation, 326-9 acres; Conical Hills Plantation, 645-8 acres ; Pukerau Plantation, 330-5 acres ; • and in addition 4 acres at Naseby Plantation were treated by plantation employees. In this region the utilization of unemployed but experienced bush workers enabled thinning to be carried out on a, routine system with very little expenditure on marking. All Pinus radiata blocks (from 11 to 16 years) were thus thinned with a heavy low thinning, each workman doing his own selection, felling, and trimming of the trees. This was remarkably successful because the men were exceptional, and each, with a lifetime of experience in native-bush work, entered into the spirit of

4

Plantation Year of New Area j Total Net Area Gross Area of Area remaining to Establishment. planted. ! established. Plantation. be planted. Net Acres. ! Acres. Acres. I Net Acres. Waipoua .. .. 1925 .. 301 12,600 11,070 Puhipuhi .. .. 1904 52 835 1,559 42 Riverhead .. .. 1926 213 ; 10,744 11,852 300 Maramarua .. .. j 1928 92 11,954 14,166 275 Tairua .. .. j 1930 5,728 J 7,586 50,000 37,500 Whakarewarewa .. ! 1898 .. 7,591 10,100 Waiotapu .. .. < 1901 .. 7,079 8,003 Kaingaroa .. .. { 1913 22,114 198,746 329,092 92,554 Erua .. .. 1930 690 1,002 2,550 1,547 Karioi .. .. j 1927 2,914 14,708 33,502 Golden Downs .. j 1927 3,977 13,687 22,464 5,649 Westland .. 1922 1,106 2,690 7,760 Hanmer .. .. 1901 j 47 7,686 10,221 Balmoral .. .. 1916 239 20,586 24,071 654 Eyrewell .. .. 1928 1,855 : 17,787 19,267 1,076 Blue Mountains .. : 1925 .. ! 8,704 9,600 Dusky Hill .. .. 1893 .. j 4,382 6,790 Conical Hills .. .. 1903 .. i 3,551 3,733 Naseby .. .. 1900 .. ■ 3,308 4,032 Pukerau .. . . 1915 .. j 565 628 Pebbly Hills .. .. 1930 1,982 I 3,760 5,867 829 Minor areas .. .. .. .. j 707 3,155 ' I Totals .. .. 41,009 347,959* 591,012 151,496 * Does not include 237 acres of direct formation not deemed to be established.