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FORESTRY.
Before the war with Japan there was a Botanical and Forestry Department which took charge both of the Botanical Gardens and Government grounds and of the afforestation of the hillsides of the Colony. After the war it was decided that this department should be replaced by two independent departments one for forestry and one for gardens. The former Botanical and Forestry Department included an herbarium, a library, greenhouses, etc. The herbarium has survived because it was sent to Singapore for safe-keeping before the war but not a brick remained of any building and not a book or paper was recovered. The Forestry Department was therefore accommodated in temporary buildings through- out the year under review.
In the past, the main concern of the forestry sub- department was the afforestation of the hillsides of the Colony, especially in the catchment areas serving the reservoirs. The department was also responsible for the planting and maintenance of avenues of trees along the roads of the Colony. When the Sino-Japanese war extended to South China in the autumn of 1938, there was a great influx of poor and destitute refugees into the Colony, swelling the population very con- siderably. From then onwards forests on Crown land suffered severely as a result of illicit tree cutting, for the most part done by refugees in search of fuel. In the year prior to the war, when a serious shortage of firewood was caused by Sino- Japanese hostilities, it was found necessary, in order to augment supplies of firewood which Government was bringing in from Borneo and Malaya, to cut down many thousands of trees on Crown land. The daily consumption of firewood in the Colony in those days was more than 500 tons.
At one time the firewood reserves of the Colony decreased to only three days supply and the exploitation of woodland on Crown land could not be avoided. During hostilities in December 1941, and for about two months after the occupation of the Colony by the Japanese, no effort was made to prevent tree- cutting on the hillsides and as a result the south side of the hills behind Kowloon was devastated and many thousands of young trees were removed. Later, the Japanese imposed restrictions on all unauthorised tree-cutting with very severe penalties. During the latter part of the war the Japanese were reduced to using wood as fuel for the power stations and a great deal of timber was systematically cut on the more accessible hillsides and along the roads. Finally after the liberation of the Colony firewood was again scarce and further fellings had to be carried out to augment imports.
During the year under review the main task of the new Forestry Department was to protect existing woodlands and to establish nurseries for tree-seedlings both on the island and in the New Territories. Several tens of thousands of tree- seedlings were raised for transplanting and 30,000 lbs. of pine