5
Taipo Kau Forest Reserve - as the departmental
Forest Experimental Station. Trials of
important timber trees from all parts of
the world will be made also of certain
economic trees. Silvicultural experiments
will be carried out and general forestry
methods be studied to meet local problems.
Fan Ling Area
-
as a pure Pine area with natural
regeneration.
Shing Mun Catchment Area
6. General
as a mixed forest area,
including sections devoted to (i) pure Pine
(ii) broad leaf trees of selected species
and (iii) indigenous forest.
47
The outline of policy given above represent a departure
from the mass afforestation me thods practised to date and is
designed to meet the present stage of development of forestry
matters in the Colony. The forests have been produced by the
past efforts of the Department and it is an essential corollary
that they should be developed on approved lines and be maintained
as one of the Colony's assets. In the absence of such action
they will deteriorate and lose much of their potential value.
II. PROPOSED RE-ARRANGEMENT OF STAFF. ETC.
1. Protection of Forests.
The Forest Guard service is responsible for the pro-
tection of the Colony's forest areas. There has always been a
certain amount of illicit tree cutting but the combination of circumstances of recent months (fron August 1937 to date) has
served to show that the present system is not able to meet the
situation. Under this system the Forest Guard service is
concentrated in quarters at Garden Road and Lai Chi Kok and the
men are sent out on daily beats or patrols. The disadvantages
of the system under present conditions are obvious. The chief
objections to this system are that (i) no section of the forest
is the particular responsibility of any one man or men and (ii)