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and have had the benefit of education and training sufficient for the work to be accomplished. With such assistance the general effect of the landscapes might be much improved by the introduction of trees of different characters to the somewhat monotonous pine.

35. The kinds of trees to be selected for this object would be species possessing foliage of as great a variety of size, form and colouring in the different shades of green while in health, and of autumn tints while deciduous trees would be shedding their leaves. It is possible that such trees might now be reared within the influence of shelter afforded by pine trees which have attained sufficient size to afford protection from winds that in the early days swept the hills and effectually prevented the growth of trees less hardy than the pine. This assistance is needed also on account of the yearly increasing distances which have to be traversed in supervision, and also by the addition of new work necessitated by the extension and development of plantations. The maintenance of upwards of 60 miles of fire barriers which have to be inspected and the work done on them measured yearly is itself a severe task, besides the marking out of new lines required each season. Annual thinnings of plantations as new ones become ready for the work each year also require the expenditure of much labour and time in direction and supervision. All these things point to the desirability of a somewhat superior equipped staff if good work is to be continued and the plantations properly maintained and improved.

Planting Operations.

36. The number of trees planted and reared on the hills was 556,982 as compared with 601,211 in the previous year. The statistics are given in the appendix. Actual planting operations were per- formed with the usual success, but a few weeks after the planting was finished Tristanea and Crypto- meria trees were attacked and suffered considerably by white ants; these attacks lasted for a few weeks only before the trees had recovered their usual vigour after having been disturbed in their removal.

Protective Service.

37. There were 85 cases brought before the Police Magistrates by the Forest Guards, as compared with 49 in the previous year, out of these 85 cases 69 convictions were obtained, 12 paying fines which amounted in the aggregate to $26, and 57 prisoners went to gaol.

38. The area of plantations has greatly extended since the 3 forest guards were established, and as offences likewise increase the number of forest guards needs augmentation to keep in check the numerous petty pilferers of trees and shrubs. When the number of forest guards can be increased it would be advisable to establish some of them in distant parts of the island, if suitable quarters can be found and arrangements made, instead of working them daily from their present quarters at the gardens as too much time is now occupied in walking to and from far away localities.

Grass Fires.

39. Fires were exceptionally numerous and the destruction of trees by them was greater than in any previous year, in fact the reported fires were more numerous than the total number of fires recorded for the previous 10 years. The number of fires recorded in 1890 is 64. After my return from Japan I visited the scenes of fires where trees had been destroyed or damaged and made a rough estimate of the quantity destroyed, the total number of which is 107,000 varying in size from 1 foot up to 8 feet high. On Mount Davis about 49,000, and on Mount Kellet 47,000 trees were destroyed, the remainder, 11,000, were in numerous other places scattered over the island. Although it is impossible to detect the originators of the fires, except very rarely indeed, there is no doubt whatever that the system of ancestral worshipping at tombs by the natives is the main, or almost exclusive, cause of these fires, no care whatever, apparently, being exercised to prevent the fire used from igniting the grass. The large burial places on Mounts Kellet and Davis were the reason of the exceptionally heavy losses on those hills, the smaller losses being also caused by the existence of isolated graves on smaller cemeteries near to villages. Nearly all the fires took place in October when the autumn ancestral worship takes place, and the exceptionally numerous and extensive fires were the result of the very combustible condition of the low vegetation brought about by the excessively dry weather in September and October.

40. As remedial measures for the future I propose in addition to the ordinary precautions adopted of stationing men in the vicinity of burial grounds all over the island to extinguish fires which may occur at the spring and autumn tomb ceremonies, to post during those seasons notices cautioning the people to exercise care in the use of crackers, candles, &c., and to increase the number and extent of fire barriers in plantations near large cemeteries, so that the plantations will be divided up into smaller blocks to which fires that may arise within them may be confined. Nothing connected with the origin of grass fires or of objects to be gained by them is known which might occasion any suspicion that they may have been acts of incendiarism.

Thinning of Plantations and Removal of Brushwood.

41. The brushwood in various places near the town or adjacent to roads where it had become somewhat dense was operated on throughout the year and about 1,200 piculs were removed and sold, the purchaser doing the work at his own cost and paying besides a small sum for the material removed. 42. Trees in streets and roads were systematically pruned and reduced to shape and to suitable dimensions, the prunings being likewise sold. This work, however, unlike the removal the brush- wood, can only be performed by foresters who have some acquaintance with the proper way of doing the work.