8. The Residuum.

This state of things, however, is still in the far distance, and when it does take place the residuum will be much smaller than is generally supposed. The rate of destruction is greater at the present time than at any former period; and it is probable that for some years to come it will increase rather than diminish. Bush settlement is being pushed on all over the country to meet the wants of the growing population, and the timber industry is keeping pace with an extending market. The kauri and kahikatea forests are being rapidly exhausted, and every available stick of rimu, totara, black-pine, birch, and puriri is being removed from the general bush to supply material for house- and ship-building, for bridges and railway-sleepers, for wharf -piles and telegraph-poles, for mining-props, posts and rails and palings and shingles, for gum-boxes and butter-kegs, and so forth—and, as the favourite timbers grow scarce, recourse will necessarily be had to the now lesser-known varieties. So far any attempt at conservation has been futile, if not actually mischievous, and will doubtless continue so until the community awakens to a sense of its loss, when reform will come too late to be of much use. Arguing, therefore, from present facts and tendencies, we must face the conclusion that, with the exception of the “second growth,” together with certain comparatively insignificant remnants scattered through the broken districts from which most of the character will have departed, the permanent residuum of the New Zealand bush will be practically confined to the high mountain-ranges, more especially in the south and west, where the land is generally rugged and precipitous and the rainfall abundant.

In predicting the appearance of the bush of the future it is, of course, impossible to deal in other than very general terms. As at present, it will vary with every accident of soil, climate, and aspect. But, speaking generally, we may. expect