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sal, because there will be no timber available for building coffins.
The Government is doing good work in Rotorua, but unless great care is taken the labour of many years will be destroyed in as many hours. The danger will be from the fern unless it is kept well cleared in wide strips. In native bush the common fern cannot get a hold, but amongst deciduous trees the case is very different, for when the leaves fall sufficient light and air are admitted, and the dry dead fern will accumulate on the ground. Tussock ground is not so dangerous, for the trees will gradually kill the tussock. In all my travels I have come across no country which, in proportion to its size, has more barren land than New Zealand. It contains many millions of acres which can never have any other function than the carrying of snow. Our wheat-growing country is limited, and so is our pastoral land.
The land laws of New Zealand are, to my mind, most iniquitous, involving a deliberate breach of faith with the pioneers. The latter arriving here from, say, 1830 to 1860, were induced to buy land, and were encouraged to settle on it, with promises of
