ABSTRACT
Michael Hicks-Beach was a Conservative politician and government minister who, at the time of this correspondence, was Secretary of State for the Colonies. The ‘health’ of the colonies referred to is meant in a literal sense since there was a view that trees curbed the spread of disease and combatting deforestation was more than an issue of resource depletion. In this dispatch, Hicks-Beach calls on the colonial administration in New Zealand to better implement an earlier request he had made for improved forestry management in the name of conservation. The Great War had served to put a particular strain on British timber, since imports – which the country had long been dependent upon – were restricted, shifting this from a colonial to a domestic concern. The existence of a forest fund would enable the authorities to exercise in fla-grant cases a restraining and minatory influence over private owners similar to that possible under the 24th clause of the Mauritius Ordinance.
