(By C. B. Mcnaughton, Conservator of Forests, Midland Conservancy).

In passing through Oudtshoorn late in May last I made enquiries as to whether the Town Council had yet seriously considered the advisability of establishing a timber and fuel plantation on the land purchased on the Cango River in connection with the town water supply-a scheme suggested by myself some time back and referred to in my Annual Report for 1901 (p. 71). I was agreeably surprised to hear that the matter had just been taken in hand, and that a resolution had been passed at a previous Town Council meeting to approach the Government on the matter. Under the circumstances I called upon the Town Clerk and ascertained the particulars of this resolution, as also of the letter written to the Government on the subject. On this I determined to act, and after having interviewed certain members of the Tree-planting Committee of the Town Council, arranged for a visit to the proposed site—Rust-en-Vrede—which was made in company with Mr. Doy, Town Clerk, on the 23rd May last. In submitting the report following I must apologise for its somewhat sketchy nature as time did not permit a very careful inspection of the whole area, and the meteorological records available are not sufficiently complete or extensive for any minute suggestion or recommendation—though possibly a general expression of opinion may prove sufficient for present needs.