The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1887. STATE FORESTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1468, 28 January 1887, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1887. STATE FORESTS.

The rapidity with which the natural forests of the world are disappearing before the axe of the woodman and the fires of the settler has necessitated the establishment of State Forests Depaitments, whose duty it is not only to put a stop to the wasteful destruction ot valu able timber trees but to provide for the replacement of the disappearing natural forests by systematicplantingoperations. In France and Germany the Forestry Departments have assumed very large dimensions, and their operations hive been productive of the most beneficial results, and even m America, notwithstanding the originally enormous extent of us timbered area, planting operations ace now undertaken on a gigantic scale, rendered necessary by the enormous consumption of timber which threatened m. a fsw years to exhaust the visible supply. In New Zealand, with our comparatively limited area of bush, there has hitherto been great waste and extravagance, and Sir Julius Vogd has done the colony good service by his prisistent efforts to provide for the conservation and renewal of our forests, which resulted two years a^o m the establishment of a Department specially charged with those duties. The position of Chief Conservator was offered to and accepted bg Dr Kirk,. than whon no more fitting man could possibly have been found, and who has set about the organisation of the department with an energy and enthusiasm which prove?that it is to him a labor of love. As yet it is too soon to look for results, but a few particulars of the way m which Dr Kirk has set about the preliminaries of his work will be of interest. In an interim report, dated June 30, 1886, presented to Parliament last session, Dr Kirk says:— "The Chairmen of County Councils have been requested to act as local Conservators, and m most instances have willingly consented. The great advantages afforded by this ready cooperation, combined with the local knowledge possessed by these gentlemen, cannot fail to prove of great assistance m carrying out the provisions of the State Forests Act. Advantage has been taken of the knowledge and experience of the Chief Surveyors of the provincial districts, who have been been appointed Inspectors of State Forests, and Commissioners of Crown Lands will be intrusted with the duty of issuing licenses for cutting timber. They will also exercise a general supervision over the Forest Rangers. The field Surveyors will be instructed to report any cases of trespass or injury to State Forests that may come under their observation. The working staff of the department will consist of the following officers : The Chief Conservator, who will be intrusted with the control of the State lorests and the management of all details, the employment of the officers and laborers m the forests, plantations, and reserves, and generally to conduct the practical work of the department, subject 10 the approval of the Honorable the Commissioner of State Forests ; Assistant Conservators,- who will be two m number, and who will work directly under the instruction ot the Chief Conservator ; Foresters, who will act as valuators, and exercise a general supervision over the Rangers m their respective districts; Nurserymen, who will have charge of the permanenl nurseries, and ihe formation and supervision ol new plantations ; and Forest Rangers, whose duties will be to protect the forests from depredation and fire, and who must be continually m the forests

. . . . During the present year it is intended to appoint one Assistant Conservator, four Foresters, three Nurseiymen, and eight Rangers, m addition to a Ranger appointed last year, and another transferred from the Crown Lands Department." The planting and replacement operations sketched out as the programme for the first season include the following. — Forming a temporary nursery to raise plants of jarrah and Californian red-

wood, for planting about 500 acres of open land included m the boundaries of the forest reserves at Omahutu and Waikoropupu, and replacing a similar area m those localities, now covered by worthless scrub; making a special examination of certain reserves m the counties of Rodney and Bay of Islands, with a view to the replacement of a large area of useless scrub with puriri, the most valuable timber m the colony for railway sleepers, beds of railway carriages, and other purposes where great strength and durability are required ; laying down about 300 acres m the Waerenga plantation reserve, Waikato County, under golden wattle and black wattle, by sowing, and planting a similar area with red gum and iron bark; making an examination of the Mount Egmont

reserve (over 72,000 acres) with a view to ascertain the cost of replacing the

valueless scrubby growth with con-

vertible timber,, and the possibility of extending exotic arboral vegetation above the almudiaal limits aliened by

native trees; thinning out portions of the scrub on the margin of the kauri (orest (19 682 acres) at Puhipuhi, VVhangarei county, and making preparations for filling up the gaps with redwood or jarrah ; also for planting the open spaces and surrounding the whole with a protective belt of fire-resisting trees; fencing and forming nurseries for young plants m Maniototo county, and planting portions of the reserves at Gimmerburn (1263 acre?) and Upper Taieri (2051 acres), with Douglas fir, cider gum, and English ,oak, the entire j of the last mentioned area to be planted m abnut three yai*. This is a very satisfactory programme for a beginning of what must prove a highly" beneficial work, and it is pleasiug to read, that the Department is likely speedily to become a self-supporting one. For, although the cost of the Department for the year ending 31st March, 1887, is estimated at while the estimated forest revenue for the same period (derived exclusively from royalty on the sale of timber; is set down at Dr Kirk says that he is "fully convinced that the Forestry Department may not only be made self-supporting within five years, but that it will ultimately yield a material addition to the general revenue of the colony; while, concurrently with this benefit, a vast amount of raw material will be preserved for utilization, and new openings created for the profitable employment of labor."