The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1888. FOREST DEPLETION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1940, 10 September 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1888. FOREST DEPLETION.

It was only a few weeks ago sinco il was first announced that a syndicate ol Melbourne capitalists was about to In up all the saw mills m Auckland. Tl rumor proved to be true, and since th< a 'Company, known as the Kauri Timb Company, Limited, has been successful floated with a capital of £1,200,00 represented by 600,000 shares at i each. About 100,000 shares wore tak< up m New Zealand, and prospectus of the Company wero issued far ar wide through the colonies. Outside Auckland thero was not much intere taken m the formation of the Compan though some shares wero allotted Southern speculators. The Compar may prove a profitable enough inves mtfnt for money for a few years. Po haps very fair dividends iray bo con! dently looked for, but it is not Company wo should care to inve mono> m. To put money into it meai that the depletion of our forests will i hastened, and m a few years Ne Zealand will have comparatively speakir no timber. Not only will this bo tl case m regard to kauri, but it will all be the caso m regard to other timber for wo are told that the Southlar sawmills are likely to be taken over 1 the same Company. In Southlar there is no kauri. That timber seen to belong exclusively to the Aucklar province, but there is white and n pine, birch and totara, and other fit timbers m bouthland which repr sent a great deal of wealth to tl country. Tho Auckland mills are c the whole pretty expensively arrange m regard to machinery and plan The Company has given full valuatioi and it has been estimated that, at tl rate the Company will go to worl the timber available for the saw will nt last more than twenty years. All tf plant then at the end of that time wi be unproductive, and therefore compan tively speaking valueless. Tho Con pany will of courso have a monopoly i kauri timber, and for tho time boing ca charge what price they liko to Now Zei land consumers. In this way they ma reap a substantial profit They coul do the same with the timber from tb Southland mills if these wero take over. Outside New Zealand compoti tion with America would bo felt. Im monse foreßts along tho coast lino c Alaska are being opened up, and as th timber is nearly all good and as it can b sawn up and shipped very cheaply t Sydney and Melbourne the Kauri Com pany will not find a good market thero fo an expensive timber. Wo do not look wit] favor at all m handing over our forest to outside capitalists to saw up. Ther is a great deal of waste and destructioi oven now m timbered localities througl tho present system of licenses* and thii is not likely to bo improved under th regime of tho now Company. Wo thinl* Government Bhould survey all the forest and sell the freehold of them m emal blocks, reserving for tho use of f utun generations, as much of the bush ai will keep tho climate regular. Licenced of bush land, as soon as thoj get a saw bench rigged up, rur all over the ground allowed there m the shortest possiblo time cutting and destroying without regard old and young trees alike, so long as they can get tho ground cleared before their licenses expire. Tho evils of this Bystem are to be Been m Southland at tho present timo where mills are running each other co closoly that few of them can pay at all, Tho timber, and the very best of it, is aimply cut to waste by competition and no one really bonofitß by it. If a very substantial royalty wero charged by Government for every hundred feet of timbor sown up then somo revonuo would accruo to tho colony, but no it is tho builder certainly gots his timber cheap and ho is about the only ono who bonofits. A royalty of two shillings per hundred feet would bo little folt by consumers and it would make sawmillorß careful to see that the ground waß properly worked nnd not cut into hero and thero until tree tops and waste timbor blocked tho bush and firo was put m to clear it out, thus destroying all the bush country. New Zealand is parting with ono of her best assets when she allows her forests to bo cut into by foreign capitalists. It may bo true that the influx of AJclbouruq capital m»y

work up our timber resources and cause a " boom "m tho trado. Tho " boom " would, however, only bo temporary, and when it subsided wo would bo loft minus a timbered tract of land of any consequonco and at tho morcy of droughts and a change of climate for the worse.

Wo think it is time tho Government of tbo country awoke to the necessity of conserving our foroßts and making provision for the renewal of those which are yearly being destroyed . The sawmillcrs, tho Vandals of tho forest, who look upon tho magnificent kauri, black pine, and totara trees, only for the superficial feet of sawn timber they represent, havo no thought of tho future or the influence which these noble trees havo upon our climate. Every summer immense bush fireß are reported, and the Government' havo taken no steps to prevent theso by making it penal to light fires m tho bush where there is a possibility of them spreading. More attention should bo given by Government also to the plan> of trees, and for every acre of bush cut down there should be planted with the beßt kind of forest tree an equal area. This need not necessarily be planted m the same locality, but there are areas of land which would be vastly improved by having trees planted upon or near them. Not only should it be compulsory for those who cut down the timber m the bush to plant an equal number of trees to replace them, but they should see that their planting is followed by growth, and for this purpose it should be part of the agreement that young trees should be looked after for two years at least.

It may be said that the introduction of outside capital m the development of the timber industry \rill have a beneficial effect upon New Zealand by opening up fresh avenues for the absorption of labor both skilled and unskilled. 'Ihis may at first bo thought to be the case, but carefa! consideration of tho question will lead to a different conclusion. Melbourne is the seat from which tho Kauri Company is controlled and the interest of the Company will bo to have as much done m Melbourne as possible . New Zealand will lose the opportunity of working up the timber on her own account into doors, sashes, furniture, etc., for export. Only local demand is likely to be satisfied now, and the greater part of the timber will be shipped to Melbourne m baulk. In this way the timber industry m Now Zealand will lequire fewer hands. The good ot the many will be sacrificed for the few who are wealthy already. Our timbered country will bo denuded quickly of its forest mantle, and tho climate must m consoquenco suffer. In twenty years time, when tho bent of tho timber is gone, wo shall bo importing from America and the Baltic If tho timber mills m Southland fall into the same hands it will bo a matter for regret, and it will soon be forced on the attontion of Government that their interference will be necessary m tho interests of tho colony to prevent wholesale export of baulk timber. If kauri were scattered over tho whole of New Zealand there would bo little cause for complaint if ox tensive shipments were being made, but kauri timber only grows m Auckland and then only m tho northern part of it. The properties socured by the Kauri Company are said to be of enormous valuo. In the prospectus, tho growing timber is computed at 1,563,000,000 feoc, and since that computation was made, purchases havo been effected bringing the total amount up to 1,700,000,000 feet. Tho valuo df the growing timber at Is per 100 feet Is £781,500; the 28 mills m full working order, with appurtenances, aro valued at £400,000 ; while the stocks of timber are put down at £217,000, making m all £1,898,500. No account is made m this of the land which has been acquired, and which consists of 140,000 acres of freehold, and 257,000 acres of leasehold, making m all 403,000 acres, all of which can bo mado freehold when it suits the company to purchase. Much of this land is of tho very best quality, for it must be remembered that tho land where tho kauri is growing is very different from tho clay land where m old times kauri forests have stood, and been burned off, destroying tho whole surface of the ground. We think that the influence of the Kauri Company will not bo for the future good of the colony and being of this opinion we should not like to see tho Southland mills taken over by it.