UREWERA FOREST COUNTRY.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18406, 12 June 1925, Page 6

UREWERA FOREST COUNTRY.

■■ —-♦■ - ---■;■■. ...' , • TO BE RESERVED BY GOVERN^ MEN'T.. ~_;■■ (rIIBSS ' ASSOCIATION MLEGttAM.) WELLINGTON, Juno 11.■■' . The Minister of Lands .(the Hon. A.' B. McLeod) and'the'Commissioner 'of: Forests (the Hon. &ir Ri Heaton Rhodes) : . have reached* an agreement a? : to tho measures desirably to. ,bo taken to make • the best uso -of' 310,C00 acres of forest country pur-j chased by the Government in the Urc-* wera Country. It now appears, certain! that the whole area will be reserved as: a permanent source of timber. supply. , Mr McLeod, after personal inspection: of a large portion of the Urewera lands,; tavs that tho settlement thereof would* entail risks of lire clearings.doing great! damage, also that tho cleanup of biish-i lands "would expose the coastal .areas :t<>: serious danger of inundation by flooded rivers which deposit great quantities of shingle and so render rich lands: val'ielcss. "Whatever was done., the bush, around Lake Waikaremoana, . should be preserved. Sir R! Heaton Rhodes intends to call for'an immediate report when the areais handed over to his Department upon tho best-methods of'development ■ ani v preservation. Being at present inaccessible, the Urewera forests are not likefy to be drawn 'upon in the; near future, but they represent a'national asset of great value. ;