TIMBER AND CRIMINALS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1084, 24 March 1911, Page 4

TIMBER AND CRIMINALS.

Two heads of Departments in the New South Wales Civil Service arc at present in Now Zealand on an important mission, of which we hope to hear more later on. Their Government desires to make better use of its prison labour, and is also talking of reafforestation. Thinking that something may bo learnt from the system of tree-planting camps under our own Prisons Department, it has sent to this country Mr. M'Farlane, Comptroller-General of Prisons, and Mr. Hay, Director of Forests, who will make investigations. They arc also to see and report upon the other trse-planting camps whicli are carried on by the Public Health Department for the purpose of providing outdoor employment for- consumptives, and they are to give their Government what information they can acquire about the treatment of inebriates in this country. We shall, of course, bo glad if New Zealand can teach another State anything of value upon whatever subject, but wc are of opinion that in the matter of afforestation at any rate this country should rather take the position of a learner from some nation which is more fully awake to its duties and interests in the conservation and improvement of the natural timber supply. Tho Timber' Commission of ■ 1909, though .it was, to, a great . ex-, tent an elaborate and costly futility, was entirely right in that part of its report where it called attention to the urgent necessity of dealing with afforestation on a more vigorous and extensive plan, so that the planting of trees in this country may counter-, balance the annual timber destruction sufficiently to prevent a future timber famine. . Mr. W. C. Kensington, I .in his evidence, gave the Commission an estimate that the supply of timber from our own forests would not last more than another fifty years. Faced with such a probability, we can only urge upon New Zealand—as the Sydney Daily Telegraph has been urging upon New South Walte—that afforestation should at last be regarded as a great and necessary- national work, , and not as a mere "means to-the end that a penitential labour difficulty may be disposed of."; It. is open to question whether tree-planting is particularly suitable work for prisoners, and whether afforestation has been really advanced by the utilisation of this form of cheap labour. And as for the consumptive camps, wc are grateful to the Telegraph for prompting us to point out the regrettable fact that the 1 existence of the much-praised prison camps causcs people insensibly to associate tho idea of criminality with an occupation which is in other respects beneficial to "tho unfortunates whoso only disability is that their lungs have become diseased."