OUR TIMBER SUPPLIES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2753, 24 April 1916, Page 6

OUR TIMBER SUPPLIES

A SERIOUS POSITION

(By Sir James G. Wilson.)

By the courtosy of the editor of this paper, I am enabled to put before its readers the following in connection with re-afforestation in the Dominion:— It is common knowledge that experts have variously estimated that the available amount of forest left in New.Zea. land will last perhaps 30 years, aild at' the most. 40 years. Unless immediate stops are - taken to plant considerable areas, .future generations would requiro to import all the timber used. The Goveminent is doing something towards planting trees in a few districts in New Zealand. The whole of the present Government areas might give six months' cutting. The seriousness of the position may be put in another way. When I came to this district (RangitikeiManawatu) in 1873, there was a fringe of open country which had been settled all along tho coast up to and some distance 'beyond Wanganui. In the Wai- ; rarapa also the . open country from Featherston to Jlasterton and out to the coast, was settled. Hie rest of the country seemed illimitable bush. The seventy-mile hush ran up from the plain to Woodville, and the 40-mile' bush from the Gorge to past Dannevirke. The valleys of .the Manawatu, Pohangina, Oroua, the upper reaches of the Bangitikei from Halcombe upwards, wore all bush, the whole of which is now out down;- generally in the best timber areas the saw-miller was the pioneer, and the settler ■ followed when the 'timber was cut out. . Now there is not' a saw-mill in the whole of this area. I should not like to estimate the area that was in hush, but it must have been millions of acres. The kauri forests are almost a thing of the past, Puriri scarcoly procurable, and totara very dear. The only souroe of timber. for the North Island is the bush district in the central area, which cannot be nearly as large as that already cut out. In the south, there is still timber on the West Coast, but more and more expensive to market, and the forests of •Southland have been depleted. A recent Forestry Comtaission, which collected much valuablo information, 1 and made admirable suggestions in their' report (but which were not even discussed in the House), said, to meet our future requirements, wo would require to plant 7000 acres per annum. I doubt if we are planting even 700 per annum. Private individuals are doing a little, already 6omc plantations of soft wood havo been cut down and sawn into timber for building purposes. We must have large quantities of soft wood, pos-, sibly poplar, P. Tnsignis, and the Douglas fir planted, and the eucalyptus for hard wood for tho future. It is acknowledged in all countries that this should bo the work of the Government. How are we to get tho Government to realise tho necessities of.tho case? Govern, ments aro moved by public opinion, and tho object of thoso who love trees for their own sake and for tho benefit of present planting for futuro generations, is to create a public opinion sufficiently strong to force the pnee. A few enthusiasts havo suggested that this can best be done by a society after the Hues of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society. This society keeps before tho public the necessity for planting (much as tho Navy League lias been instrumental in securing to Britain our present Naval strength); reports aro published yearly or oftener. Arboriculture would be ideal work for returned Soldiers, with an injured limb. Tho object of this ciroulnr, therefore, is to ask those who are prepared to join such a society and pay, say, £1 a yea']- as subscription, to try and seoure an increased area planted year by 'year, to send in their names. It nia» be said this is not 1 the timo for such a socie-ty. Sly answer is that if we get it in train tho timo will shortly como for action. The Government must be impressed of tho necessity to find money for this object, it is too pressing to wait.

I should lie much obliged if those who am prepared to join such n society would spud their Mill's, together with £I,'to Afr, 13, 0. J.in'i. S"pi'nfgry, FarUnion Bos Vo Wellmrtos..