TIMBER SHORTAGE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2932, 18 November 1916, Page 7

TIMBER SHORTAGE

' THE PROBLEM OP AFFORESTATION. The problem of afforestation was disr cussed at the annual conference of the New Zealand Builders and Contractors' Federation on Tuesday, and it was decided, at the suggestion of the Auckland Association, that the Government should bo urged strongly "to make an alteration in the control of the forestry section of the Lands Department, as suggested, lor example, in the report of the Royal Commission on Forestry, 1913, so as to provide for a more vigorous policy in the matter of afforestation." Delegates stated that the matter was of pressing importance, in view- of the rapid reduction of the ■ Dominion's stocks of native timber and the increasing- cost of building materials. The conference had before it a paper . on the subject of afforestation, prepared by Mr.. J. I. Clarke, of Auckland, a member of eaeli of the Forestry Commissions which have sat in New Zealand. • Mr. Clarke stated that the increasing cost of timber and tlio growing difficulty of securing supplies justified an insistent demand for "much more systematic and comprehensive policy in the matter of providing for an adequate, permanent, and continuous supply of commercial timber." There was .110 doubt at all that the natural supplies of New Zealand building timber were rapidly disappearing, and tlio position was similar in the other timber-producing countries. Tlie pinch was being felt already, and it would grow more serious year by year. "A glance at tlio conditions recorded in other parts of the world in this connection," stated Mr. Clarke, "will help us to understand how urgent is .the' need for action here, seeing 1 that it is. hopeless for us to expect relief in the,. form of cheaper or even reasonablypriced timber from overseas, to say no- ■ thing of the foolishness of depending' upon foreign . sources of supply of a. material which can be readily 5 fitably produced at our own doors. The ' cost of timber in .the United Kingdom • has increased during the last ten or' twelve years (regardless of war conditions) by quite fifty per cent." Mr; Clarke quoted authorities in support of his statements, and mentioned that some of the timber placed upon the ; markets at the present time would not 1 have been considered to have any market value at all a few years ago. "Our federation is entitled to speak with authority on a subject with which it is so intimately concerned", seeing that the'very life of our industry depends upon a supply that is being rapidly drained away," added the paper. "Wo should regard it not as a matter of interest only, but as a matter of duty to demand the attention of our representative men in local and general politics to the question of making provision for largo extensions of State and municipal forestry, as tlio only' efficient means of preventing such disastrous consequences as must ensue if the country has to depend upon sources of supply which aro in the same unsatisfactory state as our local sources.; An adequate supply of timber is an ab. solute necessity in the business requirements and the daily life of the people."