The Dominion. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1919. A PROMISING FIELD OF WORK

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 111, 4 February 1919, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1919. A PROMISING FIELD OF WORK

Sir Francis Bell was so guarded in the references he made to forest policy in speaking to a deputation, of timber millers yesterday that he threw little light on his own intentions or those of the Government. It is to be hoped, however, that the recommendations he is to lay before Cabinet in his capacity as Commissioner of State Forests may lead lip to the adoption of a bold and enterprising policy. Such a- policy is demanded not only in ' order that our indigenous forests, now in danger of being 'destroyed, may be kept in existence as an asset steadily increasing in value, but because forest development holds doubly important possibilities at a time when it is evidently necessary to open the widest possible field of employment and keen it open. "In the treatment of its. forest assets this country is so far behind nearly all the progressive countries of the world that th£re is no obscurity as to the general lines the Government ought to follow in as far as possible overtaking past waste and neglect of our timber resources and in putting our forests into profitable working order. Broadly speaking, all that is necessary is to follow the lead given by countries in , which forest policy has been perfected through a long course of experience. Since it pays, thickly-popu-lated European countries to keep a quarter or more of their total land area under cultivated ■ forest it can hardly be doubted that New Zealand will be wise to follow suit. During the last year or two much' ■light'has been cast upon the po&"si--bilities of forest development in the Dominion by Mr. D. E. Hutchins, admittedly the best : informed and most experienced forester who has ever visited New Zealand. Mr. Hutchins has emphasised the enormous . value that the' forests of the Dominion will ultimately attain under proper management, but ho has shown also that sound forestry offers immediate benefits of the utmost importance. Two ,of these benefits may be picked out as is themselves offering the Government an all-sufficient incentive to. adopt .forthwith an enterprising forest policy. One_ is that forest development on right lines would material-

ly improve the conditions of ordinary settlement in the areas in which it is carried out; the other that it would open an immense field of profitable employment, much of it permanent, and some of it, at least, on a self-supporting basis. Much as our national timber resources have been depicted the' Government still owns some forests capable of giving an immediate yield in timber _ which would cover,the cost "of an immense amount of development workin the districts in which they, are .situated. The/most conspicuous example is the Waipoua Kauri Forest in Hokianga County.\ In a report presented to : Parliament last session, Mn. H # utchins shows that this forest, preserved in its virgin state, at present produces nothing, costs the Dominion about £600 a. year (rangers' salaries), and is .a drag on the progress of the district in which, it stands. It contains, however, more than £600,000 worth of timber, including eighty million superficial feet of kauri,' ripe for cutting. Obviously, many men could be profitably. employed for a considerable, time to come in getting out this timber, and the returns would cover the,_ cost of a great deal of road-making and other development work in and about the forest. Waipoua, therefore, offers the conditions of a self-supporting public work on a big scale—a work that would 'produce permanent results of. the highest importance. These would inplude the first stage in the development of the forest itself into a cultivated forest, and a great 'improvement in the conditions of settlement in Hokianga County. Mr. Hutchins estimates that during the transition period of a kindred years after the timber now ripe had been cut and before the forest attained full productivity it would give as good returns and support as big a population of .settlers as if its thirty thou-' sand acres were cleared and devoted to, dairy farming. At the end of a hundred years, he estimates, the forest- will yield at least £10 per acre annually. In a survey of the forest resources of the Dominion, Waipoua is at the upper end of the scale, but no doubt there are. other fairly considerable areas offering somewhat similar possibilities. At the other end of tho scale are depleted forest areas which will produce nothing for many years to come, but under proper treatment, which need not be costly, will again become richly productive. Between these extremes there are many gradations. In order, that the most may bo-/made of these resources,, whether in regard to ultimate results or to employment and development in the immediate future, it is essential_that 'the Government should obtain the services of expert foresters and give them a free hand irk demarcating tho areas to be rc j served as forest or restored, and in -drawing up working plans. World- . wide experience demonstrates that it is necessary to remove forest affairs as far as possible from political control, and in dealing ' with them to exclude the interference of departments other than that to which they belong. Mit. Hutchins loniz ago declared that to put New Zealand forestry into a position of - that of other civilised countries, tho '• two urgent measures immediately necessary were (l) forest demarcate tion, (2) the formation of a technii ca.l non-political Forest Department

on the lines of the Forest Service of ft? United States' of America. At present the forest resources of. the Dominion arc being cut' l down, nominally in the interests-of settlement, but actually against these interests. Kauri land, for instance, is, or was, very recently being sold at prices as low as £l per acre, and even some of the best remaining forest areas are threatened with alienation. Only_ complete demarcation •will determine what land should be permanently reserved as forest and what alienated. The real interests of forestry and ordniaryscttlcment are in every way identified. Far from offering any obstacle to settlement a strong Forest Department would in every way assist and extend its spread. Needless say, such a department nowhere exists to gratify people who wish to preserve trees for their beauty. Its aim in every case is utilitarian—to preserve forest only where it is the richest and. most profitable crop the land will bear. Until the forest areas of New Zealand are demarcated both they and the interests of settlement will suffer. It is open to the Government almost at once to open up a field of employment and development in favoured forest areas. But in order *thaf the full and rich possibilities of forest development may be realised demarcation by expert foresters is essential. The Government should follow the example set by the State of Victoria, which has decided to appoint a Forest Commission of three members. The Commission is to include two skilled foresters and the chairman is to be a man with a wide practical business experience and a good knowledge of the treatment and sale of timber.