PRACTICAL FORESTRY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 216, 7 June 1920, Page 6

PRACTICAL FORESTRY

LECTURE BY SIR DAVID HUTCHINS

2 ,TREES AND THE STATE

Some facts about forestry wero placed before -. a public meeting in the Trades . Hall on Saturday. uigttt. by Sir David Hutchins: About fifty persons wero present. Sir David Hutchins, who is a recognised authority on the subject, Bketohed the development of forestry in . other countries, and stressed the enormous, importance of "tho greatest and moat wholesome of human industries." Britain had learned the lesson oi" tho war, and after -neglecting forestry for many generations, was proposing now to speud .£50,000,000 during the next forty yeats on the afforestation of 2.000.000 acijfs of -land. This area of forest would provide permanent • emnloyment for 50,000 families, under conditions that would make children an asset. The forest population would not be less than 350,000. He showed by means of mara that a substantial proportion of the area of France and Germany was under forests, which gave a better annual return than agriculture could do. and mentioned that half the surface oi Japan was under carefully-tended and profitable forests. New Zealand, on tho othor hand, had begun only now to give scientific attention- to its forests. , J.lie rule in the past had been to destroy the forest in taking out ono crop ot trees, even when the. land would have been far moro profitable under trees than under grass. New Zealand had once the finest foresta in tho Southern Hemisphere. It had left about 10,500.00(1 aores of forest land, much of it v,ery poor in quality. According to Euronean standards at least one-quarter of the country, or about 16.000.000 acres, should be under permanent forests. The proportion should be larger in a mountainous country, where trees were easily the most valuable .crop that could be grown on- poor land. The Government was making a move now, and was reserving some'of tho remaining forest, to bo worked on-scientific lines. The departing of existing native forests, particularly on poor and mountainous land, was the inly practicable method of placing forestry on a sound footing, since the cost o? reafforestation on a large scale was absolutely prohibitive; It would cost to replace the native forest with planted forest on an adequate * scale-m-New Zealand, and in. any case the native trees of the Dominion wero quicker'growing under forest condition's'than-' the imported trees under forest conditions. The average value per acre of tho New Zealand .forest was more than double the value of American forest. Practical forestry was based on the development and improvement of native forest, and it waa on these lines that New Zealand should proceed. The- introduction of valuable trees from other countries, such as the Californian redwood,, wag desirable, and would be a part of tho. forestry scheme. Such trees could be introduced into tlin native forest as development proceeded. Sir David Hutchins expressed the opinion that scientific forestry would be a factor in the reduction of the cost of living. Timber would remain the most: generally satisfactory material for house-building, and the use of a zino bath for the timber before construction would minimise the danger of decav or borer. - Good forestry would provide an abundant and secure supply of wood for fuel as well as timber. The hill countrv around the city of Wellington had once beprt .under magnificent .forest, which should never have been removed. ..The forest had gone, much of the land had lapsed into gorse and bramble, and at the best the hillsides from which the trees had' been removed provided very ~ poor, grazing. He hoped that <x>m« dav the hillsides would be Teplanted, but tho work would be difficult. The important point today was not to allow a single acre of existing forest to be destroyed, until experts were satisfied that it should not. be held as permanent forest. Forestry, said' Sir David Hutchins, ought to appeal to the. workers. It was at Its best under national control, and it was antagonistic to land aggregation. It provided an ideal defence force of men accustomed to an open-air life and it provided employment without displacement. National forestry had long been a plank in the platform of the British Labour Party, and in Australia phenomenal progress had • been made in forestry under -Labour-. Governments, with "the-assistance of ; 'a Governor-Gen-eral who happened tb.be a skilled forester. An area of 24.000,000 acres was to be reserved in Australia for forestry purposes'. ■'■-." The lecturer-sketched employment in permanent, organised forests, as •providing : ideal living conditions. New- Zealand had a choice of-methods in-deal-ing' with' its remaining forest areas. It could-, follow the old, bad practice of felling the milling trees and destroying what was .left; or it could adopt scientific 'methods'; "by" cutting the mature 'trees arid leaying the young trees to grow _ to maturity under skilled supervision'. " The 'old system meant that timber- worth many pounds to future generations .-■ sacrificed for grazing worth'a few'pence to the present generation. "It, was significant ■ that wider present conditions,more than 100,000 acres of land in Now Zealand reverted annually to' scrub and bramble. If this land had stayed under timber It would have been a source of profit for. centuries to come. The speaker-enumerated the advantages that scientific-'forestry had to offer New Zealand., and emphasised the need of an amended forestry law and a Stato fcrest-secd store.