OUR FORESTS.

Evening Star, Issue 3445, 7 March 1874, Page 3

OUR FORESTS.

A very interesting report on this subject,with particular reference to the destruction of the foiah waj laid before the Waste Land Board on Thursday. It has been framed by a committee of the Board; consisting of Mr Thomson (chairman), and Messrs J. Reid and H. Clark, Commissioners, We make the following extracts i ~The f or qrdab tpe administration 2 f Jbe Roard shown by the report to be as j’P'mws Uppbr Clutbft and Waitaki districts, 26,240 acres ; North-Eastern district, 89,840 acres; South-Eastern district, 392,960 acres; West Coast and Waiau districts, Wakatipu, unsurveyed, and necessarily merely approximate, 1,107,840 acres; total,-I,so6,Bßoacres. The area of forest under the administration of the Southland Waste Land Board extends to about 1,070 square miles, or 684,800 acres, but the committee’s report confined itself t&f ajga Since the Oniony was founded, 51,262 acres of the public forests have passed into private hands, of which 14,654 awes have been destroyed by fire or otherwise, and, of the public forests remaining, 12,787 acres have been .destroyed by the same means, the result of carelessness, the burning of grass on runs; and the unregulated operations of woodlicense holders. The causes of the destruction of forests on private property ar§ the clearing of the Japd fpr epltlyatipn, fplling qf timber fqr sawing, fenping, and, in the neighborhood of Dunedin, principally for fifewoqd;' and which pauses iti the opinion of the rangers, are rapidly bringing : about an obliteration of this ' property of the : State. The forests vary from heavy timber, which is found on the low lands, to small scrub, found on the ranges rising to an altitude of 3,500 ft. _ Intermediate between these there is every variety. Hitherto, the heavy timber, for the most part, has been entered, and extends over half-a-million of acres; the remainder, bring OPfit for fhe sawyer, and being inaccessible, is Of no utility to other trade's, such as firewood cutters, fencers, &o. Half-a-million of acres, at B,oooft per acre, might be held- to contain four billions of superficial feet, which, placed in the market at 10s per 100 superficial feet, would amount to L 20,000,000, the value of the timber, after it, in the course of years, has been brought to market. This sum merely represents the amount of labor required to bring it to market, and the earnings, capital, and machinery combined, In other words, the forests under the administration of theßoagl, now and in future years, will give employment to _ capital and labor to the above ■amount if properly conserved. • It appears (from a calculation that only one-nineteenth iof the actual bulk of the trunks in an Otago forest is available for eaw-millers, It seems

plain that all forests easily accessible will at the' above estimate (given) be finished in twenty to thirty years, thus leaving the more to the later portion of the period, but which may then be as cheaply brought to market as the present, by reason of cheap labor and greater carriage facilities. Measures, therefore, are not immediately pressing, but whatever is done should be done with due regard to the wants of the public and a foresight for future generations. Since the foundation of the settlement 51,262 acres of forest have been sold to private persons, and 26,441 acres have been destroyed by fires or for cultivation/ The committee suggested that the bushes should be detaued solely for each class of sawyers, and that the licensees of each and both classes should be confined within their respective boundaries, otherwise no effectual supervision can be maintained; and in no case should manual wood- ?- U £ te i S be flowed where saw-mills are established, as the latter can more economically furnish all the wants of settlers than the former. It is evident that the action of the Waste Land Hoard must be confined to their powers given in the Act, and these being limited, the practical recommendation of the committee cannot embrace the whole question of use and renovation of forests. Considering all the circumstances (continued the committee) we think it would be a better principle to license to sawmillers the cutting of actual assigned portions pf the primeval forest after survey, if necessary, for three years, at so much per acre, payable in advance. This would give fixity of position and ceitamty of revenue, and the areas granted per horse power could- be regulated according to the nature and quality of the bush. While, from the evidence we have collected, we do not eee any..stringent necessity for planting operations with the view* of replacing the natural forests, yet yre are clearly of opinion that the Work must -be some ; ' time-: hence . initiated.■ When this has to be done, it is clear that the work must be executed by the Board, with greater power attached to it than it at present possesses, while we believe that much extension of useful trees will arise in private lands, owmg to the bonus per acre now paid. '"’Yet this will not be the case on public lands unless under the conduct, and supervision of comper teut foresters; ana, as intunated before, we are of opinion that no obstruction should be put in the way of sawyers and wood-cutters. Yet when they are done, the areas under license to them should at once be either marked off for small settlers or replanted at the public expense ; and, though this expense may be a large sum per acre, yet the advantage of the fullgrown artificial -plantations-Would he that every single tree could be turned into prepared stuff, hot one-nineteenth only, as is the case witli the natural growth. - _ The report of Mr D. M‘Arthur, Inspector of Jb crests, Southland, set forth that there had peen a considerable proportion of the Colonial forests falling annually for centuries from naturai decay, and this process was still going on, which, when combined with the additional area dotted over with the crops and branches of felled trees, prepared the forests for extensive and destructive fires. In this preparatory process the splitter, not intentionally, but necessarily, was more destructive than the sawmiller, for he must have trees that would split, and therefore required tp ; go oyer a large extent of ground for comparatively few trees ’ while to the other it was a matter of indifference whether the tree was even-threaded or not. Me..(the saw-miller), might therefore, if necessary, be made to utilize all the available prees above a foot in diameter within his lines m a face, and having laid down an expensive plant, including miles of tramway, he would of course, be more careful about fires. In most ox the Southland forests there was a very considerable number of yoUng trees from a foot in diameter to the mere seedling. Therefore every hundred acres gone over by the sawmiUer ought, as m Spotfand, to bp fenced to prevent cattle destroying the saplings. There would also be less risk from fire, as no one would require to go inside the fence, which, if of turf, and for long stretches having wet ditches on each side, would tend to check fires from outside. In those endeavors the crops of the felled trees would be both food and shelter for **l e y°ung plnnts growing up through them, and there should be Scotch’fir, larch'oak, elm,. .&c ; , planted where the native saplings were not .tmek enough. It might be matter for serious consideration by the Government whether those whp were fortunate enough to.have good bush ou their own properties should not be prevented cutting m the reserve, while'it would be but reasonable that certain provisions should be made for settlers on the open plains who had the privilege 10 W ° uld be (juite willing to pay for

t NEW REGULATIONS. ~Timpe r licenses are to be issued iii future in the foUowmg forms, subject to the classification of the forest by the rangers The ordinary •2JSS? ° f 006 ““F?? 1 sa wyer or woodcutter to be iffi’S r s^? al | ai \ d ( l uar .ter claims to have IJOft. and 50ft. frontage respectively ; to be held for one year only, or part of a year ; annua! fees, payable in advance, 50s, 30s. and 20s, also respectively, all ending on the 31st Decemberin each year. The'ordinary claim of a saw-null to be one mile square ; half and quarter claims to have 40 and 20 chains frontage respectively; to be held for three years or less, ending on 31st December : fees payable in advance, at L 640, L 320, and Ll6O, also respectively. Manual sawyers or woodcutters before applying for a claim, to mark the frontage by three cross marks an a tree to be the starting point, and on which they must fix a notice of their claim; the, other cor ftw . to be marked; or, failing * tree,'by a 0 rising m. out of it Their application must declare their having done this, and a. sketch of their position must accompany the same : after which it will be competent for the Chfef Commissioner to collect the fees and issue a license in the form Eth, S apS“‘ lre bei ’” edfr ™ “» d