CAPTAIN CAMPBELL WALKER ON STATE FORESTRY.

Evening Star, Issue 4314, 23 December 1876, Page 4

CAPTAIN CAMPBELL WALKER ON STATE FORESTRY.

Daring his lecture before the memtan of the Otago 'lnstitute on Thursevening, Captain Walker said : I Speaking broadly, I repeat that I have formed a high opinion of the New Zealand forests, and I think, if the public will permit ns, we shall make a very valuable property of what we reserve, and secure a lair and steadily increasing revenue from what we dispose of. It has, lam aware, been argued by some that the LIO,OOO per annum appropriated under the existing ** State Forest Act ” is inadequate for planting purposes, and that, as the Colony cannot afford to supplement it, or even to spend that sum, the whole thing had better be dropped. Now, lam very glad to have the LIO,OOO appropriation for the first few years as a reserve fund to be drawn upon, but I don’t intend to trench much upon it, and any scheme which I may bringforward will be based on the principle that the Forest Department should be entirely self - supporting, the revenues derived from existing indigenous forests in the hands of the Crown Ining made sufficient to cover all expenditure tor establishments, and working, gradual formations of plantations, &c., &c., the surplus, after defraying all the above charges, being Colonial forest revenue. This is the eyatem which we have gone on in India, where we took over a forest property in a much more dilapidated condition than that of New Zealand, and burtheued by the immemorial rights and privileges of a Native population, numbering upwards of 200 millions ; and have nevertheless, I am proud to say, paid our way, formed extensive plantations, and already secured an annually increasing surplus of revenue over expenditure. I wish especially to guard myself against forming or expressing utopian or too rosy views on this subject, and I can have no interest in over-estimating the value aud im portance of the forests, as it is very improbable that I shall be able to remain as conseivator, even if the Government and House should wish to retain my services beyond the year for which they are at present lent, I do not pretend that we are going to clothe barren hul sides and desert plains with trees in a year, or even several years, or that the indigenous forests are at once to pay off your Colonial debt, but I do say and think that, with proper management, we should be able to plant wherever necessary, secure a permanent and improved supply of timber for the use of individuals and public departments, and retain an intact and gradually improving forest property, whose capital value may represent your national debt, and the income derived from which ought to go far to meet the interest thereon. 1 think I am justified by what I have seen in considering that this may be done, but it can only be done by the public and its representatives in the House regarding the question of Forest Conservation as a national or Colonial one, and not from a merely local point of view. The views and principles of the present, past, and future Governments of the Colony have no legitimate bearing on my duty, which is at present to submit a report on my inspection of the New Zealand forests, with proposals for their management and conservation. Those proposals, so far as I have given them shape in my own mind, will consist in—l. The absolute reservation of a comparatively email proportion of the unalienated forest area. 2. The gradual disposal of the timber and forest products on the remainder of the waste forest lands to the best advantage. 3. The formation of Government plantations wherever we can do so without risk of financial loss, or it is proved that they are absolutely essential to the public good. 4. The encouragement of planting by private proprietors by liberal grants of land in lieu of planted area. Under such a system the whole forest revenue will of course be Colo-* maJ, and the expenditure be quite u respective of the County or district, beiug in fact greatest in the first instance in those contri- __ uting the minimum of forest revenue, viz., in forest where none at present exists. This is, I think, the only feasible plan of action, and I hope that the Government may see their way to support it, and that the House may approve with such modification as they may think fit. We can then set to work in a systematic and regular manner with our forest valuations and demarcations, and working district by district. These things cannot be done in a day, but they can be done in time, even in what are considered the most inaccessible places, by perseverance and patience.