The Evening Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4318, 29 December 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1876.

The lecture delivered by Captain Walker before the Otago Institute the other evening put the subject of " State Forestry" in a light in which probably few colonists had previously regarded it. It is several years since the questions of how beßt to presvrve the existing forests of the Colony from useless destruction and what means should be adopted for the replacement of felled timber began to be agitated, but it was not until the introduction of the Forests Bill into the Assembly in 1874 and the fierce Parliamentary debate to which it gave rise, that public attention was thoroughly awakened to the importance of the matter; although even now it cannot be said that the buik of the settlers of New Zealand comprehend the urgent which exist;) for Government action ou thi3 behalf. In soine parts of the islands the lack ol growing timber is too patent to be ignored. The inhabitants of the northern and mining districts of Otago, for example, would, one and all, concur in the desirability or forming plantations of trees in those localities ; but many persons are still of opinion that, treating the matter from a Colonial point of view, tbiugs may well be left to adjust themselves, since the paucity of wood in certain places is compensated for by the masses of forest which arc to be found in Southland, on the West Coast, in Auckland, and in Taranalii, and to the. unreflecting, contain inexhaustible quantities of timber ; while private enterprise will supply the deficiencies of Nature in particular "spots. The lecturer demolished one portion of sbe frail foundation upon wlich this belief by pointing out that "thtre is no such thtog as an inexhaustible supply so long as the fore»t is under no control, is being trenched

regard to the annual increment of timber," and of coarse the demand for timber augments in a constantly-increasing ratio through the growth of population and of the export trade. Then, too, a good deal of the existing forest is situated in spots so inconvenient to reach ta to render the trees useless for commercial purposes; while everybody will acknowledge that woods around the heads of rivers and large watercourses ought to be left untouched. The further consideration presents itself that considerable areas of forest sometimes contain but few trees of value to the sawyer ; so that unless suitable measures of conservation be taken, we may find our stock of realty good timber treeß exhausted at no very distant date.

Captain Walker modestly, but emphatically, expressed his disagreement with the popular idea—which he characterised as a popular error"—that "«New Zealand forests cannot be reproduced naturally, and that even the mature and half grown trees will disappear or die off if the woodcutter enters, or even if cattle and sheep are permitted to graze. This belief he imputed to an insufficient knowledge of the science of arboriculture and consideration of cause and effect; and the advice which he gave to all planters of rtfST IT 3 briefl y " foll <w Nature." £ oe those numerous iauures , a the way of transplantation of "-pilngs from the virgin forest which have given rise to the common delusion that indigenous trees cannot be artificially reared. If Captain Walker be correct on this point, it is a most important fact, because it means that instead of creating artificial woods of Australian gums and other foreign trees, we shall be able to form plantations of kauri, totara, puriri, red, black, and white pines and birches in suitable localities, to the large pecuniary profit of the Colony, and to the pleasure of all who desira to see the native productions of the country saved from extinction. In telling his audience that he thought very highly of the New Zealand forests, Captain Walker was merely supporting, by the opinion of an expert, a belief that was already well grounded on the reliable basis of commercial experience ; and when, too, he said that "many of the New Zealand timbers have never had a fair chance or trial, being felled at all seasons of the year, and utilised at once, without seasoning," he was but repeating what has been dilated upon time and again in official reports, in the General Assembly, and by the Press, and what every practical builder knows; but the question is—how is felling at improper seasons to be prevented ? At the first blush it does not seem a very hard question to answer, and yet all kinds of practical difficulties surround its solution.

Upon one point Captain Walker certainly pleased his audience, and his lecture in this respect is likely to do good service to the cause which, he has at heart. Few persons would dispute the advisability of conserving the forests, but a great many think it could not be done with the means at the disposal of the Colony. £IO,OOO a-year, it has been said, would be but a drop in the bucket, and all the Colony *ould get for it would be a staff of salaried officials. Captain Walker dispels this notion with the magic words "self-supporting." He says:—"l do not pretend that we are going to clothe barren hillsides and deßert 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 Ido say and think that, with proper treatment, we should be able to plant wherever necessary, secure a permanent and improved supply of timber for the use of individuals and public depart meuts, and retain an intact and graduallyimprovingforestproperty, whosecapitalvalue may represent your national debt, and the income derived from which ought to go far to meet the interest thereon." This somewhat broad assertion inußt be read with the context; and it would perhaps be extending the lecturer's remarks beyond the meaning they were intended to convey to conclude that the Forest Department, if fairly established, would be selfsupporting from the commencement. A forest cannot be grown like a crop of wheat. There must be large preliminary expenses, and political and other considerations at present interfere with the forests of the Colony being managed like the woods on a private estate; nor are the results achieved in India conclusive as regards New Zealand. The very important difference between the cost of labor in the two countries does not seem to have been-suffi-ciently taken into account by Captain Walker ; and the State Forest system has been too short a time in operation in India to make its experience there a perfectly safe guide. A better idea of the pecuniary advantages derivable from State Forests may be gathered from what has been done on the Continent of Europe ; and the information given under this head in the papers laid before the General Assembly in 1874 does not warrant brilliant expectations so far as Kew Zealand is concerned. The ultimate pecuniary results attainable by a Forest Department must remain somewhat of a speculation; but the value of Captain Walker's observations consists in their refuting the current notion that nothing effective could be done without an extravagant expenditure. He has practically placed the whole question on a fresh basis, because much of the opposition which has been manifested to the formation of a Forest Department has been due to this erroneous belief. Most sensible persons would readily admit the utility of forest conservation, although, as we have said, the need for immediate action does not appear to have come fully home to the public at large ; but the stumbling-block has been the Erobable expense. That removed, the legislature may expect the hearty co-opera-tion of the public in any measures which it may deem proper to take in the direction of State Forestry.