The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2044, 22 November 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1907.

THE TIMBER INDUSTRY. Mr. IV. li. Rees was by no means unduly severe in his expression of opinion when he informed a representative of this journal yesterday that the attitude of tho people of Poverty Bay towards the timber -industry' was “simply disgraceful.” Mr. Itees declared emphatically it-ha-t £200,000 worth of timber is being destroyed annually in Poverty Bay, at the same time that we are sending over £40,000 out of .the district -to buy timber -from other sources, and are paying heavy freights on Newcastle coal, because wo are unable to provide a return cargo. The figures are, of course, approximate, but it is well known that this burning of good timber is going on at a tremendous rate. The position is that settlers have no means of getting timber from- the back country to -market, -whereas by burning it and converting the land into sheep country they can make it immediately reproductive. Moreover, if we wait for the Government to take the present line where it iwiill tap -the ti-mlber country there will p rob ably bo very little timber left, and under the circumstances tile scheme which Mr. Rees propounds for the building of a light lino by the local bodies of the -Bay is worthy of close consideration. If Mr. Rees’ figures are confirmed, there is no question as to the soundness of the proposal, but at any rate there can be no harm -in thoroughly investigating the facts. The principle that the district should take its future in-to its own hands without waiting lor the Government is one that can be thoroughly commended, and might with advantage be adopted all over the Dominion. Nowadays there is too much hanging back for Government assistance and an almost general disposition to shirk local responsibilities. Tho co-operative idea which it is suggested should be arranged for tbs working of these timber areas might possibly be found to work very well. In this respect we -have an excellent precedent in the dairy industry, which has been chiefly built up on the -co-operative system. Now that the townspeople have at last secured a water supply, and seem -to be in a fair way to get a harbor, it is to be hoped there will be an awakening in all civic and distric-t -matters, and that the residents of this greatly favored region will begin to realise that their many privileges are accompanied also by responsibilities that they have no right to shirk. To admit that there are 2,000,000,000 ft of timber in the Poverty Bay district, .and that w-e are burning it down whilst importing from other parts is to write o-urselves down as a people lacking both enterprise and wit.