VANISHING FORESTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2466, 2 April 1909, Page 6

VANISHING FORESTS.

A SENSELESS SACRIFICE.

'' - SOMEBODY’S BLUNDER

(By P. J. O’Regan, in the New Zealand “Times.”

"The appointment of a commission to enquire int-o the timber industry naturally suggests some reflections, and but little reflection is required to enable, us* to realise that, notwithstanding all that hasjbpipn said about forest conservation, 4 tgrpat deal remains to be done in that,-direct ion. Of late years we tevo heard a great deal about afforestan, but nobody acquainted with New Zealand timber requires to be told that the rehabilitation of the native forest is a practical impossibility. The. native trees are, generally speaking, of such slow growth that their planting for commercial purposes is out of the question. Moreover, unlike the trees of Australia, they have no fan roots; in fact they may be eaid merely' to sit on the ground. Hence when once the pri;i meval forest is aia&all disturbed, its ultimate destruction is but .a question of time. On these grounds we are driven to the conclusiaon that nothing short of the rigid conservation of large areas can save the native bush from complete destruction. Seeing that we have large areas of hill country of little or no use for agriculture or pasture, there i is no great difficulty in the way of conservation on a large scale. Yet in, various parts of New Zealand we find hill country being opened for settlement in complete disregard of the grave conse-que-nces that must ensue. One of these, : and not the least serious by any means, must be the loss of_ water storage and consequent inundations, in rainy weather, and inundations must involve the loss by erosion of large areas of valuable land in the lower lands and river ..valleys. The experiences of other countries—notably o"f Italy and Chinashould surely not be lost upon us in this connection. Already the ruthless denudation of the hill country'is bearing fruit in the Manawatu district and clse•‘fraere, and unless a halt in this reckless impolicy is cried, it will be soon useless to attempt a remedy. . While on the West Coast of the South Island a few weeks ago, my attention was forcibly called to _ this question by what is now going on in. the Inangahua Valley. Not the'least reason given for making the railway from Westport to Reefton has been the.timber resources of the Inangahua Valley. Despite the largo area of forest in the Valley, however, the quantity of milling timber is by no means co-extensive with it. Beyond doubt there is a considerable area of excellent timber, and by the obser--vance of a rational and common-sense policy, it might be made a great source of wealth. The best timber, generally speaking, grows on the best land; that is to say, oil the .alluvial flats along the river. Here the timber is. almost exclusively white pine (kahikitea) and black pine or matai. On the slightly elevated flats and terraces more remote from the river, there is no matai, and there are fewer white pines, bat there is some birch of fair quality and a good deal of rimu or red pine. Within recent years considerable areas in the Valley .have been surveyed and thrown openfor settlement. Naturally the best land' has gone first, and already large quantities of valuable timber have been destroyed. That is to say, instead of leaving the land untouched until the line had been made, at least as far as the Inangahua Junction, the land has been parted with and the best of the timber is being destroyed just as the railway is nearing completion ! Common' sense ought surely have dictated a saner policy, and very .little foresight would have been required to have made the opening of the land for settlement coincide with the opening of the line. As it is the line will reach the Junction in time to enable the traveller to see the rotting trunks of trees that, with judicious management, would have proved an excellent national asset. I took the trouble to scrutinise some of . the bush that had been felled, and found that magnificent rimu trunks, ranging from 60 to 65 feet to the first branch were rotting on tho ground, while • white pines with barrels running from 70 to 80 feet were frequent.. How the Lands Department can justify the sense;less destruction of these ' magnificent trees I am at a loss to determine. As a matter of fact nobody justifies it. Some, regret it as inevitable concomitant oi. settlement, which, as a matter of'fact, it is net. But the real reason why nothing is done towards a better policy is that nobody complains. A little organised and healthy criticism would soon put an end to the present indefensible and unnecessary waste of timber. I found that numerous “scenic re-st-eves” have been made throughout thedistrict under notice. The phrase reads well, and will probably lead thoughtless people to think that it means that, something practical has been done to .preserve portions of the native bush. I shall show, however, that it means nothing of the kind. These alleged “reserves” are patches of bush marked off for paper—here and there. Now, it. is notorious that it is impossible to preserve isolated and small areas of New-Zealand bush. The felled bush must be burned off, and L> the burning process the margin of evw,» “reserve” must be more or levs injured. The dead trees in the reserves must provide food later on for further lire, -and in a few years there will be nothing left of these precious reserves. Surely; nt this stage in our history even officia.dom should not require to.be told, that, if New Zealand bush is to be preserved -at all, large areas must be reserved and . the margins planted with acclimatised trees. Unless this is done it would be far preferable to have none of these insignificant reserves'at all, but to throw every rood of land topen for selection. The present system is the merest tinkering and is utterly useless either from an artistic or utilitarian point of view. Yet if a controversy arose over the matter under notice, we shoulrd probably be assured through official channels that . so many thousands of acres of reservations had been provided for. All this would be perfectly satisfactory to everyone except these who are acquainted- ; with the facte, and the facts are as J. ’ If any reader of this article has evm travelled between Westport and .keeiton, ho will have noticed a_ very prett> ■ reach in tho Inangahua river, on che upper side of the bridge at-the Landcrossing. Here the river : dew a precipitous.bluff.-of rock, the wxx-Qle of which is covered with a dense.gion J of birch. This hby far the most pm- ; -1-turesque spot in the valley oi the beau-, "tirul Maori name. Here one won.d naturally have expected a jaige h. tion- —one large onoiigli a u anj i* ' j h pociallv in view of the fact that the and it the back of the bluff is -oi veiyAittlo use for .pastoral purposes, to '■ the scenic attractions oi. rbe locality .Yet I founi'l that only ,a t iegg Snmp ? 60 0: ,< acres had been reserved ! bomc bju : ' »I>™l tlie bW W licea surrqrcd and bnlloteO ior.; In. I ' t ' i ' ■ ■ : - ;• ;.;v;

was gratified to hear that the “successful applicant” had subsequently thought better, of his task, and had 'abandoned the section. Nobody who has a practical knowledge of native bush requires to be told what will happen if something is not done to check this official vandalism. Somebody will take . the section, burn the bush, and the fire will extend down the face of the bluff, leaving nothing but a mass of blackened trunks, to ’be succeeded later by a dense growth of blackberry and other noxious weeds. As a set-off against all this ave have an insignificant forty acres marked off on tho survey, map as a reserve, but no one can seriously think it possible to preserve forty acres while all the surrounding country is being denuded by fire. The proper thing in this particular locality would be t-o reserve at least 1000 acres. Perhaps Mr T. Mackenzie, who has heretofore manifested a praiseworthy zeal for scenic and forest conservation will assert himself in time to avert the folly that is threatened without the faintest semblance of-justification or excuse.

Whether the matter is considered from a practical or a scenic point of view, there is but >one conclusion as far as tile Inangahua Valley is concerned—an indefensible waste of timber is going on, reserves have been made that are utterly useless, and hill country has been and will be surveyed and thrown open to settlement that, as a matter of the highest public policy, should be left as it is. With such a damp climate as obtains on the West Coast it will b.e impossible to keep down the growth of noxious weeds cm these hills once the native bush goes. Generally speaking, the birch hills of the Coast are. nstvess for growing grass. The timber is generally worthless for milling. Here, therefore, is one place where the forest might easily be conserved. With judicious selection, of course, a large area of land, might be made available for settlement, but even in this case, the timber might be turned to useful account instead of being ruthlessly wasted. The course at present being followed is in the last degree subversive of the public interests, and should not be allowed to continue. To test my criticism let the reader make a mental experiment. Suppose, for example, that the territory under notice were owned by one man or by a private company. It may fairly be supposed that things would be governed- by business principles—that is to say, the most would be made out of tho natural resources. The utilisation of timber and the settlement of land would he made complementary processes, and hence the waste of a splendid asset would be avoided. Reserves would be set aside with a judicious regard for well-established facts, and care would be taken to preserve the bush where no good could result from its denudation. Surely these are the elements of sound bus'iness principles? Hence we are driven to the conclusion, that there is really no conflict between business principles and the highest public policy. Nobody can defend the present system, and I fear it is not limited to the West Coast. When dealing recently with the bungle that is threatened in connection with the WestportReefton railway, I appealed to Mr. R oderick McKenzie to assert his practical knowledge. In this instance I rc.ake a similar appeal to Mr. Tom Mackenzie to visit the Wc*t Coast and see for himself the abuses I have referred to. If he does this his practical good. sense will almost coitaiiiliv secure a more rational and business-like, policy.