PRACTICAL FORESTRY.

Hokitika Guardian, 10 June 1920, Page 1

PRACTICAL FORESTRY.

LECTURE BY sill DAVID HUTCHINS.

(Dominion)

I Some facts about forestry were placed before a public meting in. the Trades Hall, Wellington, on Saturday, night by Sir David Hutchins. About fifty persons were present. Sir David Hutchins, who is a recognised authority on the subjoct sketched the development j of J’or'estr'y in "other -countries, and stressed tho enormous importance of “the greatest and most wholesome of human industries.” Britain had learned the lesson of tho war, and after neglecting forestry for many generations, was proposing now to spend £50,000,000 during the next forty years on the afforestation of 2,000,000 acres-of land. This area of forest would provide per,'manent employment for 50,000 families Hinder conditions that would make children an asset. The forest population would not be less than 350,000. I-Io showed by means of maps that a substantial proportion of the area of France and Germany was under forests, which gave a better annual return than agriculture could do, and mentioned that half the surface of Japan was now under carefully-tended and profitably forests. New Zealand, on the other hand, had begun only now to give scientific attention to its forests. The rule in the past had been to destroy the forest in taking out one crop of trees, even when the land would have been far more profitable under trees than under grass. New Zealand has/ once the finest forests in the Southern Hemispheres. It had left about 10,500,000 acres of forest land, much of it very poor in quality. According- to Kuropean standards at least one-quarter of the country, or about 16,000,000 acres, should be under permanent forests. The proportion should be larger in a mountainous country, where trees Were easily tho most valuable crop that could be grown on poor land. The Government was making a move now',, and was reserving some of the remain ing forest, to be worked on scientific linds. The. demarking of existing native forests, particularly poor and mountainous land, was the only practicable method of placing forestry on a sound footing, since the cost of reafforestation on a large scale was absolutely prohibitive. It would cost £BOO,000,000 to replace the native forest with planted forest on an adequate scale in New Zealand, and in any case the native, trees of the Dominion were qjuieker growing under forest conditions. The average value per acre of j the New Zealand forest was more than double the value of American forest. Practical forestry was based on the development and improvement of native | forest, and it was on these lines that Now Zealand should proceed. The inj troduction of valuable trees from other j country, such as the Californian redj wood, was desirable, and would be a j part of the forestry scheme. Such trees I could be introduced into the native ! forest as development proceeded, i Sir David Hutchins expressed the ■ opinion that scientific forestry would | .be a factor in the" reduction of the . cost of living. Timber would remain | the most generally satisfactory matoj rial, for house-building and the ifso of ; a. zinc bath for the timber before con- : struction would minimise the danger of decay or borer. Good forestry would j provide an abundant and secure supply of wood for fuel as well as timber. The bill country around the city of j Wellington had once been under magni- | ficent forest, which should never have ! been removed. The. forest had gone and I most of tho land had lapsed into gorse I and bramble, and at the best the billI sides from which the trees had been j removed provided very poor grazing | He hoped that some day the hillsides ! would be replanted, but the work would |be difficult. The important point to i day was not to allow a single acre of j existing forest to lie destroyed, until , experts were satisfied that it sTiou ! not be bold as permanent forest. For- ! estrv, said Sir David Hutchins, ought | to-appeal to the workers. It "as a I its best under national control and it ! Wils antagonistic to land aggregation. 'lt could foliow the old bad practice of felling the milling trees and destroying what was left; or it could adopt scientific methods by cutting the mature trees and leaving the young tres to grow to maturity under skilled supervision. The old system meant that timber worth many pounds to future j venerations was being sacrificed ior “razing worth .a few pence to the present veneration. It was significant that under present conditions more than 100 000 acres of land in New Zealand reverted annually to scrub and bramble If this land had stayed, under timber it would have been a source of l profit for centuries to come, ihe speaker enumerated the advantages that scientific forestry had to offer New Zealand and emphasised the need of an amended forestry law and a State for- • cst-seed store.