Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, SEPT. 7th, 1920. OUR TIMBER INDUSTRY.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 September 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY, SEPT. 7th, 1920. OUR TIMBER INDUSTRY.

The important part the ||m]bfo' " try of Westland wifi play in fee fufefo of the place is ground enough for the people at large keeping ft watchful eye on all that pertains to the welfare of the industry. When mining was ,t very flourishing industry here there ■WfOri" ifening associations taking an active interest in the welfare and fortunes of tiie nidiqifefe, an d it is not any d. loss necessary now that fo a# industry ,of the magnitude the timber feade is likely to grow iptp, there should be local associations carefully watching .the welfare of the industry. The action IL seems even more necessary in regard fo the timber trade than to that of mining, feeeMise the direction of the former i« being centralised in an official management which is yawing the future of the trade more in the nhsjract than the practical. There is going to fo? ;jl great deal of theory expounded about thp growing of trees, but not much practical thought displayed about the milling of the timber There is the danger of a large controlling department growi*. ing up and overshadowing the practical rn f or the theoretical. Westland, because to it is .a vast forest, should be greatly conns, owned jin the possibilities surrounding the timber industry, otherwise if it is indifferent it may wake up too late to protest against a provincial .wrong. The danger we see (n. [fee matter is that the faddist will get a good deal of his ~ way if not checked betimes The regu Rations for the effective working of the forest lands can be put on reason- . able lines, and the present value of the timber country suggests that they, should. In that direction millers will O | be only too ready to co-operate. The Lfact that to-day belts of bush country is [ are being gone over a second amf third j time, indicates that in earlier times 1- when timber had a lesser value, milling was more for quality, so that any country taken up by the miller should be utilised to its fullest effect. This of course is largely possible by the ex- > port trade which has grown up with Australia, The overseas trade has enabled a much higher percentage of tim- . ber to be taken out of our bush —esti- ( - - mated up to fully thirty per cent. This free trade has had the advantage of clearing up the bush oountry much, cleaner than heretofore, and if settlernent is to follow it is well that it should ! 11 be so. The Coast is just beginning to 11 feel the benefit of its spreading settle- > | ment, and the advanceguard of invady ing sqttlers is now* arriving. The ody vent of the sturdy sons of the soil will i- mean the denudation of much bush s j country, which will be lost to the mils' | ler, especially in the south unless fal- c ilities for transport are afforded. There is the question, too, that so much of our bush country is locked un in scenic re1, ; serves and endowments, pud these prej serves must hamper milling greatly. - On fop of this what is to be done for i the district with regard fo reafforestaf tion? We hear much about conserva--1 tion, and reservations suggest this will 1 be more and more .stringent as time c goes on, but here is a territory ad- j jinirably adapted for forestry, and yet !

despite till tho theory expounded about trees and tree life, nothing is being 1 done in the district best designed oi all by nature for the reproduction of forest areas. Tho new management of the ] Forestry Department will bo expected to turn some attention this way or the opinion that it is all theory and no nractice will grow more and more con.