The Hokitika Guardian TUESDAY, SEPT, 20th, 1921. MAINLY SUPPOSITION.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 September 1921, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian TUESDAY, SEPT, 20th, 1921. MAINLY SUPPOSITION.

In ill is issue is ]m1»l islit-'d a press roport of an address given in Christchurch last week by an officer of the Forestry Department on ‘‘Forest Froduetn.” The officer is styled “Knginoer of Forest I 'rodiicts under tin 1 State Forest Service” The title appears id be as grandiloquent as the forest policy itsell. However, Parliament voted over L’JJIH) COO last year to •rim” tlie forestry (lepartinent—so we must net somethin;' for the money. It is noticeable that the department is attempting Stood deal of propaganda, work and Oltristehureb is getting its share ni it. Itnt in all the addresses of these ollieers we have been privileged to read, there is an overburden ni suppositional) matter. The ‘‘its” predominate in most of tliQ propositions put lorwa.nl and we do not seem to get anywhere. In the Christe-hiirch address many nice tilings were said to tiolilo the ears of the auditors. The outline of things read very well—as a perusal of the article reprinted in this issue will show but where do we get to in solid hut. To talk of using native trees when they are ‘'fifteen- or twenty years old,” even allowing for “species” is preposter-

nns, wlinn applied to llsitivc tnos nt tlint aup iHTcaolnits. So with the milling of tiuilxM' it h:is to In- milled <•«<>- nomicnllv —and the mills rut to tin* economic size. Heart timin'! 1 is not always readily available, and the wasted slabs, are the n<»n-lioart. Tile mill owner does not burn bis slabs ior the sak<of the eonllagrat ion they produce b'.t been list* they cannot be marketed economically. There is no ‘‘il’' about a market for ebarenal if the commodity could .be supplied in quantity at a I rice, but the saw miller lias not found the way to do s:> yet. So with forestry suitable for wood pulping, it is dl a matter for economical produo-, tion and the maniifactnn* of paper will result. If and this is a * rueial ‘if’ the Department would demonstrate the utilisation of forest, products or by prodm-ls. private enter, prise would not lie long in entering upon the business if payable. Where propositions of such a nature have been possible, millers have ventured, and are ever ready to venture. The forestry propaganda seems to suggest that the average miller is a vandal bent upon destroying the national asset and turning the forest tracts into a wilderness. If this were so. the department should lecture and instruct the miller accordingly, and not shoot its shafts from afar and seek to prejudice the whole forestry issue by dealing fab" impressions in the outside public mind. The department should drop its excursions into the land ot seppositmn and deal with the Id res try issue as it is. Instruct the miller where i f can ; inform public opinion in a practical and rational way ; and do something definite in tin* way of reafforestation. No doubt industrial benefits can be created by utilising forest hy-prrducis. but this expert, information should be communicated to those who are in tin* forestry country and who have facilities with existing plants to engage in the side lines. The Forestry Deptartment requires to come down to a practical line of action within modem and local possibilities. If certain things are possible with the timbers of Swedeil.or Canada, it does not follow that our own native trees will be *o amenable hut tln-re may be the outlet for new departures all the same, and it is tin* practical not the nnpractieable w require educating U]xm.