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Hokitika Guardian, 24 January 1922, Page 2

There is much Concern being expressed as to the forest raid on sawmillers’ right referred to in the previous issue. People are fearful that the sawmilling industry is going to be seriously jeopardised. The motive to remove the grant ing of right s from the open public courts presided over by a statutory officer whose decisions may be appealed against, to the privacy of a Minister’s office in Wellington against whose fiat there will be no appeal, is regarded as designed to hoisted up the Forestry Department!. The Department is being created in these stringent times and expensively staffed, when there is well ordered machinery and the staffs already in existence to deal with the business in a public and legitimate way. The sawmilling industry i» being singled out in an exceptional way, and the design appears to be to strangle the industry. The expensive methods of the Forestry Department will apply to the industry will add to the cost of production, and this will require to be passed on to the public. But while costs will go up, restrictions of all kinds will apply and in the end the in- , dustry will be imperilled. The Govern ( ment has acted peculiarly all along in regard to forestry legislation. It

began by passing legislation under the guise of a war measure in the dying hours of a session. In the present instance the Government is equally subtle in its action. It waits for. the main debate on the bill to go by, and at the last moment slips in. a. new clause which will be far-reaching in its damaging effect. The Government is not giving the sawrniller a square deal, but what the isawmiller will suffer will be passed ou to the public in the end, and it is the taxpayer which in the final washing up will have to pjay for this fast and loose way of the Government administration. of its forestry policy.

Cass Square is again demonstrating what a useful asset it is to the town as a direct profit returning investment. Its indirect value as the lungs of the town and the playground of the rising generation is incalculable. The series of the public picnics being held and the influx of visitors for the next week or two is quite warranty enough to turn special attention to the improvement and ornamentation of the ground. The latest improvements havo been acclaimed on all sides and the programme outlined some time ago for further improving tho Square should bef advanced still fiurther, and the grounds made a show place within them selves. Shortly, a very fine War Memorial is to be reared on Cass Square and that beautiful marble ornamentation cannot be. set in the present surroundings. The Square should be made worthy of so notable a Memorial. The grounds generally require a complete overhaul, with some serious attention to drainage. The area lately grassed requires to be brought into the main field, and the dividing fence now serving no useful purpose removed. The corner plots, which .till lately, were kept in such seemly order, are calling again for attention. These little matters attended to and the grounds will lie more orderly looking and the people would take greater pride in the Square. The grounds have a very central situation, and are ideal for visiting picnic .parties.i Sot in proper order naid equipped and cared for as they should be, year by year thousands of visitors and school excursionists would come this way for their annual outings. It is a trade worth catering for, while as a result tho citizens would have the pleasure of seeing the grounds kept trim and orderly, and made a feature of the beautifying movement now taking shape in the town.