The Hokitika Guardian FRIDAY, AUGUST 25th, 1922 THE FORESTS OF WESTLAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 August 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian FRIDAY, AUGUST 25th, 1922 THE FORESTS OF WESTLAND.

The Director of the Forestry Department in Ins annual report on forestry in thp Dominion, indicates that t!.e swing of tlw timber business is centring towards Westland. where it will tinuo to • remain. This is a truism long understood by those with oven a supc - fieia! knowledge of the subject. Alter all frets are fnets, and it has been voi.V plain that some day sooner or later, and now sooner than later, the forests of Westland would come into their own, and while they have been always the joy and the pride of the residents, they would yet become their espeeirl pleasure and profit in the years to come, by the yield of revenue to assist developo a district long neglected because of its isolation. But when we are approaching the new era, , and reaching an epoch which will see that isolation removed, the Government has come along and through its Forestry Department jios appropriated the 1 wealth belonging to thp district The

Government has not even said “by i your leave,” while to protests they have l>een 'even rude, imitating the abruptness of the footpad—as witness the attitude of the Minister who visited hero and turned his back on the public bodies when they pleaded their ease. Mr Mas,ey has been charging tha Labour party in the House with the outstanding evils of its alleged policy liearing on confiscation and spoliation, hut before he grows too critical on these lines, he should take the beam out of his own eyes and render to Westland some reasonable measure of justice for the confiscation of its greatest stored asset—its timber resources. In the Consolidated Estimates brought down in the House last week there was evidence that on the charge of the legal steal of local bodies revenue which lias been going on for years the Government has recognised the law for the time being and in a moment of clearer vision—perhaps brought about by the advent of a general election—belated recognition is shown from the revenues of the local bodies quietly appropriated by the Government in years past. Near, jv ten voars ago Mr Murdoch, a member of the Westland County Council, discovered the leakage and put forward the legal position, which was otherwise confirmed by other eminent legal conn sel—and still the Government ignored the issue. Now at their own time and in their own way they suggest a settlement which there is some reason to believe is altogether inadequate of the actual position. East session the Government passed legislation to appoint a Commission to determine the matter m dispute, but their own legislation is ignored and they act as pleases them best, j The fact that something is offered—nearly to,ooo spread over the four counties—shows how the district lias I been victimised. This revenue is the j peoples’ money, and if it had come in ' in the ordinary way would have been i a saving to the ratepayers. For the future the position is to be worse. The ' entire revenue is to he confiscated for * the upkeep of the Forestry Department, j which to be kept going has to be supported by bon dived money on top of ] the revenue taken from the local bod- 1 ies. The forests of Westland are thus to Ik l depleted at considerable cost to | the people, and not as a profit to the J people as was hoped under the former j odder in the days before confiscation I was decided upon. Our Venders siioulj awake to the fact that while the dis- j trict is to become the storehouse for • the Dominion's timber supply, the people themselves are to lose their birth- ; right, and be penalised directly and in- I directly in addition. The forests of ; Westland should at least yield something in fairness to the district, but I up to the present the Government, has failed to take the right course of ae- j tion in the matter.