PLANTING WASTE LANDS

Hokitika Guardian, 22 October 1927, Page 1

PLANTING WASTE LANDS

STATE EOlt ESI SERVICE PLAN"

WELLINGTON. Oct. IP. T he application oi direct plantation formation practices, now being perfected, would enable the Forest Service to establish commercial forests—within the present average budgeted

appropriations—over the. o.li.rA.HtO acres 1 f waste land in New - Zealand, within ‘do years, says tite Director ot the State Forest Service. Mr L. M > Ellis. A comparison of the State forest Service iorcst plantation practices and costs with those o! other countries. said Mr Ellis, di closed that, Loth in economy ynd results, high standard' prevailed, and it did not appear possible that any further cast in reduction of a substantial nature could lu‘ made in tile present system nf tree-planting. 'lbis cost ol establishment factor It ad an important relation to the problem of converting to productive use the Dominion's idle wastes or deteriorated lands (estimated at approximately 5,009,000 acres), and to the State money.- available lor this purpose. It would take 200 years, and an expenditure of over C10.C00,000 (hast’d upon present planting costs), to establish continuous crop production forests on this largely man-made waste. Obviously this was not practical politics ior even a country so richly endowed as .New Zealand. Wlia.t, then was l lie alternative I „ .Must these wastes remain for ever a liability, or could they he utilised to produce uselttl timber crops? METHODS BEING I’ER F FATED. This natioiia.l problem had had tit" continuous attention of the officers ol the State Forest Service since 1920. and its solution appeared to he in what might, he termed "direct phmt/ation forma t ion. ’ While it wao premature to dogmatise, it tins expected that the application of direct plantation formation practices. now being perfected. would enable the forest authority to establish commercial forests—within the present average budgeted appropriations over the 5.000.000 acres of waste hinds within 25 years-, instead of m 200 veals. No more could he said concerning this important project, however. until a definite procedure had

i i >e en perfected. This was anticipated in two years’ time.

The operation of sustained forest cropping on these lands, lie said, would make New Zealand the principal wood goods supplier to the Empi re. SKRI 01. S SHORTAG E PR EDICTED. With the present population of New Zealand at 1,350,000. the genera! annual pc-r capita consumption of sawn timber alone was 250 feet, board measure. Tt was interesting to „ ( ,to that the Australian unit consumption was only 153 ft b.m., and that over 42 per cent of the southern continent’s requirements_ wore imported, against the importation by New Zealand of only 19} per cent of her needs. A serious ’ forecast, therefore. of future national timber requirements based on the normal trend of population increase, and on the development and expansion of intensive agriculture and of secondary industry. over a period of years, indicated that the gross national eonsumption of sawn forest produce, bv the year 1925 would be 075,000,00011. b.m., per annum. Now Zealand’s virgin soft wood resources would be economically exhausted by the period 1955-70. At present there were 63.000 acres of State plantations. ■ It was recommended that this acreage he increased by 300,000. formation to bo completed by the year 1935. The forest capital of these plantations and of other forests would, by 1905 yield an annual crop of 700 million feet, b.m.