EMPIRE FORESTRY

Hokitika Guardian, 11 October 1928, Page 7

EMPIRE FORESTRY

(Auckland burr.) A conference on. tlio forestry possibilities of tlio Empire lias recently teen held at Canberra, and some sixty delegates who have been examining into the timber potentialities ol Australia wil arrive in this country next week. They will lie able to devote only four days to the South Island, but they will give at least a week t> the plantations and natural forests of . the North. Their visit will be but a hurried cue, but il should enable them to get some definite idea of the capacity of this country as a tinder, producer and a possible source of supply to the Empire at large. Following to the Empire Forestry Conference held in Canada in 1923, the forest .authorises throughout the Empire were requested to compile estimates of total forest resources of their various countries and to specify particularly the areas containing timber already marketable or capable of being made available withing ten years’ time. No doubt the report of the Canberra Conference when it is issued will include tliis information. But these estimates are not at all. likely to affect the view of the world’s timber prospects held by forestry experts in every important country. The recently published report of the Imperial E commie Committee on Timber emphasises the general decline in the supply of softwoods; and though lumberers and timber merchants generally refuse to admit the facts, those concerned with the management and organisation of forests , are gravely apprehensive of - the rapidly approaching timber famine and its industrial and economic consequen-

ces. The position of Britain in regard to the use of timber and its products is of special interest to the Empire .and the oversea Dominions. In 1927 Britain imported timber and wood pulp to tire value of £67,000,000. Of all the timber consumed in'Britain only 5 per cent is “homegrown,” and of the imported timber 95 per cent of the softwoods and 70 per cent of the hardwoods were drawn from foreign sources. More particularly in view of the tremendous inroads made in recent years upon the world’s timber stock, the rise in the prices of the. most valuable timbers, and the certainty that the supply cannot possibly be brought up to the level of the demand for a long time to corn© it is strange that those portions of the Empire which, like our own country, are especially adapted for the rapid production of timber, have not long since endeavoured to avail themselves of the opportunity to supply tlie immensely valuable British market. Though the Empire as a whole is feeling the operation of the law of diminishing return in respect to timber, it is well to remember that the supply of h ard woods still, a vaila ble, for the most part of Britain’s tropical possessions, is probably the largest and most valuable in the world. With proper management and economical usage the Empire’s stock of hardwoods could supply all our needs for a long time to come. In the case of softwoods the demand is keener, and the inroads upon the existing sources of supply have been more exhausting. But many of the Dominions are particulary fortunate in possessing the sod and climate' best fitted to promote the rapid growth of timber trees, and amongst these highly favoured countries Now Zealand, and in a lesser degree Australia, stand pre-eminent. Our visitors wil! find ample proof of the extraordinary rapidity with which exotics can he grown here.