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Hokitika Guardian, 8 June 1929, Page 4

When the Minister in charge of Forestry was in the North Island lately. representations were made to him regarding the cutting up of forestry reservations for pastoral purposes. The .uinister promised to have the matter l. into. It would he well, also, if ihe enquiy were turned towards Westland, and in fact’ the Coast generally. In order to assure a large revenue, the .State Forest Service mopped up all unoccupied land for its particular benem, If the areas so "appropriated are not State Forest areas, then they are provisional State Forest areas. It is a matter for consideration at this juncture how far this practice is blocking settlement in Westland. It is said that a good deal of desirable land for settlement is involved in the provisional areas, and there is so firm a hold on n that the progress of settlement is retarded Land held legitimately for conservation purposes is all very well, but to mop up anything and everything in the way of land for the prospective revenue to the Forestry Service, appears to he altogether a wrong policy. The Minister in charge permitted himself to remark the other day that millahle timber was going to be cut out in 40 years! This is another of those .scare statements used from time to time to inflame public opinion on quite wrong lines.- In that connection wo recall that a former Government officer, about a quarter of a century ago, solemnly predicted in a report to his Head Office, that the timber land of Westland would he cut out in 20 years! The following year he corrected himself, and said he was in error. It would take 30 years to cut out the Westland timber! A casual survey of the timber lands of Westland shows that there are a good lew thirty years going to pass before the millahle timber is milled. Such a survey shows also how badly the present Minister of Forestry is advised by his responsible officers when he gives expression to the opinion t hat 40 years will see the end of the timber cutting industry. Surely these wild, improbable guesses are being made for scare i purposes to suit the ends of tlm Do- I partment. It seems to us that this , matter of control of the land of West- | land in such wholesale slices by the Forestry Department, should he closely investigated, and while the Minister of Lands is spending mofie.v elsewhere purchasing land for settlement, he should turn his attention to suitable Crown and Forestry lands in

Westland, and where the areas are served' hv good roads, or access can be provided at a reasonable cost for opening up the country, then it will

be much better policy for the Dominion to have settlement established instead J

of the land remaining dormant for an indefinite period.