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Hokitika Guardian, 8 April 1930, Page 4

Tim timber wealth of Westland is such that it must continue to play

for very many years, a most important part in the progress and prosperity of the district as a whole. The casual traveller along the highways mi..\stly patronised, does not obtain a real insight into the vast store ol forest wealth that exists. When wc retail that a couple of decades ago, responsible Government officials predicted in their himual reports that the whole of the timber in Westland would he cut out in twenty or thirty years’ time, it is perhaps not surprising that the layman has developed a Iso idea as to the actual position. We should sav that if the same officers were to revisit the district, and despite the export of timber from the district for the past twenty years, and be called on to revise their estimates as to the lile of the forest wealth, they would make a better ""css in keeping with the true position. The fact is that with the vast 'tands of timber in South Wcstiand, there is a natural reserve of forest wealth which will last for decades to come. . It is neeosary if the forest wealth is to he saved to the country in respect to its economic value it must have access provided for tismsport. So far as the reading is concerned, that can serve only for the most valuable of the timbers available. If the forest harvest is to be reaped to its full value, a railway must forge its way South, and the sooner the better to secure the product of the forest growth before it is ruthlessly cleared lby fire for land settlement. In South Westland there are many stands of forest occupying good land, and i.f the timber were reaped, permanent settlement could set. in, and an annual value he created to the community. The more one finds out about South Westland, the more urgent the extension of the redway becomes. The opening up and (die settlement of the thousands of acres at present occupied by forest country, is the key to the future prosperity of the district as a whole. It is manifest that by pushing the railway south, and harvesting / the forest, there will Ik> marked industrial development, and following that will be the permanent pursuits of the j astoralists, producing stock and dairy produce, ensuring permanent occupation bv settled communities. TI is is the setting which a railway into South Westland will provide. There is the assurance of success, 'because the commodity is there for export and the land will be available for permanent settlement. The demand for the railway should therefore he persistent and insistent till a favourable result is achieved.