STATE FORESTS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5123, 24 August 1877, Page 2

STATE FORESTS.

The report of Captain Oampbeli^Hv alker on the- ‘‘ Conservation of State. Forests,” recently! laid on the table of the House, report; js 1 exhaustive, and far too compendious to be even touched.Mipon.'dn its /various jparta in a single article. Bound with it are too well executed mapa/dne ' of the [North the other of the South Island, jn which are shown the localities where.! the most important of our forest treeshfo foupdin..tte.s3:eatS3t ; ghßflto).ce M .. Of these —the —districts pf Ancklimdr Hawked Bay, Wellington? and'Westland , stand out most conspicuously. In addition to li'hioh there are Banks Peninsula .and ipauy other detached portions of _ the where -valuaßlS Tifibet f fisiP ests of greater or loss importance are to be found. On the other hand, the Province of Canterbury are .singularly,, harp, of trpes f j - Throughout Their ‘ vast' extent only a few ; ’forests- worthy of the name_are to be found ; and these have been subjected to the ruthless axe ,of j the wopd.man i , j to,,aqoh.,. a degree as to be almost denuded of all' ;timber of value;! 1 and' sHouia : ThVstale/ l bf 0 things be j permitted to if dwt! 'niore 'yedrs wy!! suffice to brfog abpuf : their utter this point Captain WXlkbbl hasc , bxpressed ; }hittiself-' J iil < 'w<ltdS 1 of, wisddnr,fr,word? 3whic^ w sbould,s cain- s . mend 'tlienifi.elves. not |o the, people of. ■ Canterbury!)but to alPthe'mliabf-' tacts ofi -:thesa islands;' -Jwords.’t which = should jrammen/dj Jihenasplyes.,,, ton-j-f^l-; true patriots'' who' ’desire'" lb hand down • ! t° succeeding generations the glorious - legacy which nature has bequeathed fp-, undefiled.'' "His words are as follow : 'Ai< ‘-irf'aih astonished-li-atf the Intecklessf 1 and improvident manner in which the timber lands of Canterbury havAbeen managed! and it is no wonder that the Fprest Dapartnmnt has derived.no.beneflt .. from the 1 , sales elfoot/ed, i as it would: ;ap-: , pear that the timber, the growth of ages, had been (.considered andr.treated:as an; incumbrance - oni the! land ratfie'r<Than a!' source of 'Wealthy and • (invariably "s'old • 1 'alSrig With The iandy apparently 'without si' ■ thought ;? tb tiie;value'bf the crop'hr • The future necp? sitjes o of. The, province, at the nqrainal:price, of; £2 'da , acre, -Perhaps ‘this is the reason that there exists so much ; senseless (waste initp.remoyal; and, if Then present system ofwholesale.deciraaticin is persia ted'in, the will. i . see" all the Canterbilry: , cleared olifcfldv/ ’jiuiu-'i.'.ui.-.i i-.no -mu'.i 1« . There is 1 ho! doubt that other districts' have suffered ' in a' Similar' manner, theonly difference'beifog that bhe'-populatiort, has heen less iiumdrous than ,that* of .Cali-'' terbury a n< f .the timber forests’ more extensive. j But it 'thust | -that population'' is rajndly ; increasing in New Zealand, r.and) extending; iteyamifioa.:. tions to (localities hitherto uninhabited; by Europeans; /and , if,,-measures.. are pot- ; speedily adopted, to!-prevent■ Their/wholeri!: sale denudation,- theif their total idestruction will '-be :: f only!-a-' things of'- time.,< This could easily be done by passing' it * law 1 'to*' regujafc ~the* Timber within certai Agive’A faking it' illegal to fell, »r fccej* iUpder■ i c^rtain'!size f . It is worthy l of 'relharh that..p9[yenbus c damage, tie wing the colony _asl a' whole, has as y4t. JhiSjthPt testif a mony of is happily,; clear; :andj-,depisi.ve.;i!i jit; is-j . therefore j Lonly oLnecessary.-i: to u( prevent,! by legal, enactments »1 theiJipostibility: of further-'dfestfufitibriy/'Shbiila'it h'elbbtl , jeoted that.we are attaching tpqmuch im-, portance to thhi that dur'fehrh' of the total,destruction .of" bur forests,are,, 'iiot'likeljj refer to the ( <jases of, south of Spam, and India,' to'sliow that" such a result; .js-mot.,only,, will inevitably iens!ie,(if t measures arc,pot; .tajeen to prevent it. ■ 'The mqst,valuable.[of :bitr/timberTreeSc are the kauri, totara, and red pine. .A reference' to'The" mbps ' which hocdm'pawy the report'‘ will'■show 'That”'theS6~trilly" valuable tree's 'are extensively 1 diffused' ih dense i/forests throughout ,thp North Island, and.,in tjie Bditth 'folaira ~’in (,th6 ( . ! par ts Mrbady; indicated'^,+"CaptainClAiir- j bell-Walker ‘j usfcly '.remarjhs' [that, these. ' constitute -.n/.sourcej of, the importance of which capppti ,sbo_i ‘orhiT'estithated, and itj-only; needs:-),the , ( enactnienl o.f -.wisei.'and.yet diberaltifcrdstlaws " tbl make itJpermafibrit/USiThere', ;are f -twq aspects in which'! ‘of'forest# may be vieivedi faamaty,”their p actual vaiue,ih a as requirera, snts conseg ( u^ntrUp6p.‘h!sfcstte ;^o£ . ci vjdi?atio ' s ifronj them reasqp of j influence upon the* climate.(r , /drat head we have IheiftUantity./required/ for home (consumption; and, the, demands made upim it for export.! .- The;;cities of Auckland and Dunediii together. Consume over 500,000: tons'bf-firewood annually. The requirements of the Railway Depart-

ment for theynext twelve or thirteen years will probably amount to not ' , %es thin \,3§,4)(K) pubic, ..feet per- annum', to,j say ■ nothing pf / the enormous*, quantify ' used, '• annually for;*,! building and (otheß,* Which 'it is al most impossible to * estimate. Then we have our export trade. In 1875 we exported timber to. the.ja]ugj?l,, o~<lbußt ’this f trade~wili~be' largelyjincrgasedf when' the* value, Of our.! timber becbmes' better 'known/ ' These -figurcs“are":iiuoted”by“eaptain WaekkK.more at length in Tj-om-ywhich -we-haye-extracted-the foregoing. - On ithe' ; blimitib *ihflueiice of forests' the report.is, ,eq i n^.ljy 7 919ar., ! ,yre hay^. not splice Tri a* single Article w enter'upon ‘ , thig part of the subject'. it’-tb -say Oaptain<> AyfAnKSEi is ■ofhopiniou't thatt.no damagb-Jhas; yetsheenidorie tint any vpart -oft the colony, with the * singled exception of Canterbury's,;,-pi ■ .prpppsalga for: / the ■ a., s Fprgst ,^epaytn^ent,are, reperfeshows • that after bveiyears.!, There! can be ! si'6 i( dbubt that if such a staff were organised for regulating existing /forests and •planting-others l whef b rfe'qtiif edj >it .'would; ! be of I important ."service '*tt> the epuritryj f and tl|e expenditure - df f a ! 'IS# tKlddfend pounds ,in this would soon be, repaid ptqntioij haih been'paid' m"mbst' J eivilißed countries of late of existing forests and new ones. | The/damage ~dpnp jby theoignprapce; ,of preceding (.generations is/ being slowly j but purely*, repaired." . Districts formerly o fertile, <biit .-.sihc'e t* reduce'di ; ; t6'barren [wastes/ are!resuming- their>wbnted • luxuriance; and a few yearsyhence will see devastation (caused by man’s Tgriorhhce- or selfishness) repairedy 1 and the effects [of thishruthless 1 treatment’huf ’ Nature's bounties obliterated. ' l -.