NEW ZEALAND, TAKE WARNING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5302, 23 March 1878, Page 2 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND, TAKE WARNING.

The following is a paragraph from a report lately rendered to the American Congress; — The rapidity with which this country is being stripped of its forests must alarm every thinking man. It has been estimated by good authority that if we go on at the present rate the supply of timber iu the United States will, in less than twenty years, fall considerably short of our home necessities.

How disastrously the destruction of the forest of a country affects the regularity of the water-supply iu its rivers necessary for navigation, increases the frequency of freshets and inundations, dries up springs, and transforms fertile agricultural districts into barren wastes, is a matter of universal experience the world over. It is high time that we should turn our earnest attention to this subject, which so seriously concerns our national prosperity. A comparatively small number of our watchful and energetic agents will suffice to prevent, iu future, not indeed the stealing of single trees here and there, but at least depredations on a largo scale. To avert such evil effects of denuding the mountains of trees, I would suggest the following preventive and remedial measures : All timber lands still belonging to the United States should be withdrawn from the operations of the preemption and homestead laws, as well as the location of the various kinds of scrip. Timber lands fit for agricultural purposes should be sold, if sold at all, only for cash, and so graded in price as to make the purchases pay for the value of the timber on the land. This will be apt to make the settler careful and provident in the disposition he makes of the timber. A sufficient number of Government agents should be provided for to protect the timber on public lands from depredations, and to institute to this end the necessary proceedings against depredators by seizure and by criminal as well as civil action. Such agents should also be authorised and instructed, under the direction of the Department of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture, to sell for the United States, in order to satisfy current local demand, timber from the public land under proper regulations ; and in doing so, especially to see to it that no large areas be entirely stripped of their timber, so as not to prevent the natural renewal of the forest. This measure would enable the people of the mining States and territories to obtain the timber they need in a legal way; at the same time avoiding the dangerous consequences above pointed out.