TREE PLANTING.

Shannon News, 26 April 1929, Page 4

TREE PLANTING.

w PROPOSAL BBPOBE POWEE BOARD SUGGESTION TO GROW POLES NOT ACCEPTABLE. RESERVATION OP LAND MAY BE CONSIDERED LATER. • When a clear-cut Issue comes before - ' a local body, it may reasonably be expected to provoke a concisely interesting discussion. This ,was the case at the meeting of the Horowhenua Power Board on Tuesday; when a report was received from the committee appointed to consider the desirability or otherwise of acquiring land suitable for growing timber for the. future supply of poles for Power Board work. The report, which was a negative one, was adopted. The committee met on March 26th, : the members present being Messrs G. A. Monk (chairman), W. E. Barber and ■ C. Blenkhorn (the originator of the proposal). The only other member of ■ the committee, Mr. W. 11. Gunning, was absent through ill-health. The questions submitted to the committee were: .(1) Whether it is considered hardwood, timber will still be in use for pole purposes in 25 years' time; if answered in the affirmative to further enquire and recommend—-(2) the number of tree's the Board .should plant; (3) the species of trees /the. Board should plant; (4): the most":suitable land to plant on, and area Tequired; (5) the estimated cost of the land required, also the cost of the trees and planting; (6) the expected cost of upkeep, such as, cleaning and general. Information was placed before the / Committee that the Thames Valley - Power Board had acquired over SOU acres ,of land for this purpose at a very cheap rate —under £1 per acre — and had already planted 3 acres. The total cost of the planting, including the fencing, came to between £ll and £l2 per acre. The subject was discussed at considerable length, and it was realised that if the answer to'the'first question was in the negative, that really disposed of the matter and the committee would have no recommendation to make. The chairman considered that the use of the steel and concrete ■ poles would in future supersede timber to a very large exent, and in twentyfive years there might be other discoveries and inventions which wouul lessen the use of timber poles. Mr. Barber thought that, even if poles were used to any great exent, the district could not compete with country better adapted for the purpose, such ; as the pumice land around Rotorua and Taupo, where freedom from winds and salt-spray made these localities ideal for forestry. Mr. Blenkhorn took the view that near-by there was sand-dune country which, if obtained through the Government, could' be ob- ' taincd at very little cost. He thought the Board should venture upon a limit- ' ed area of tree-planting if land could be obtained as suggested. \ The venture, would not be very costly and . might prove ( very profitable. If there ;_', was a loss at all, it would be very small. Eventually it was - resolved, "That'the Committee has, no Tecom- ■ ' mendation to make in respect of obtaining land for growing timber for poles," Mr. Blenkhorn dissenting. Mr. Blenkhorn made following suggestion to the Board as a minority *" report: —"That for the purpose of ensuring to the Board in future a supply of transmission poles and timbor for other purposes, the Government be requested to acquire a block of land suitable for tree-planting and thereout to hand over or sell to 'the Board *s a reserve an area of 100 acres for use as aforesaid. " In moving the adoption of. the com- ■.' mittee's report, the chairman (Mr, ■Monk) said that the ability to obtain ■ /the information they would have liked ; - to got was not easy. However, enough • information • was got together to induce the majority of the committer '*, who were present to be of the opinion .. that wooden poles would be replaced, .' in course of time, by poles of con- ' _ crete, steel or some other substance. r He had not gone very fully into the question of growing pole-producing timber on the sand- dune country. With regard to the' easier of the 'slopesJof the'hills to the east timber might be ' '. grown on them but there it might take ■6O years to produce a suitable pole. He had stated in the committee that while only a medium proportion of the trees : -would be of value as poles,- the pro- • position would be 1 payable if the right class of land was available. Nevertheless, any hills that were suitable j. for growing poles were also suitable ' ■ for ordinary commercial farming, and it would not be warranted to turn them over to tree-growing. He had given „. consideration to semi-swamp and sand- ' dune country and that seemed a possibility, if the trees were . protected from the pravctlutg westerly r winds. He thought that that <eould be '!, done. There was a considerable area ',, of sand-dune country in the vicinity of ► Levin which could probably be aequir- ■' ' ed reasonably and on which trees could -'" be grown. However, the primary object . of this Board, was the purchase and •- distribution of electricity, and ho could '. ' not see that they would be justified in ...going into a pole-planting.proposition '■ on that country. For that reason the .. - first question put before the committee - --was answered in the negative. It ap:.!peared that the authorisation of the .' Board's capital was not for such a pur- :;'"' pose. He had no. doubt that Mr. Blenk- ■; horn could make out a very good case ;,,-froin'a district benefit point of view, X/biit that was not a very strong case *,? ijfrom the Power Board point of view, :f£ unless Mr. Blenkhorn had other evi- '...; dence to bring forward. While con- %'■* 'crete poles to-day were, not an abso- ;*£' lute success, it was thought that it be possible in the next quarter ?'.•. .of a century to build a concrete poh "'•'that would b,e successful. Then there : A\wa» the question, of steel poles, whic)

in Ameriea were a great success and in "time would be used more in this country than they were to-day. Mr. W. E. Barber seconded the report. He thought that Australia would supply this country with poles for alltime. . His experience of the eucalyptus was that, when it was chopped down, it would grow several uprights. A few years ago he planted a few of these trees; last year an employee of his chopped down a pole for wireless purposes, and now there were five uprights about six feet in height. Settlers ought to grow a few eucalyptus trees in unoccupied corners of their farms. He understood that many years ago the late Mr. James Prouse did something of the kind at Levin. The secretary (Mr, P. W. Goldsmith) said there were some very fine redwoods in the district that were planted by Mr. Prouse. , Mr. Barber added that he was absolutely against the Board's going in for a tree-planting scheme. Mr. A. Seifert said he was always ,very keen on planting trqes; yet he thought that the committee had como to a wise decision in making a recommendation not. to do so. It took a long time to grow trees, and there was always the possibility of selecting the wrong ones at the start. A big mining company on the West Coast, after selecting ground iand spending a lot of money for the purpose of growing pit props, had waited a long while, but had no props off the land and were not likely to have any. Concrete poles might come in; and steel poles had been used very largely in other parts of the world. He was rather doubtful as to whether Australia would v be able to supply New Zealand with wooden poles continuously. There were twelve million acres in New South Wales growing poles to-day. As population grow and power lines were extended he thought the day would come when Australia would not be-able to supply the requirements. Half the cost of the poles was that of bunging them to the Dominion. He thought that the committee had done wisely in not making a recommendation to the Board. Mr. E. R. Bryant said he was quite in accordance with the committee's decision., He thought that the tree-plant-ing was a payable but he did not think that it should be the work of the Power Board if other people were taking' the matter up* Mr. Blenkhorn said he had been inclined to agree ancl*disagree with the contention that, with the advancement in knowledge of concrete and its application, it would be possible in 25 years to produce poles that would form a finer substitute for, or a better one than, the timber-po]es at present in •use; but, after all, one should not, perhaps, delay action to see what actually did take place in 25 years. If, without detriment to the finances or without going beyond its functions, the Board could grow timber, which members knew would always iiud a ready market, the Board snouM consider the proposal before deciding whether to reject it. If the proposal was thrown out, as it nad been by the majority of the committee, the Boaid would be closing the door to something that it was highly justified in' undertaking, more particularly when it wa? taken into account that, in the vicinity of the Board's operations, there was land that could be acquired very cheaply, and which ■«. would be eminently suitable for tree-planting. His object was for the Board to acquire an acre — not to tie itself and its successors down to immediately planting that area, but to have it reserved so that at some future time, if the Board decided to go on with that form of activity, it would have something to start with. If one studied the general affairs of the country, he must be struck with the forethought of those old pioneers who had secured land for reserves for various public utilities. The advantages of such reservations were to be seen every day. ■ Why should- this Board, as a publid body, be backward in following those people's example. Mr. Blenkhorn moved as an amendment that, for the -purposes of the Board, the Government be requested to acquire a block of land, of about 100 acres, suitable for tree-planting.' He, explained that this proposal did not tie' the Board down to tree-planting, but merely sought to. acquire a piece of land for the general, purposes of the Board; if in the future wiser counsels thought fit to devote the area to tree-planting, then that could be.done. Year by year these lands became more difficult to acquire. \ ... .. The .chairman: £ou would have to amend the Act and give us some of the powers of a Domain Board. The Thames Valley Board has already gone in for it. An amendment would be defeated; I would like, you to bring this up as an independent motion. Mr. Blenkhorn agreed to the course of. procedure suggested by the chairman, and stated that he would bring the amendment up as a motion on a subsequent occasion. Replying to an inquiry by Mr. E. S. Morse, for information concerning Concrete poles, the chairman said that concrete poles were in use in Wairau, and he understood that they were quite successful. Mr. Morse: The Hawke's Bay Board is using them, with success. The chairman: The Post and Telegraph Department used them in Wairarapa some years ago. They were designed to take a certain weight; additions had to be made to the wires, and the poles became overladen and in a wind-storrh would • not resist the weight. That would not apply to concrete poles for power purposes, because " you would put up three wires which you would have for all time. The use of a very small concrete pole for service lines does not appear satisfactory unless they can be reinforced more than they are to-day, and the big poles arc' very heavy to handle, but on certain types 'of, country—which applies to most of the area in this district — the concrete pole could be readily

handled in most places. There may be places, like the Paraparaumu swamp, where they could not be taken and a certain'number of wooden poles would have to be used.. We must be careful about planting trees on lands that are capable of producing otherwise. The Thames Valley Board is planting on a class of country that does not exist here —pumice land which that Board has acquired very cheaply; the whole of that country, probably, can be worked by the plough and is easier to cultivate and keep clean. Their climate, distance from and height above the sea make it more suitable, perhaps, for the growing of eucalypti—those of frostresisting types. Whatever is done, as far as this Board is concerned, we don't want to plant an unduly large area. If they were planted six to eight hundred to the acre, a fair proportion would mature to reasonable poles. If they did this in from 30 to 50 years, o.nd if you. had 50 acres planted, you would have poles to spare, which is not necessary from our point of view, while this Board to-day may undertake tree-planting and give it,the care that is requisite, you have to consider that Boards and staffs will change, and it is quite easy for a reserve or planta-. tion to be neglected just at the. wrong time. There is danger of invasion by fire through neglect, and all that has to be taken into consideration; but I consider that individuals whose loss it would be would the .more readily give attention to plantations, as compared with a body such as ours, which may have a very good electrical Engineer to attend to the lines and so forth. If the matter is left to the individual', you will probably find that he Avil ! plant the portion of his farm most suitable to the growth of those trees; but if we take a piece of land, wc have no legitimate object but to plant trees. The motion for the "adoption of the report i was carried, Mr. Blenkhorn dissenting.