PRACTICAL FORESTRY

Southland Times, Issue 18851, 17 June 1920, Page 7

PRACTICAL FORESTRY

LKGTLTIK BY SI R DAVID HUTCHINS. TKLLS AND T HL STATIC Some fad.-, about fun-:.try were placed b.-tori 1 a 11 u t * 1; 1 ■ meilie.g in 11 if Trades Hall a; Wellington r.-o-mly i.y Sir David Hut' :i:n-. About .><* persons were piv.-uil Sir Da\ --1 I Intchitb, who j., a r- ei so; i authority on the suoji-ci. .-ketch it lie kev-iopmiuil of jure.- try in other countries and ,-ln-sscd the enormous impml a u ■ a - ni "th- lu eat '■■■' and must wholesome of hneum in-.-t.-t rn .-But am had learned it:,- of tie' v. -ir. and atler neglecting i- I rest ry lor many generation-!, was propo--tna now to pend, c.'.u.tititl.itfit) during the la-xl ! ( t ve-irs mi the a! tore.-t at ion of 2.OUU- ; i 1 a) aeri-s .f l;;nd. This area ol forest -,-, ia:!d oiovioc permanent employment for ho,01)0 families under conditions that would make children ;m a.-sel. T !t<- lores! populataui would not be less than lidO.ooo. He showed by m-iiiis of maps that a substantial proportion of the area in France and l •-•rinaiiv v.am under forests, which gave a 1-- t.ti r annual return than agriculture could do and mentioned that half the surface of .l-.ipan was tinker carefully-tended and pro ;itahl“ fore.-ts. New Zealand, on the other hand, had begun only now to give'scientific attention to u- forests. The ride in the past had bi cn to destroy the lon st in taking out one crop of trees, even when the land would have been far more profitable under trees uian under glass. New Zealand laid once lie- finest lorests in the Southern I h-mispiiere. It had left about, 10,.".IK),000 a- re-- of forest land, much of it very poor in i|imiity. According to Luropean standards at heist one-quarter of the country, or about Bi,000,1)00 acres., should be under permanent forests. The proportion should lie larger in a mountainous country, where trees were easily the most valuable crop l •. ■,; could be grown on poor land. The Government was making a move now, and was reserving some o; the remaining forest, i-i be wmk-d on scientific lines. The dema’kmg of existing native forests, particularly mi poor and mountainous land, was La- only practicable method of placing forest rv mi a sound fool-in;.', since the cost of reafforestation on a large scale was abso-bit-ly prohibitive. It would eost £BOO,OOO- - to replace the native forest with planted forest on an adequate sc ale in New Zealand. and in any case the native trees of the Dominion were quicker growing under forest conditions than the imported trees under forest conditions. The average value per acre of the New Zealand forest was more than double the value of American forest. Practical forestry was based on the development and improvement of native forest and it was on these lines that New Zealand should proceed. The introduction of valuable tres from other countries

such as the Californian redwood, was desirable, and would be a part, ol the forestry s; heme. Su-li trees could be bit mnuced into the native lonst as development pro-c-t - ded. . . :-ir David Hutchins expressed the opniton that scientific forestry would be_ a i;u.’tor in the reduction of the cost ol living, limber would remain the- most sal is.actory material for house-building ami the use o; a /tine bath for the timber belore conslrucl.on would minimise the danger of decay or borer. Good forestry would provide an ; bundanl and secure supply of wood for fuel as well as Umber. Urn hill country around the city of Wellington had once been under magnificent forest which should never have been removed. The forest bad gone, much of the land had lapsed into gar.-e and bramble and at the best the hillsices from which the trees had been removed provided very poor grazing. He hoiH'd that some day the hillsides would be replanted, but the work would be difficult. The important point boday was not to allow a single acie of existing forest to bn destroyed until experts were satisfied that it should not l>c held as permanent lor-t-t. Forestry, said Sir David Hutchins, ought to appeal to the workers. It was at its best under national control and it was antagonistic to land aggregation. It provided an ideal defence force of men, accustomed to an open-air life and it provided employment without displacement. National forestry had long been a plank in the platform of the British Labour Party and. in Australia phenomenal progress had been made in forestry under Labour Governmi nts with the assistance of a GovernorGeneral who happened to lie a skilled forester. An area of 24.000.000 acres was to be reserved in Australia for forestry purposes. The lecturer sketched employment in permanent organised forests, as providing ideal living conditions. New Zealand had a choice of methods in dealing with its remaining forest areas. It could follow the old. bad practice, of felling the milling trees and destroying what was left; or it could adopt scientific methods by cutting the mature trees- and leaving the young trees to grow to maturity under skilled supervision. The old system meant that timber worth many pounds to future generations was being 'sacrificed for grazing worth - a few pence to the present generation. It was significant that under present conditions more than 100,000 acres of land in New Zealand reverted annually to sentb and bramble. If this land had stayed under timber it would have been a source of profit for centuries to come. The speaker enumerated the advantages that scientific forestry had to offer New Zealand and emphasised the need of air amended forestry law and a State forest-seed store.