ADVANTAGES OF AFFORESTATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 327, 20 January 1909, Page 4

ADVANTAGES OF AFFORESTATION.

One of the chief values of afforestation lor relieving the labour market is that it makes its greatest demands upon labour during the winter. The case for afforestation has been set out iu a pamphlet by Mr T. Suiuuierboll, M.l\, and published by the Independent Labour Party. So far as timber is concerned, the world has been living greatly o;i its capital, and not upon its production alone (he says.) Vast areas of forest have been destroyed, or their produce converted into timber, and countries which have been large exporters are finding themselves to be in danger of shortage for their own requirements. According to the report on Irish Forestry the area under timber in 1907 in England was equal to 5.3 per cent., Scotland -1.0 per cent., Wales 3.9 per cent., and Ireland only 1.5 per cent. Whereas in Austria the area under timber was equal to 32 per cent., Hungary 27 per cent., France 17 per cent., Belgium 17 per cent., (lermauy 2(i per cent., Holland 8 per cent., and Denmark 7 |ier cent. Compared with other countries Britain occupies an unenviable position, a continuance which cannot be justified. Of the timber Britain imports at the present time, 87 per cent, are pine and lir, 3 per cent, oak, and 10 per cent teak, mahogany, and other furniture woods. Ilcncc 90 per cent., or 9,000,000 tons, arc material which can be produced in the country by the afforestation of six or seven million acres of land. The loial value of British imports to-day cannot lie far short of £30,000,000. The expenditure of only a reasonable sum of this money at Home on afforestation would mean employment for a considerable number of unemployed in digging, trenching, planting, etc. Some experts are of opinion that every 101)0 acres of added forest would provide work for about 10 men, representing a population ot 80 persons. This is without taking into account Ihose that would ultimately bo employed in the transport of the produce, and in the .various industries—chair making, cartwrighting, coach building, furniture making, packing box making, the. making of bobbin.,, spools, tool handles, and timber for building trades and railway companies—which regularly managed woodlands generally give rise to. It is estimated that 2500 acres of sheep land are looked afler by one shepherd, whereas under forestry one man 1.1 about Kill acres would be' employed ; «r, in other words, 20 men in place of one. 'The estimates do not vary to any great extent, and all go to prove that forestry on an adequate scale will provide a great deal of employment, and that is one of its principal advantages to a country. As to how much land there is available for afforestation, the agricultural returns for 1000 give the following information :—England has 2,371,000' acres of mountain and heath land used- for grazing; Wales, 1,288,000 acres; Scotland, 9,088,000 acres j and Ireland, 2,214,000 acres ; giving a grand total of 14,922,000 acres available for the purpose. In additional to this thore'l'3 an additional area in Ireland of hog, marsh, barren mountain land, waste, etc., of over 2,000,000 acres, fully one third of which might be profitably us'cd for the purpose of timber growing. Great quantities of similar land in England, Wales and Scotland also exist. The land therefore, abounds in plenty : and seeing that much of it is at present left for sums varying from Is to 2s fid per acre, it will not be seriously argued that it could not be more profitably put to a hotter use.