CONSERVING TIMBER SUPPLIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1919, Page 5

CONSERVING TIMBER SUPPLIES.

MINISTER'S POLICY DISCUSSED. The plans of Sir Francis Bell concerning timber have been discussed with great import in Auckland. An interesting point referred to is the possible reduction in cutting, which would mean that many mills would have to run under full capacity and at a, loss, which the State should logically pay, because the cutting rights already granted will keep the timber cutters occupied for gome time to come. About 52,000,000 feet of kauri is cut every year, and it has been estimated that, at this rate, kauri will not last more than six years. The proposal of the Minister of Forestry to plant seedling kauris for future use in commerce is looked upon as rather indefinite, for the reason that the time these trees would reach maturity is lost in the haze of the far distant future. Kauris arc standing all over this province, and the age of some of them has been computed at anything up to 5000 years. Kauris planted at Avondale fifty years ago are about a foot in diameter and about 40 feet high, so they may still be sßid to be far short of maturity. Indeed, it is commonly estimated that the kauri grows about a foot a year for the first fifty years or so, and after that it grows very slowly indeed, and very gradually increases in girth. It is not usual to cut timber that has a diameter of less than two feet, and "rickers," as young kahikateas are called, take more than a hundred years to reach maturity.