The Daily News. TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1920. AFFORESTATION POLICY.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1920, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JULY 13, 1920. AFFORESTATION POLICY.

The urgent needs of the rapidly dwindling resources of the Dominion have been the subject of much, anxiety, as an adequate supply of timber is of vital importance to the country. Any practical scheme for conserving our present forests, and for systematically proceeding with the work of providing for the future, should be Welcomed. The latest effort in this direction emanated from Captain Macintosh Ellis (Director of Forestry), who read a most interesting and instructive paper at the recent conference of the Council of Agriculture. After giving a brief recital of what had been done by the Government during the last twenty-four years, which lie characterised as a wonderful achievement, he reviewed the world's timber supplies, pointing out that the problem of providing adequate timber supplies for the Dominion must be settled within its boundaries. The conclusions arrived .at by Captain Ellis were:—

"Timber is and will be in short supply throughout the world, and this Dominion is definitely thrown back upon its own resources. Supplies from abroad are bound to dwindle rapidly in amount, and equally are bound to rise to a prohibitive price. It follows that the provident use and'development of its own forest assets offers New Zealand its only means of averting the disastrous dislocation of industry and serious increase in the cost of living, which undoubtedly would result from a failure, or even from any serious contraction of timber supplies. There is no escape from the conclusion that this country, if it is to avert a ruinous check to its national development, must place its forest resources in such order as will enable them a generation hence to produce one thousand million feet of timber per annum, and thereafter produce continuing timber crops of increasing magnitude. It is upon the correct appreciation of the3'j facts that the institution and maintiuance of a stabilised national forest policy must largely depend. If the demand for timber as an indispensable material in connection with practically all forms of useful production is to be met, every potential and available forest resource must be utilised, and its use perpetuated."

The position could not have been more accurately or forcefully stated. Practically our national development depends on adequate timber supplies. The warning giveD by Captain Ellis must be taken in grave earnest. He is an expert, and therefore has weighed well the words in which he summed up the situation. The Government has already spent £296,000 on " man-made" forests, and

secured 37,000 acres of growing timber which Captain Ellis states is to-day worth £740,000, and the Government is pledged to a definite forest policy, as the result of which ic is hoped that within a few months there will be an aggrogate of 5,118,000 acres set apart for permanent national forests—a policy that is considered to be just in time to save for present and futture generations the perpetuated use of the great public forest resources. There is a threefold interest in this policy. Timber supplies; influence of rainfall on soil fertility, climate and health, as well as protection from floods erosion; utilisation of otherwise waste lands. Not the least important of these factors is the transformation of otherwise useless land into productivity instead of remaining a barren waste. Captain Ellis considers that systematic forestry would enable the Dominion to reach a pitch of development in the extension of transport facilities and in other di rections which otherwise would be unattainable. That it is a sound financial proposition is proved by the value of the plantations already made. It serves no good purpose to stress the incalculable loss which has arisen through the unwise devastation of forests ia the past, though there is no question that the country is suffering from this deplorable waste, and the consequent evil of noxious weeds. No words can too strongly condemn the wasteful and disastrous methods adopted hitherto in cutting out bush timber. Captain Ellis does not altogether blame the sawmillers, but he states that his Department is out to transform these conditions. He proposes that all the forest i*esources of the country shall be managed by the, forest service; that all non-agricultural lands suitable for tree growth shall be converted into national forests in perpetuity; an expansion .pf the principle of profit-sharing and assistance in tree-planting by individuals, public bodies and private companies; an equitable system of forest taxation whereby it will be possible for the individual to practice forestry, and thus ensure for himself a supply of timber and a profit to the community; the establishment of a forest products laboratory to investigate all wood problems, and the economical utilisation of the timber resources of the country; the Forestry Department to be given n free hand in its own sphere. "Without doubt -such a policy when carried out intelligently and vigorously would be iu the best interests of the country. Captain Ellis has performed a great public service iu bringing forward such a comprehensive and practical scheme, and in arousing the attention of the community to the urgency and importance of a national forest policy with its farreaching effect on the welfare of the country.