THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1908. OUR TIMBER INDUSTRY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3001, 25 September 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1908. OUR TIMBER INDUSTRY.

The importance of the work of afforestation to the Dominion can scarcely be over-estimated. The position is that we have, practically speaking, just got rid of enormous areas of bush and forest, and no sooner have we done so than we realise that the reckless manner in which bush land has been cleared in past years will certiainly cost this country very dearly in the end. Considerable discussion has taken place in the past as to the beneficial effects of large tracts of forests on the climate of the country in which they are situated, but experiments made in India on a huge scale have resulted in a settlement of the dispute. The authorities now report that instances have occurred where afforestation has Increased the rainfall of the country to a marked degree, but this advantage, though important, is quite insignificant compared with the effects of forests in storing and regulating the present water supply and preventing it running to waste. In the last Go-

vernment report on State Nurseries and Plantations it is pointed out that although the needs of the great Indian Empire are infinitely more urgent and widespread than thoae of this Dominion can ever be, yet in proportion it may be urged that the general principles underlying modern system of forest-conservation and reforestation in all countries apply equally to New Zealand as to the older civilisations. The more this subject is studied, the more one is impressed with the fact that judicious afforestation is the backbone of success in the important industries of every nation. As has been frequently pointed out, the cutting and utilisation of the indigenous forests by the sawmillers is proceeding at such a rapid rate in New Zealand that it is only the matter of a very lew years (comparatively) when the greater bulk of our timber-supply must be obtained from abroad. Each year sees the output larger, and the resources of the Dominion smaller, and, although the Government has taken the matter in hatid with com- j mendable foresight by the establishment of State plantations of timbertrees, yet it must be at least from thirty to forty years before any great supply can be calculated on from this source. Under these circumstances it appears imperative to restrict the present indiscriminate sawmilling of all available forests to such moderate extent as will insure their gradual disappearance synchronous with the development and growth of the State plantations, so that as the one fails the other ma> take its place. Unless some such steps as these are immediatel} taken, it fellows that although for a few yeara the demand can be fairly well satisfied, before long t'nere would be no reserve of native timber, and the price would rise to a figure which would seriously embarrass many of the growing industries of New Zealand. The sawmilling industry is increasing with rapid str'des, as the following figures indicate:—ln 1900, there wer;j 334 mills, employing 6,912 hands; in 1907 there were 411 mills, employing 7,139 hands, and the quantity of timber sawn per annum wan 432,033,611 superficial feet. The estimates of the milling timber in New Zsaland disclose the gravity of the position. They are as follows: —Kauri, 1905, 1,112,019,000 superficial feut (1907, 646,041,000); totara, rimu and kahikatea, 1905, 28,730,500,000 superficial feet (1907, 22,840,000,000); others, 1905, 12,880,431.000 superficial feet (1907, 12,300,000,000j; total, , 1905, 42,723,000,000 superficial feet (1907, 35,786,041,000). Out of the above quantity of approximately 36,000,000,000 superficial feet of milling timber for the whole of New Zealand, it may be mentioned that no less than 13,445,000,000 superficial feet, or more than one-third, exists in the two land districts of Nelson and Westland, and when it is remembered with what difficulty the timber can he reached, cut, and marketed, it will be seen that the available supply for practical purposes shrinks to a comparatively small arrount, as a large quantity of forest, though suitable for milling, is too. inaccessible for payable conversion into sawn timber. The present supply of indigenous timber may therefore be reckoned at about fifty jears at the existing increasing rate of consumption. From the foregoing facts and figures it will be clear that the afforestation work carried on by the Government is of an excGedingly necessary and valuable character.