THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY DECEMBER 6, 1913. AFFORESTATION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 6 December 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY DECEMBER 6, 1913. AFFORESTATION.

The « presettt industriaL, upheaval un New Zeplaitd emphasises, among other things, the necessity for maugjirating a thorough system of-afforesat-tion in the .Dominion.. The output; of coal, which\is subject to fluctuation according" to the whims, and fancies of those who are engaged in the industry, is insufficient for tho domestic and motive requirements of the Dominion. The forest 1 lands are Being rapidly denuded of timber, an/:!,, unless the:.oil deposits of the State are developed,. we 'Mil be in queer street in the future unless we .devote ourselves energetically to afforestation An instructive article on forestry in England and abroad appeared in a recent issue :qf the .Quarterly. The writer, tries....to estimate the present condition ,of, the world's timber supplies- and ho is. certain that disaster must follow unless waste lands everywhere .ire i-nmediateiy utilised for atforestatfon. He has; Ji°.' lack of evidence to work on; for-a great deal more work is done in writing about timber that in,; actually planting it out. 1 It appears that there are. now ■.= abdut three an d | a quarter million acres under timber' in the United Kingdom—about 4 pier cent of theavailable land area; but this is a quite inconsiderable item. In Europe the percentage of forest to total land area-varies from 40 jin Russia' to' 6 in Denmark. • Moreover, the sobadly grown that its 'cubic, increase per y eai' } i s barely a fifth* of what it is .under the scientific management of tjie German forests. The disparity may also be expressed in values. Timber

cut in Great "Britain averages a little under 6s'per acre per year; on the Continent it mounts up to I £2, and the average is very little under £1 per acre. How important it is that; waste. lands:' should ; be, trtijised to the 'full is .shown;-!by• the factlthat the United Kingdom buys nearly -half fhe timber exported from all, countries. In a recent year the value of the import'reached no less than £35,OOO.OIK); while the home-grown ftimber was. hardly worth, £1,000;000.' Russia and Sweden together supply half the imports. America, iflf £pite of its vnst resources, is rapidly reaching the point when it will have no wood to send away. Russia is the most important source of supply. The quality of the timber, is mostly good ; but, it is nearly all soft conifer of one sort or another. An important factor is that nearly 70 per cent of this forest area is the property of the State; for this enormously simplifies the problem of. conservation and development. The vital in ■ timber inanagemenjt, of course, jis to control the.,cutv, sbithMmt at Jeast does not exceed growth. Tile private owner; cuj||tvpver quick; to obtains ready lesson is to follow of VGern|any, .which not-only looks Carefully after, conservation, but steadily increases the area,:of land year by year, A. quarter of lGerma% is afforested,; yet home requilrements can scarcely he met] It Ts clear that -timber is going to bepne of the" great i>rohlems of k the future, and it; is jhigh lima'thaV we profited by the ,tr,qus experience of the ■ European nations. •" ;■ t z