A VALUABLE, INCREASING INDUSTRY DRIFTING FAST TOWARDS EXTINCTION.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 7, 1 May 1907, Page 255

A VALUABLE, INCREASING INDUSTRY DRIFTING FAST TOWARDS EXTINCTION.

The Past. Time was when the forests of these islands appeared to be destined to a permanence almost eternal. So great was the profusion of the timbers, so vast the extent of the forests, and so impenetrable the growth of the underwood. These forests were of exquisite beauty, of great variety, and adorned with ferns, vines and orchids as rare in quality as they were abundant in quantity. They sheltered a bird life of considerable extent and unique character, and their flora was enriched by a profusion of blossoms of rare attractiveness. They covered the hillsides; they filled the valle>s ; they spread over the plains of large areas of both islands. In the north the Kauri and Puriri had their habitat ; the Rimu, though seen everywhere, was most conspicuous in the

southern districts of the North Island and in the west of the South Island, while the white pine was common to all the country, and the birches flourished particularly in the south. The explorer filled his reports with the variety of the timbers, and narrated the wonders of the bird songs which awoke him in the early morning ; the poet dilated on the statelmess and beauty of the forest, the painter revelled in the marvellous woodland scenes, and the practical farmer cut down the timber whenever he got the chance. Years passed ; much of the forest disappeared before the march of settlement, until whole areas lost their woods, and it gradually began to dawn upon the minds of the thoughtful that the days of the forest primeval were gone.

The Present. At present the contents of the forests remaining for the use of the colonist are approximately known, the census of the various timbers having been taken in the year 1904, and the result embodied the following year in the Parliamentary paper-C-6.

From this it appears that the total quantity of milling timber standing at the end of the year 1904 in the forests of the colony, public, private, and Maori-held, was about 41.724,574,800 feet. Now another table in the same paper showed the rate of consumption, by the various sawmills of the colony, to be in the aggregate 336,470,000 superficial feet. But 400 million will hardly suffice as an estimate allowing for accidents At that rate per annum of consumption the supply visible as brought to book above will last a little over a century. But the rate of consumption is sure to increase : for example, the output of 1905 exceeded that of 1904 by the respectable total of 41,000,000 sup-feet. The rate of consumption,, it is safe to assume, is an increasing rate. On the other hand there is an idea among the experts that the official computation of the supply requires supplementing, so that it is safe to allow for some increase on the figures of the official table. Still again there is the danger of fire, which yearly destroys a quantity of the forest, particularly of the Kauri timber, which is peculiarly inflammable. The departmental estimate of the duration of the supply, after consideration duly given to all these matters, is seventy years. It is a rough computation at the best, but even if it be an underestimate, there is no comfort in the fact, as it leaves undisturbed the conclusion that the once glorious and apparently eternal forests of the country are within a distance of extermination

which is but a small span in the history of a nation. The supply of the different varieties of timber in the above total is as follows :—: — Rimu . . 22,384 millions s. feet. Kahikatea . . 5,247 millions s. feet. Birches . . 4,673 millions s. feet Matai . . 3,802 millions s. feet. Totara . . 1,149 millions s. feet. Kauri .. 1,112 millions s. feet. Miscellaneous 3,405 millions s. feet. (Miro, maire, silver pme tanekaha, tawera, mangaio, hinau, kamahi, birch.)

from elsewhere. At the same time it is perfectly clear to anyone who reads his contemporary history that most other countries are more or less in the same plight. The situation is grave enough for the most energetic application of the farthest-reaching measures. (1) The planting rate must be increased at least tenfold. (2) Existing timber must be preserved with the greatest vigilance. (3.) The question of prohibiting the export will have to be faced. (4.) As the denudation will greatly diminish firewood and fencing timbers, the settlers must devote a large amount of attention to growing timber for household and fencing requirements.

Distribution of Timbers. The Kauri District. — The kauri tree is found nowhere but in that part of the North

Island north of a line drawn from Waikato Heads to Tauranga. At Aotea, to the southwards, and elsewhere, kauri trees are found, but so few that the above line has been recognised always as the kauri boundary. In some parts only single trees are found, in others they occur in clumps or groups, sometimes forming extensive groves, or even large blocks, almost to the exclusion of all other trees. Most frequently the kauri will be found mixed with rimu, kahikatea. tanekaha, miro. totara, totara-kiri-kotukutuku, northern rata, puriri, tawa, tarairi, matai, and many other trees, the tawa as a rule being most abundant. The nikau, or southern palm, is plentiful all through the district, and is everywhere accompanied by noble treeferns and palm-lilies. The underwood is composed of various shrubs, and the ground is carpeted with a rich growth of delicate filmy ferns. A large kauri forest is one of the grandest sights to be found within the entire range of the vegetable kingdom : massive columnar trunks, 4ft. to 8 ft. in diameter, clothed with smooth grey bark, rise close together, often to the height of a hundred feet or more, their spreading arms and deepgreen leaves presenting a picture of the greatest luxuriance and vigour. At the base of each tree is a large mound of humus, formed by the decay of bark through successive centuries. The surface soil as well as the humus is charged with resin that has exuded from the fallen leaves or twigs. Some of the most ancient specimens are among the oldest trees in the world, and must have originated in a period long before the Christian era. yet they exhibit all the life and exuberance of early youth. The great question is as to the date after which this splendid timber will be no more. According to the table of distribution, the kauri left standing on the 31st March, 1905, represented an aggregate of 1,112,000,000 superficial feet. Now in the year 1903-i, the thirty-six mills dealing with kauri cut up 144,000,000 ft. of it. At that rate the kauri forests will not last more than eight years.

Kahikatea (White-pine). — In the extensive swamps by the Northern Wairoa and other rivers the kahikatea forms forests of remarkable character. The uniformly straight naked trunks often exceed 100 ft. in height, carry very short branches at the tops, and are so close together that at a distance of a^few yards the view is completely blocked, and nothing is to be seen but the column-like trunks, from 2ft. to sft. in diameter, the undergrowth being insignificant. The tree is found in great abundance back from Whangarei in the North, and occurs all over the forest country of both Islands. The Totara Dish id. — This extends south from the Waikato Heads to the mouth of the Mokau ; thence inland diagonally southward by the slopes of Ruapehu to the start 'of the Ruahine Range ; thence south along the eastern watershed of the Ruahine Tararua, and Rimutaka Ranges to Cape Palliser ; from Palliser along the coast to Tauranga. The totara is everywhere in the forests of this region plentiful, especially on the eastern side, and it is, on the whole, the best to be found in New Zealand. I^arge areas in which it is the prevailing tree are found in many parts south of the Lower Waikato, more especially in the southern parts of Hawkes Bay, the northern portion of the Wellington L,and District, and the Seventy-mile Bush. A well-grown totara forest has an imposing effect : majestic trunks, sixty feet or eighty feet to the first branch, tapering with the greatest regularity, grow so close together that very little top is developed, and the yield of first-class timber is enormous, sometimes amounting to 80,000 or even 100,000 superficial feet per acre. Usually, however, the trees are of smaller dimensions and the trunks are often distorted, and cannot be converted without a large proportion of waste.

North Island Red Pine District. — This comprises all the country lying between the sea on the west and the eastern boundary of the totara district — i.e., a line south-south-west to the top of the Ruahine, and along the summits of the kindred ranges to Palliser Bay. There is totara in this district, but it is not so plentiful, nor in general so valuable t as it is in the other. The red-pine (rimu), which is found in appreciable quantity in the other districts, is the predominant tree in this, and all other varieties abound, except the kauri, and with the exception of a patch near New Plymouth, where the rainfall is the highest in the district, puriri and pohutukawa.

Large portions of these forests consist chiefly of rimu, tawa, and kahikatea, which are extensively converted throughout the district. Southern Red Pine District. — In this is comprised the whole Middle Island between the altitude of 1,000 ft. and sea-level, and also Stewart Island. There are several treeless tracts on the eastern side of the dividing range, the largest of which aie the Amuri and Canterbury Plains, and Central Otago, lying between a line drawn from the Waitaki mouth to the southerrmost point of Lake Wakatipu, and thence due north to the old Canterbury border. The only trees in this region are the forests on Lake Hawea and the tributary streams to the north. There are also patches of woodless courftry in eastern Marlborough and southern Otago. In the rest of this district in nearly all localities the forests are of a mixed character, yet from Marlborough to Stewart Island the rimu must be considered the predominating tree, and is the most extensively converted. The kahikatea stands next in abundance, and is closely approached by the kamahi ; while the miro, matai, totara, Halls' totara are generally distributed ; but the northern rata and pukatea scarcely occur south of Greymouth. The Westland silver-pine, yellow-silver pine and quintinia, although not peculiar to Westland, are more abundant there than in any other part of the country ; while the southern rata, which extends to Stewart Island, is especially plentiful in the Tautuku Forest, where it attains very large dimensions. Cedar, or pahautea, pokaka, and hinau are not unfrequent, while most of the beeches are plentiful, especially in the southern parts of the district. The undergrowth contains large variety of shrubs or small trees, many of which afford timbers suitable for ornamental cabinet work and inlaying.

Southern Upland or Beech District. — This takes in everything in the Middle Island between 1,000 ft. and 4,500 ft., above which the beech, the predominating tree in the district, disappears, as the last survivor of the ascending forests. The rimu and kahikatea are often found above 1,000 ft., yel they rarely occur in any great quantity, or exhibit great luxuriance ; so, on the other hand, the different beeches occasionally descend even to the sea level, although rarely forming any large portion of the forest at extremely low levels. The most valuable forest tree is the tooth-leaved beech, which attains exceptional luxuriance and large dimensions in the neighbourhood of Te Anau I,ake, and many other localities. Silver-beech and entire-leaved beech are found as far south as Preservation Inlet and Tautuku Forest, while the mountain beech prefers higher levels, although occasionally a few specimens descsnd to the rimu district. None of the beeches extend to Stewart Island, which in many parts is covered with a dense growth of rimu, kamahi, and rata, the kahikatea being extremely rare.

The Forest Laws. The forests of New Zealand are under State control, as provided by the State Forests Act of 1885, and the Land Act of 1892. There are 20,500,000 acres of forest lands — of course not all fit for milling. They are divided by law into (1) State Forests proclaimed under the Act, (2) All other forests or bush standing on Crown lands undealt with. After the marketable timber is cleared off, the land is usually disposed of under the ordinary provisions of the Land Act. Large areas of bush are reserved for various purposes, such as shelter, scenery, protection of water supply, &c. From these reserves the tenants of the Crown, who are entitled by the terms of their leases to get timber from the waste lands of the Crown for improvements and domestic purposes, can only take the same with the permission of the Crown Lands Commissioner of the district and under conditions prescribed by him. The law regulates such matters as felling, trespass, especially during the dry months of the year, protection against injury of all sorts, particularly damage by fire, the securing of way leaves, water rights and the erection of dams, booms and all things pertaining to the work of floating timber down to market ; licenses for sawmilling, both by machinery and by hand, splitting, access to road tram and railway, cutting firewood, rails, sleepers and the rest ; the avoidance of waste, and the enforcement of compensation for injury. Every forest tree is under the special protection of the government. The sawyer, the logger, the splitter, all are, by license, or agreement of one k'nd or another, under the dominion of the Department of Lands whose Minister is the head of the forestry department directly and indirectly, according to whether the forests are State forests or otherwise. Timber lands may be disposed of by lease or license, and standing timber may be sold after due notice when not

under any of these agreements. There is a settled and well understood scale of royalties to be paid for the taking of timber. The Working of the Timber Industry. — There has been a very great development of this industry since 1901. 110 additional mills were returned as working in 1906, and hands employed increased from 6,812, to 9,111 and the (first cut) sawn timber from 261,583,518 ft. to 336,470,930 ft. an addition of 74,887.412 ft. The figures given for re sawing, &c , also show an increase from 34.824,246 ft. to 51,588,812 ft. ; those for moulding from 9,152, 598 ft. to 12,148,474 ft. ; while the number of doors and sashes made increased from 91,376 to 143,100. The total money value of all manufactures or produce of the sawmills reached the sum of £2,128,766, asjagaiust £1,268,689 at the previous census ; almost doubled in five years. The value of the plant largely increased. The plant is up-to-date everywhere. The value of the output for the mills for

the year 1905 was far greater in the Auckland Provincial District than in any other, the order being as follows :—: — Auckland Wellington 339,481 Otago . . . . . . 234 693 Hawke's Bay . . . . . . 138,668 Westland 117,104 Taranaki 97,401 Nelson 65,784 Canterbury 29,912 Marlborough 27,490 £2, 128,766 Of this total there was exported a value of £318,895. The total output of all the mills, of first and second cut, stands divided in the census returns (1906) as follows :—: — Sawn timber £1,442,950 Posts and tails 12,297 Skirting 517,954 Moulding 56,027 Sashes and doors . . . . 99,538 Total

Land Districts. Number of mills Horse power. Annual Capacity Auckland . . 49 Hawke's Bay . . 61 Taranaki . . 31 Wellington . . 73 Marlborough . . 16 •Nelson . . 58 Westland . . 51 Canterbury . . 9 Otago . - 10 Southland . . 56 2,528 1,632 612 1,324 252 675 913 101 137 1,323 244,320,000 81,888,400 39,500,000 100,330,000 15,722,000 55,333,200 88,990,000 3,363,000 5,984,000 69,500,000 414 9,497 704,930,600