Valuable Timber Rights.

Progress, Volume XVI, Issue 3, 1 November 1920, Page 69

Valuable Timber Rights.

Proposal that Crown Should Purchase. A petition requesting that a Parliamentary Committee should inquire into the feasibility of the purchase by the Crown of 1600 million feet of timber, the rights for which are held by the Tongariro Timber Company, Ltd., was recently presented to the House by Mr. F. F. Hockly (Rotorua). The petitioners were W. T. Williams, of Hawkes Bay, and three others, who stated that they were shareholders in the company named above. The company was formed in 1907 to acquire from Mr. Tudor Atkinson, of Wellington, a native timber lease or agreement secured by him in 1906. A capital of £25,000 had been fully subscribed. The lease was estimated to comprise what was probably the most valuable block of timber now remaining in the Dominion. The company had paid none of the royalties due to the Native owners for a period of six years, and was in default to the extent of £27,000. It was also in default in respect to the

construction of forty miles of railway from Kakahi on the Main Trunk to Lake Taupo. This line was to have been completed by March Ist, 1914. The period had been extended to March Ist, 1916, since when there had been continuous default. In order to escape a prohibitive royalty to be imposed in about 40 years’ time the company must cut out about 40,000,000 feet of timber per annum, which was regarded by the petitioners as a wasteful quantity, from the point of view both of the lessees and of the nation.

The control of the company’s affairs by the governing and sole director, Mr. Atkinson, was unsatisfactory, petitioners further alleged. Mr. Atkinson had found it impossible to raise the money to construct the railway, and had declined to negotiate with the Forestry Department, which was anxious to acquire the timber concessions on reasonable terms. For all the above reasons, petitioners asked for an investigation. The petition was referred to the Lands Committee.