Sawmilling Section.

Progress, Volume XVII, Issue 1, 1 September 1921, Page 16

Sawmilling Section.

[This Section is published by arrangement with the Dominion Federated Sawmillers* Association (Incorp.) in the interests of the Sawmilling Industry of N.Z.]

Acting Editor: ARTHUR SEED.

During the past month among the sawmiller visitors to Wellington whom we have met were Messrs. W. J. Morris from Reef ton, G. A. Gamman and Punch from Rangitikei, and Wesney from Southland; and we would like this to be a reminder to all sawmillers, that if they happen to be in Wellington at any time and can hnd time to call at the otiice of the Federation, Koom 20, 153 Featherston Street, their visits will be appreciated.

We regret to have to report that recent news from Mr. Irvine from Sydney is to the effect that he has suffered another severe attack of his old illness, and that he has had to return to the Sanitorium for treatment.

We were pleased to read a very able leading article in the Dominion of September sth under the heading of "Forestry and Settlement," dealing with the statement just issued by tile Minister for Lands (the Hon. D. H. Guthrie) respecting the Urewera lands and their settlement. 'ihe article in question calls attention to the fact that the Minister has dealt with only one aspect of the question of Forest Conservation in this region, and aptly points out that besides providing for the preservation of forests on the hill-tops and banks of rivers to prevent erosion there is the bigger question of proper demarcation of other forest lands that were more fit to retain in permanent forest than for settlement, and also the question of proper utilisation of forest wealth on those lands which are more suitable for settlement when cleared. These questions had already been exercising the minds of members of the Forestry League, and this body has in hand the question of making suitable representations to the Minister to have thoroughly reliable reports made by competent men with a view to proper demarcation before any of the land carrying bush is thrown open for settlement, and we would add a word to urge that this be done. It might not be inappropriate to suggest that several practical and expert timber men be appointed to report upon the areas as to their suitability from a milling point of view. The Minister's statement on the question is reprinted below. UREWERA LANDS. PRESERVATION OF FOREST. WHAT THE MINISTER PROPOSES. The Minister of Lands (the Hon. D. H. Guthrie) stated recently that the plans for the opening up of the Urewera Country made provision for the

preservation of necessary forest. He had discussed the plans with olficers of his Department and others who were well acquainted with the country. The Urewera land was not of very high quality. It had a good surface soil on a bed of pumice, and the removal of all the iorest from the area would undoubtedly have a damaging effect. The plan of settlement would provide tor the preservation of the forest on the hill-tops and also along the banks of the rivers, where there would be danger of serious denudation and erosion if the ground were cleared. The bush that was required to be preserved would not be touched. The Minister mentioned that arrangements were being discussed for the reservation of an area of 26,000 acres in the neighbourhood of Lake Waikaremoana. This was forest land required to be maintained as a catchment area for the lake, in view of the hydro-electric scheme. The land that remained in the hands of the Maoris under the scheme of consolidation in the Urewera Country would include a very large amount of bush.— Dominion.

Following is an extract from the Auckland Star of August 30th, on the same subject, giving the views of one who knows the country in question thoroughly, Mr. Elsdon Best, and who was also quoted in the article in the Dominion previously referred to : SAVE THE FOREST. A PLEA FOR THE UREWERA. MR. ELSDON BEST'S WARNING. A strong protest against the indiscriminate deforestation of the Urewera which is to be opened up by the Government as soon as the question of titles is settled with the Maori owners, was made by Mr. Elsdon Best, who knows the country from end to end. He lived for many years not far from Ruatahuna studying the peculiar customs of the "Children of the Mist "—the natives still point out the pretty little slab-whare with its crimson rambler roses climbing over the . roof, which " Peihiti " occupied—and made a memorable trek through to Lake Waikaremoana, over the lofty Huiarau Range, snow-covered at the time, in search of legends and folk-lore, the record of which is still a classic. Mr. Best says the country was very steep, over-laid by pumice on which is about six inches of humus. " You fell the bush and grass it. It grows magnificently for three years or so. The first and second year you have cocksfoot higher than your

knee. About a year or so later it gets shorter, and finally dies out, and the land grows a crop of rubbish. There is no body in the soil; and not only that, the underlying pumice makes the whole Jiing so friable that the stock tear it off the face of the earth. Most of the country is very rough, and a lot of it should never be deforested. We must preserve a lot of our bush or our climate is going to suffer, and the rough country like the Urewera is the part we should keep intact as far as the forest is concerned. ■. There is no doubt, in my opinion, that New Zealand will sooner or later have to grow her own timber entirely—from what is taking place in other parts of the world. Such country as the Urewera is natural forest country— much of it suitable for nothing else."— Star.

Relative to the foregoing subject the following has been supplied to us as being appropriate to the occasion : —" The people who originally put the little green splashes on the map of New Zealand appear to have held that all that area of mountain top, which contains no millable timber, which produces no revenue, which will never produce revenue, which will not carry more than one goat to 20 acres, and which nobody has or is likely to ever have any use for, shall be known hereafter as ' State Forest.' It is no doubt easy to argue that such country could be State forest for climatic, scenic, soil-protection, river and water perservation, etc., reasons. On the other hand any tract of land clothed in forest of sufficient value to produce a little revenue, must, according to their lights, be earmarked a land for settlement, and when, with the assistance of „fire and axe, the forest is no more (and the hill sides have slipped into the valleys, and the floods and droughts have ruined the countryside), the settler (?), having succeeded in making ' one blade of grass grow where two trees grew before,' buys a motor-car from the proceeds of the sale of the timber and moves on to the next bit of bush."

The Rev. J. H. Simmonds, the well-known forestry expert, is at present on a visit to Australia. Writing to Mr. R. Reynolds, Cambridge, a few days ago, Mr. Simmonds stated that he had " done " Tasmania and Victoria, and was moving on to New South Wales. It was in the quiet valleys of the back . country, where there was plenty of rain, that one saw gigantic trees, and plenty of them; but the sawmills are busy, and the day cannot be far distant when nearly all parts of the original bush will be cut out. Other forests are coming on, said Mr. Simmonds, but in them the trees will be smaller. One of the. main objects of Mr. Simmonds' visit is to find out what are the best trees suitable for growing ,in New Zealand, and how seed can be secured from the original sources, true to name, and of the best strains.— Waikato Independent,

From the first of a series of most interesting articles on "Forestry" by R. R. Macgregor, Ph.D., F.R.1.A., appearing in the Waikato Times, but which is too long to print in full, we cull the following, which will be of interest to timber men : " . . . . with the industrial development of the present age, we find that the consumption of timber far exceeds Nature's rate of production, and the consequence is that the available timber supplies are diminishing with startling rapidity. Great Britain consumes timber to the extent of over 100,000 each day of the year. At present for the coniferous timbers used for railway work, for mining, and for building and general structural purposes, England now produces only about 2 per cent, of the amount consumed. In New Zealand we have good timber land, many millions of acres of it, quite unfit for agriculture, but" ideal for forest, now lying more or less waste. We must afforest it, and as mistakes with a crop which takes from half a century to a century to mature are apt to be costly, we cannot afford to adopt slipshod rule-of-thumb methods ' ■'. . . ." (It might be stated here that New Zealand's timber import is of nearly the same value as her timber export, the former consisting chiefly of eucalypts, iron bark and jarrah from Australia, and coniferous timber from U.S.A., Canada and Baltic countries. ) w s #

By the courtesy of the State Forest Service we have received the first two copies of " Te Karere o Tane," the monthly , newsletter issued by the personnel of that Department. It is bright and interestingly written, and, though mainly devoted to matters of purely Departmental and personal interest to the staff, it still contains much that is of especial interest to timbermen, and several items culled from it have already appeared in the daily Press. Among these latter is the following rather important ruling upon the matter of " Forest Reserves "

FOREST RESERVES.

POSITION AS TO CONTROL. The first issue of " Te Karere o Tane," the interesting monthly newsletter issued by the personnel of the State Forest Service of New Zealand, says : "An opinion of great interest to this service was recently given by the Crown Law Office. It is, in effect, that all ' forest reserves,' ' timber' reserves,' 'bush reserves,' 'reserves for the growth and preservation of timber,' and ' forest plantation reserves,' made under any Land Act prior to August 4th, 1908, are now under the control of the service, and not under the Lands Deoartment, as was generally thought to be the case. This important ruling will result in an area of aoproximately a quarter of a million acres being placed under forest service control. Steps are now being taken to secure an accurate list of these reserves, and it is hoped that shortly each con-

servator will be in possession of full particulars in regard to the new State forests in his region. Copies of the opinion are now being made for distribution to all officers interested."