National forestry : address

Hutchins, D. E. (David Ernest), Council of the New Zealand Forestry League, Wellington, N.Z., 1919

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The original publication details are as follows:

Title: National forestry : address

Author: Hutchins, D. E. (David Ernest)

Published: Council of the New Zealand Forestry League, Wellington, N.Z., 1919

National Forestry.

TPllls Pamphlet contains the text of an Address delivered by Mb. lb E lit i' iiin—. 1.F.5.. before the Annual .Meeting of the New Zealand Forestry League, Incorporated, held in the Dominion Farmers' Institute, Wellington, on July 17th. 1918, with editorial -■it by th- "New Z-ilmd Times," in which paper the address appeared as a series of articles.

SOML POPULAR ASPECTS OF NATIONAL FORESTRY

file official statement prepared under the direction of the Hon. 1). H. Guthrie, and published in the "New August 28th, showit a total area of 444.017 acres had been provided for soldier settle- .. land, lier settlers, of

vast amount ot : i d, but is tain that the work is up to date? Uni that this land not by modern _ h-and-ready i, when land had Such They mean roduction at 1 more to pay hand over ultura] aim to it on the chance of - a penny, perhaps—or revert- to Gorse, Manuka, and scrub. It is a bankrupt business 1 If. how ■'■ e first di out the land For State forestry, the State he Future: and the expenditm the process of forest development and

improvement, gives the settler just that which he generally wants most, ready money, without runninq into debt■

Let anyone buy a large-scale war-map, and see the final . landsettlement that has been arrived at, after centuries of trial, in the wealthy populous countries of, central iturope. Be it France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, or Belgium: bo the country republican, limited monarchy, or ruled by autocratic emperors, the result is the same, the poor land, (about a quarter the total area) is under productive forest, which pours its millions yearly into the coffers of the various States—Prussia, for instance, .1:4,500,000 net yearly.

It is useless to attempt to shut our eyes to what has been done in Europe, latterly in America, and since the war started in Australia and in England. The no-State-forestry policy of England cost the country £37,000,000 during the first two years of the war, over and above the usual heavy timber bill for imported timber. £15,000,000 is now to be spent (as a first instalment) on a scheme of national forestry.

\Yu Zealand must keep pa,ee rest "i the ad ■"'-li and mountain lands on modern lines. How this is to ae was well shown in an address, ol which we publish the first Dortion to-day. delivered by Mr I). E. Hut-

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chins, 1.F.5., at the last annual meeting of the Forestry League. The procedure there sketched was agreed to in principle by the two Ministers present at the meeting, Sir Francis Bell and

Mr Guthrie. The earlier portion of mine was, indeed, promised by the Prime llm-'er at the last full Parliament. (''New Zealand I September 24th, 1918.)

FOREST LEAGUE ANNUAL MEETING, 1918.

ADDKKSS BY I). E. BUTCHINS, LF.S.

I.

Forestry in New Zealand may be considered under vario -. The scenic and the climatic you are familiar witii. Mi 51 here this evening have read the pamphlet on floods in New Zealand rivers, by i J nan, of Auckland.

i had the pleasure, ation of the I' l ng my first mipresZealand fi I have tri again through New Zealand, from irthern Kauri forests to Invercargill. I have discussed the forest question with men of all shades of opinion, bushmen, sawmillers, timber-dealers, scientists, farmers, civil servants, journalists, and members of the Government. Many farmers unasked and of their own shrewd common-sense and practical knowledge of the bush have sketched to jne exactly what scientific rv could do in New Zealand. I'nder the able guidance of the Lands Department I have digested a weighty mass of Blue-books. Let me at once record my obligation to its kindly staff. I have done the demarcation of the Waipoa forest am! camped for a month in a Kauri fort

This experience has not altered my first impressions hut it has adder] materially to them. Tiie sufficiently rapid growth of native trees has heen confirmed, and a he.- come cut that Kauri is the record largest timber-tree of the world. It ha- been shown further, in en.- reimr. now being printed, that in HI or li'li years, all the possible <ostof this war can he naid out of half a million acres of restorable Kauri forest. The calculation i- a simple one. A normal mature Kauri forest will .in the future return quite

£'lo net per acre per year. This capi- ' per cent, to .£250- and £250 The war will. ■ worst, coat within this is good evidence that a careful policy of forest demarcation and forest ution could secure this half-mil-borable Kauri land.

,'u uuih i\iiun Jilliu. It looks .-i her forests of the '• handled, would entually to pay a large part whole public debt.

Think of tlif Kingdom of Wurtemith an average return of £1 10s per acre per year net —the avera turn from all its State fori and indifferc

FOREST SETTLEMENT

Half a million acres of normal K.iuri would largely augment the number of brcad-w led permanently on the soil. Thus, whi out, the number of agricultural and pastoral bread-winners in New Zealand was 110,025. Less than halt a million acres of norma] forefull working, would provide perman- ' for 10.000 men =cton small holdings in the forest, and employed on forest work, logging iwing. If, as in Europe, they had farm allotments as well, the number would be larger.

It is the result of an official inquiry eerage employmi puretoral sheep-runs ol X™ 7. is at the rate of one man per .'WO:-! There is hardly any foi however poor the forest, that would not give more employment than this. while a fully stocked Kauri forest (jive employ nt at Hi man per 7n acre-. This than dairying on the po ir Kauri land-. I of an inquiry as to the exact proht h»ine m"de on the poor land near the aipoa forest showed that disappointment and Lis.;, the dairy farmers remaining were just making

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a living: All tney g..t "a- a pour living wage- the Mate nothing. It New Zealand possessed cult ame proportion as the advanced ot centra. Europ. i per cent, of its area, the ie I eventually support a population ne illy the same as the vi I population. Since 10 million acres, at an average ol 5 - per family, and 20U acres ( ,i forest per family, would mean with tiie resulting sawmill employment a population Working naif on small farms and half in tiie torest. as in Europe, the population supported would be some I,(XX),OQO. I lie- .nci.il average of 200 acres of forest to support a family. Bat if we lake European figures the employment in valuable forest, such as Kauri forest, would be at the rate ot one family maintained per 75 acres. Probably about 200 acres mily may be taken as a g< neral all New Zealand once put into good order. In a 0 the poor lands of New Zealand, in tiie proportion as central Europe, ami you eventually settle on the land 1 million souls. The small English, war-insurance, foresty scheme ot 1,770,000 acres only (now adopted! is calculated to permanently settle on 25,000 families, say 125,000 souls.

with heavy national tofts on land betiy. the a now being that about 1-iSrd of the land area ot New Zealand still unoccupied.

L-3rd of New Zealand unocciiand l-3rd ot the Rhine country ana under productive fori licant.

During my recent lecturing tour in the South island, 1 lound a lack of exact knowledge ot what was meant by the scientific forestry of other countries. Little was understood ot the millions that wire being poured yearly into the coffers of European . or of the existence of a largo body of men trained in scientific forestry at the universities. My audience often ly heard of the New Zealand Forest League or its amis.

THE GOVERNMENT TIMBER PLANTATIONS.

Old records show that many years luntain forests borderHli in' Valley, ''colonists" were regularly introdu ttled as foron small farm- (See my "Journal ot a Forest Tour,'' Ma skew What the mountain t the Rhine \ alive now worked out to. i- well i on the large -"ale war-map on rates that. taking the highly-industrialised Rhine aing population, er with the Yosges and black Fores: mountain areas on each side, quite one-third the total manent cultivated forest. New Zealand colonised almost entirely by men from tile British Lies, with the Britisher'- contempt for "Continental nays." ha- never tried forest settlement. The settlement, that would not suit farms, or mine-, or towns. has |i ft undone. A good deal ot Farm-settlement has been attempted

From 1896 to ' tions were managed by an amateur mortuis nil nisi bonum. From 1909 till cjiute recently managed themselves! In 1913 the □amission pointed out where tte plantations were inferior to ■•.ate plantations on the Canterbury Plains and elsewhere. Insignis pine-planting was then introduced, and irther planing of the (mon er conifer of proved value in New Zealand, the planted to any appreciable extent. Jt demands some sylviculture! prevision and special seed-providing, which are not yet available. Bucalypts are strikingly better in the private plantaii N.-.i Zealand and in thi eminent plantations in South Africa. The good feature of the <I timber plantations is the adoption of high-i I; planting, though at misled by European book - high-class and too costly. None of the Australian Government planting is near the New Zealand in density. and very little of the private ] laming, hi New Zealand, excepting some of Sir George Grey's planting on Kawau, and Mr Janies Deans', in Canterbury, together with some smaller plantation I ie bad features of the Government timber plantations are: —Insufficient tire-pro-tection, absence of "working-plans,"

ami of “pot-and-pan” nurseries; a bad selection of the trees planted. The last two faults led to the failure straight-away of all tlie dry-country work, where trees were most sought after. North European tree-planting •methods may not be always the best in a country that runs into latitudes considerably nearer the Equator than Algiers ! Perhaps, also, the greater summer sun-power in the Southern Hemisphere may have some practical effect on tree-planting such as it seems to possess in some other aspects oi plant life. In South Africa pot-and-pan nurseries have long been used for all tree-planting (except leaf-shedding trees) in every description of climate, from the dry hot-and-cold climate ol the plateau country, to the wet climate of the coast and coast mountains, with rainfalls averaging nearly 100 inches. For its size, South Africa has more tree-planting than any country in the world, except Japan. Pot-and-pan planting is used in all the 163 Government nurseries (distributing some five or six million trees yearly), and the system has been in unbroken use for 35 years. I showed, by exhaustive trials, that it had many advantages over the Spanish-reed (bainboo)-section system of South Australia. The problem now before the Government plantations in New Zealand is thinning. That requires the practical trained forester. As Sir William Schlich, the Oxford professor, pointed out in his recent review of New Zealand forestry, thinning is the crux of the matter. Good or bad thinning will make or mar the Government timber plantations. Supposing that the plantations are properly thinned, the recovery of the .£2,000,000 sunk in the timber plantations will depend largely on whether the Laron gets disease before or after it is large enough to furnish railway sleepers. At present the Rotorua Larch looks its best. That in the Southern Island, which averages older, has suffered from the leaf-fall disease.

Happily for the Government timber plantations they have now been planed under Sir Francis Bell. hut. his Hands would be strengthened if the facts regarding them were better known. All that is known generally about them i** that the Government are doing good work in planting trees with prison lnhour. It is not known that they re-

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of the of tile Dominion. Where plantations are really required oil in accessible ; and, n Bts, as may be "Working-plans. ,-ear, 1917-18, South Africa is /i on plantations and i lopment.

FOREST ALIENATION WITHOUT DEMARCATION.

This lb by lar the most urgent matter in the New Zealand forestry of today, though as yet it is outside thu functions ol the Minister m charge ol New Zealand Forestry. It is quitu likely that in one year there may bn od demarcatable forest as it has taken the Dominion 22 years to plant at a cost ot £2,1 ing time).

During the year ended March 31st, 1917, the total area ol land alienated Zealau I (Statistics of Ni ■■■ /. I). If. as is thought by ti a position to know, sonic 100,001 e alienated for destruction yearly, one has lie- very calculation of 100,000 acres £6.500,000. agreed that luntry now tranti :rap ot a year on timber plantations, or the

In the ;llj . "m t'6o per acre uctual cost of timber planl interest at 4 per cent, fo the average maturity period for the 1 -without di . much value than that. It may reprc- • on it now plus anothi or £3OO per aere, the value, capitalised >i: I per cent., of all g crops nber. This suppose? the case of a forest well - and with v judicious thinling will ha timber fit to lity, the over in a regulai of compartso that it is alwavs being rrop!'id alwavs growing again; the

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r's business being to see that with assisted natural regeneration and 6Uch planting as may lie necessary, the forest is ever improving.

el tile alienated nit houi demar- :

New sent system will tell you that Kuou unliable timber 5 ; that l; ed and count of poor or at a fraction ol of planting an entirely new forest, lint of course the forest ; in fact, it usually hastens it.

timpai tial b ! and a part of t ; timber d and paid fo the timber aw," which is a premium on wasteful working. oned above. :n the log is paid for, only the present crop that is crops is not counted; and this may he the chief value, sometimes the only value. ' now with all tlie Om plantation

Of ei the mfllable forest, hes to be destroyed, its value for farmi its value for forestry. Who knows trow much? The only an est de.\'nen there are existing Mid the ni data available. Otherwise there is no knowing how far the estimate of 100.000 acres of demarcatnhlo forest hj. ing given away yearly is correct. There aJwavs remains the haunting spectre supposing the being now recklessly ali had 1' l,;| l ~(lst of planting in the past. Truly a gaunt i I" 1 brooi land that is pouring i alth in a terrible

Forest demarcation and a Forest Department would be a mere bagatelle compared to these figures. It might mean I ■ while moment some £ 15,000 a year is being spent on quasi-forestrj without direction. All those who have looked into the figures say that a Forest Department musl pay for i The Australian Forest Departve dene SO. one and all.

The position is most serioUß in North 'Auckland. Kauri timber lias I so valuable that everyone theri to ho own Kaui is sold to them for the value of the Li crop of timber pin poor farming land. But rop. A moment's means. Kan ped n ly sorj lb lemai ase in val : I i duel ion of genei.

It will hardly bo credited that a first-rate Kauri forest is now being worked and actually destroyed by the Railway Department. It is true that this is not quit© a simple ease. To begin with, in the absence of a Forest Department, tliis exceptionally fin© Kauri forest was given away for a song, then bought back at a high price as no such Kauri could be got elsewhere for railway purposes. It was a shocking bungl© and yet no one blundered! It was part of the system that left a verv valuable national asset in charge of nobody in particular! The Forest Department of the New Zealand Administration was a blank.

From one of my Waipoa camps I was in daily view of a long, low range covered with dense forest. That forest was the Tutamoe forest, where once grew the world's record big timber tree, the historical giant Kauri called •‘Kairaru” by the Maoris. The forest

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of Kami in the sapling, rig, and dormant seed had the low value of the Waipoa forest. Only dairying could compete with its present forest value; no farming could touch its future forest value. That forest had been surveyed and cut up into lots awaiting Mil- in a few monLbs. This is typical rvauri forest.

the larger and far more important part. Mr. Guthrie mi, give away threi timet hj gund forest in u \ ,nn pfanl ,7i tw< nty j«ars.' f do not tlenl many foresters would a definite opinion as tx) which of forest, acre for acre, ige the best value to the years hence - the artifiworked.

,ii worked-out Kaui i .■on.', redeemed for the country. The situation demand- mibsolut ■ irther alienation of Kauri

FORESTRY AND THE LANDS DEPARTMENT.

Ai present prices the destrui one Kauri forest Pub pnl meant the loss of well over c:3.iA)0,000 tie Btandin timber crops. In area the ior, -i was no more than -ai Harbor, a.- out off »hj the southern end ol I dand, viz., ictps.

ABSENCE OK A FOEEST DEPAR'J MENT IX NEW ZEALAND.

Ine present position of forestry in 'aland makes it interesting to glance at the history of forestry and lands Departments in the various ■A hen I was in ~ 1914, in ■ ral feeling that the interests of forestry and of laud settlement should be confided to different hands, forestry was removed from the Lands D ment and placed under the Department of Mines. In New .South Wales it had been removed from the' Lands Department, hut the friction between the Forest Department and the Lands Department was far from being to the public weal. In South Australia forests and lands were working together harmoniously, but that is an old-set-tled State with the main forest boundaries determined long ago. In Queensland in 1914 forestry and lands were under one Minister, but the Forest Department had a competent professional r at the head of it. in Victoria forestry had been taken away from Lands and given to the Minister for Mines.

a year is being on New Zealand i Government department Land Commissi™ I Railway.-, (4) Tourist Mining Department and Wardens' Courts, (6) Agricultural Department.

As far a, I know there is nothing to be said against any one of these departments, but when they get on to technical work, which is outside their ble.

•/ rider two VI i '■> only temporary expedient. Sir Francis Hell has now charge of the smaller hall and Mr Guthrie ol' much

Till quite lately the timber plantations have been going each on their own devices, their offices inspected, but not their ivor::. The Railway Department has eii two hue tori.d i- working and destroying them, instead of working and improving them. The Tourist Department. intations at Rotorna am ■ nding a y.ar on the Milford ack, while such work would be done without extra cost it work developing the forest. The scandal >n exposed in both the Timber Commission Report of 1909 and the Forest lission Report of 1913. Th, cultural Department has . just that little knowledge of forestry that i« pro-

e I left -\ew South Wales the gTeat change has occurred that has revolutionised forestry there. Forestry and lands arc' now working harY, inister of Fie

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Ily dangerous. It distributes obtainis iur instance Landes Maritimepine S, ed ill 1! I.i seed. \,e long ago it wrote to Ken. England, the botanical nam, 01 on,, of rery commonest extra-tropical tic-, tile Caron tree oi the Mediterranean. The reply from Kew filled ral Journal, and amateui forestry 1 many more page- of the same publication ! The dii. fundamentally wrong. 1 "Cypress Forestry" and "Australian Forestry," d. 2451.1

1' IS of no use deploring lu-t opportunities, but J think it onlj to mention lure, that trouble 1 persuaded a forester with exceptional qualifications, - man. and a colonial man, he posiF head ot the Forest Department in New Zealand. His application was refused, .and shortly afterwards the New South Wales Government ed him on a yearly salary of ess which has attended the introduction of scientific for-e-try to America began with one good : 11 to the post of Chief Fordnited States of America American, who went to France and got In ng ai the ird I'mchot. ,er (Colonel ; He belie ved Gr< at Briid Turkey were the only civilisthat lacked an organised ntly that S :i to NewZeal,ind or Tasmania !

~D WE RESTRICT TIIIBEH EXPORTS TEMPORARILY?

Till New Zealand 1 s Deait and the ordinary forestry of it. may l» whether there should not he so in on the export of New / lia. Under ordinary earthing one would i no value filiation and markets; hut timber is very nearly dome, has only a few years to run, so that until Ni ims only prudent to plai

fiorar;. on on tie Kauri and White-pine. This 1, tie more important because th< unusual activity just now, in forestworking and forest-destroying. I heard a lew days ago oi the - nient by an i udicate of a timber concession for 20 million superfeet.

WHITE I'lM'.

The forest topic of the hour is Whitepine. New Zealand wants all its remaining supplies for butter-boxes. Australia wants it, too; not only for but-ter-boxes, but for packing-eases and house-building, because Australia had an enormous import of soft-woods before the war. and supplies are now diiiicult. The .New Zealand iarmer says stop the export of White-pine. The New Zealand miller says we have a right to live as well as the farmer, it would be unfair to handicap our industry. The Australians say if you tax White-pint, we can tax coal and corn. What does the forester say?

To begin with, of course, his sympathies are with the miller, his right hand, in all forest work; but there is more than that. If the miller has destroyed the forest, he ha s had no choice in the matter. But the farmers, knowing well what was going on in the country, with a commanding voice in every New Zealand Parliament, have carelessly sacrificed population, progress, and permanent good for the temporary gain following the destruction of demarcatable forest. If the farmers now are hard put to for supplies of White-pine, they have only themselves to thank for the reckless squandering of the noble forests they inherited. (This, however, by the way; the White-pine question in New Zealand is not one of sympathies.)

The position to-day is that a large part of the best and most accessible White-pine is not on demarcatable forest land, and that war conditions afford the best chance of getting this forest worked off at a profit. Let us get this classified or demarcated as quickly as possible. It is for Parliament to decide then whether to hold a portion or all of this timber for butter-boxes, or to let it go to Australia without check.

Certainly, however, the larger half of the existing White-pine is that

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scattered throughout the "mixed" ior.uid which will help to form the future national forests ot the country, clear as and <ie\ eloped as Work through 1 ton by king out the matin. to deVelop. Where ibundant, all the indications -ilvn ultural methods young tn White lv. In ceroloured ■with ds, and one can he bucketful, ii inderi that ordinard from ' That was the conclusion I came to on my tour ts. fu was the uming up again. How best i natural m ol White-p one of of the futuri ..ion. where wanted in to lie

Th.> follow al measures aro called For to meet the present "Whitepine sh

(1) Demarcate and classify the forily what ti al k«

(2) Prepare "workire; plans" for the a ted lore ts, :0 iv to ensure full supplies in the fu arc and time.

Jtart plantation . (mainly of lain the ais pine is not a lass butter-box : imber, but with parafining ii <hies well.

Some of these temporary pine planta•s land thai for n .mi of - are or through errors in stocking, has run to Corse and scrub, such hmd being resti pasture after ii had been cleaned by one rotation of pine-planting.

GROWTH OF N \TIVK TIMBER TREES

This subject has aroused much inThere i idence that i

the New Zealand trees, in their native i . grow some 50 or 7.j per cent. than the European tn their native ind the Eui tree, with this growth give the which we see in Eu i ry. 'L'liii~ the Kingdom ol and, which is un- . New But the N » ide by side and

a colli'! lion of fa Ii i wanted to p introdm : put down £6 plu„ ]!.. bey plant wheri asard and d added to this int on account \ n Zealand quick - introduced part.

There are a nun which tend to tn New Zealand, favour the native trees, but the volinu. grown timber produi i '. u Zeal.iiul native called "ahadi "tolerant" an be closely packetl-in tin the value per acre than per tree! When the Austra-

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and the European Lan b for ie li d, or dj ing for want of light, the Ni land ; besl . th.

a : others pine or dii - Iter <n their native fori ally al land. lut of water ly the ■ e same • ith ■ the native I and th

land ..: oi all a the i say th world, ■ worth early future.

he lupine, or Wl id then ompels for[f it , o Mew '/■ ;nis and the Ponderosa p ell for some . and then hj in into i them have the there (like Gorse in th< open), if they will, hut do not I doubt-

l'ul plantation of almost untried

Thus, when the man in the bat forestry consists in cutdown one tree and plantii and that the uatit owly to be replanted, you can ply i got, aftei 'Demandez de messiei leur metier''—"Ask the in their busim

With all difficult to say which (lass of trees in tli, ad : hut the pick of the world's temand exti a-l ropii al climates will be in of thi , . ( di dwood, Tulip the upright foi to boat. to Australian Redwoi North. Th ided by To think of deng them by little scraps of cost ly and uni in a national sense than ''midsu

FOREST WORKING PLANS

Whenever I men "Working in New Zealand I am misunderstood or asked what I mean. years ago the first Australian ''Working plan'' was drawn up by Mr H. 11. 1. of the Adelaide' Cniversity. It i ached me in the prin .. the recent Forest Com. t*th, West Australia (maps and own). Two points are Ily worthy of your notice in this Woi king-plan.

(lil o an area I o natii -1. .. on tlic Mount Lofty Ran ■ abling parts of N< w id. Thai is not to be di troyed and replanti d ; but worked and improved by sylviculture] methods. As was aptly remarked

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P 11 Forest ' by -Mi | Poole in trained forester from the French national forest Bchi * liny all knew . tin- first thing the forester learns when he takes a course at a forestry school is that forestry begins with the axe. not leed-bed."

d point to notice on alian "Working-plan" When 1 have -aid that every aire planted in the Oolent timber plantations has cost with interest at -A per cent, as much as £65, that statement has been questioned Now. if you look at the plantation '-u show mt; the figures aril by -Mr Corbin in South Auswill see that bis figures are irdinarily near mine! His mean I'll- relet ostly planting than thai <•< tfev .nd.

EIGH COST OK LIVING

ibis is a subject of universal mteiet two potent and patent ■ of dear living, have never been touched on, in all the long ibiect! Much has to be imported; much can only be produced in New .1 at the cost of a heavy protection that tends to make living dearer. There are, however, two necessaries of life, housing and fuel, which are at present vers costly, simply because the country has followed a. makeshift forest I anc' artificially made them costI effect of a mistaken foresl has been to banish timber an! o i distance from populaFirewood will and a in wood prices are now almost prohibitive in the larger towns of New Zealand. In tin forest, on au average, quite half of every tire felled is burnt or left to labs, waste-wood, and

butt. Economical forestry asks for the all the tree. This is one great diff' rence between the economic forests iope (at the back door of the people, so to speak) and the popular British idea- of forest on distant mountain ranges. As an instance, take the hill country round Wellington.

■ at Wellington instead ol dot roved. and scrub have taken the plai ..anted (no one would advocate the whole couni be sheep a B.S weii May . tile ' Blackberry and scrub no one wants anywhere I

If nn it Wellington, lh" want of timber at hand atill. In my report on New Zealand forestry I have framed proposals for (1) a suburban forest at Wellington on the Euroextending from t lie Tinakori road to Johnsonville; tlie extensive mountain forests further afield. The latter proposal will bring (//'■ houfi hold* r "f once, towith some timber for housebuilding. It will open up country (now only the haunt of the wild pig) fuel ior present needs, hj will <_' iv- . population, more timber, abundant firewood scarcem saries of civilised life will be to-day the use of timber and firewood in New Zealand, per head of popula- . perhaps ! of timber and firewood in the United States of America: and this extraordinary position becomes even more striking when it is considered that in America only about half the houses are wood-built.

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SOME POPULAR ASPECTS OF THE SUBJECT.

THE FUEL QUESTION.

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supply o. oal in New Zealand is limited. Public policy demands its economical use, as in Europe (apart from England), while over large areas in New Zealand it is from a distance. That has long been the position at poor sand j soil i grow wattle-fuel from seed and aning supply in three years. that «as icy p. . older neai my firewood free A- a generalisation v that in most extra-tropical and warm temperate - with rainfalls one acre under wood:ion will supply one household, thus 70,000 acn - for the ; tion of Wellington. The tree ted for tin' urning wood, and should reproduce itself freedo most wattles, nearly all gums, New Z ■ ■ nor thi Count Europi

many and id for as petrol gets a little dearer than it is . large y in Japan, a small one in NewZealand), together with chemicals for explosives, charcoal for fine French i -living action on the spot ii porting from the otic Of the world. Both the Federal and I 'cents in An-: laborato: ations. Queensland ied with the work of one institute

at Gympie that it proposes to establish another in the trop

111-l [JRNED SOLDIERS.

-Many will remember one of the best oi Sir Uudyard Kipling's early tales, entitled "Soldiers Three." In the forestry of the hour then' are three points which specially concern our re- ■ are: (.1) Forest demarcation. (/_'i forest redemption, and (•'3) forest development, it these could only be put in hand without further delay, it would mean land and iongenial work in the country for many returned soldiers.

When I came back from my southern tour, I found Australian papers with i what is being done to repatriate the soldiers and develop the country and forests in three 1 lian States—Victoria. New South and South Australia. The Federal Government is advancing the and these th with Forest Departments, and demardready formed, are ar- ■ i 1 ihe money in forest cnent and road-making. The same work has been urged on the New d Government by the 1' ■ ■ for over a year. Yet what has 1 of the war is in siLdit. we may reasonably hop. what preparation has been made for it by demarcating and developing the ii Europe? This forest dement and road-making would aitnuch employment and gradually and more land settlement. No large an area plowable or pi in land ; or such valuabh wood forest to put in order; and for oan New Zealand credit good as that of the Commonwealth of ilia.

BETTER THAN' ORDINARY EMIGRANTS.

strong reasons for making developmen open to of tli" British Empire They . and fought side by side with New Zealanders, to help save this fair land from the grasp of tin- Hun. The New Zealand returned

soldier is at home, and lends to go back to the old avenui oyment. Iritish soldier has been 'doing his bit" for one-third or one-quarter the happier pay of the New Zealand solhe has little in his pockets; he 1" tinging land. li 11 is his making his v. land:-' Offer him, liowet employment ipon in the forests with a heme in n hamle I alloton the lan as tlie Forest development proceeds, and t lie p] one for a man.

I 1) the i: Tn a new no one, (2) The whole net reven with Ni or little aboui £3,< rom all Zealn id is land that never will be he ordinary '■'■ ay i land the reout scl development.

Let us remember, too, that the re turned i k than the average He represents the mil better half ol turned soldier is the nhood of the couni

On tl band, the emigrant too often iv en a fair reillation. i| Ith, alcoholic, or other weaknesses, that throw him hack it ■ and make him think of n new start in a new ry. When 1 was in England before the war. and inquiring into these matters, as a returned colonist natur-

12

ally d«<=, it scorned t( » me tnat tlie stronger nun nsi prizes of the best and brai

ENGLAND, NEW ZEALAND, AND AUSTRALIA I »TRY.

Eng l Lord K on im ch could have been : a no

Let us not for L 917.

.\Y>," /■ aland. li any n< and Profligacy" New Zeal n." All else in thi y » New Zeal inder) is lauda! well •.nay be Bui tin- fatal "wait-and-see land '/., iland dm • up and di • !" of the Dominion. .i_ \vfiUl whal is wanted now is the development bj ■it unoccupied. All tails are to hand in tin- histoi development o mountain

18

Australia.

It". ■ Austi one .1 i T i adt tree Forestrv from responsibl of the 1. ture. I !*■ -o: - ■ ( er in New Zealand, or to the Auditor-General" in

W estrulia has agreed to receive 25,000 British soldiers after the war.

Victoria. when i visited Victoria in 1914, it -had been tne leading Australian State in lores try lor many years previously. V\ hen New South \\ ales jumped ahead shortly afterwards, V ictoria did not remain long in the background. The Press and the public loudly demanded forest reform, and with the farsc change of Government it came. A powerful deputation representing the Forest League and halt a dozen other patriotic societies waited on the Premier and the Minister of Forests two mouths ago. a recent Australian mail brought particulars of the Government’s policy. V ictoria i s to have a Forest Commission and forestry development on much the same lines as New South Wales, road-making, firepaths and “Workingplans. The Government timberseasoning kilns are to be extend- «!• “It is proposed to establish at the chief centres small forest villages, where allotments for cottage, and garden, will be granted to forest workers at low ground rents. I lie employees will be financially assisted in the erection of their homos ”

or rneir homes. 1 , .i(-ven years ago Victoria passed a good * orest Act, established a well-or. gamsod Forest Department, and had 4 million acres of permanent State forest demarcated. In addition there ls :l considerable area of “timber reserves together with forest on Crown Land which is withheld from alienation pending its demarcation or exam, illation by the Forest Department.

- vuicui. Other Australian Mate*. With tl>.' exception of Tasmania, forestry is progressing along similar lines ill the Other Australian States. They hai-e more or less completely organised Forest Departments, with a technica.-ly-irame 1 forester to direct or advise. All are doing forest demarcation South Australia and Victoria practise forest redemption as opportunity offers. Queensland so long the forestry laggard among the States of Continental Australia (p. 291, “Australian Finest rv”> is now ahead of New Zealand. Queensland secured a trained forester of exceptional attainments 3 yens ago. who began fori est demarcations as soon as he took his seat in the Conservator’s chair. Queensland has a For-

I wish there were time now to tell illy what forestry reforms las accomplished since the es as much as during rig .he war I

s Wa New South he said turn when, the timber industry, at a iield in Sydney, passed the resolution: -''The forest i esent a nal tonal £150,000,000, and the necessary a I by an \ lh-' -.'line demanded ervation of a huge irest.

South Wale, forestry pi \ wellloi est Department ; (_'; luting ol 5 million lolutely tnent value, a best land, to be field as "Timber Reserves.' Ilion in res regular surveyinj I - . iio are i interferwords rovicle incidentally to pi'

17

est Department (just reorganised and increased) that is past the enmity stage of the Land* Department: the lamb and the wolf dwell at peace in the, same kraal in that warm country! is a considerable area oi tinnier reserves together with fores! mi Crown Queensland has I Land*, one who, if hj mi an anything, is an enuhuf i iter as '- .1. 11. ( oyne.

FORESTRY FREED FROM POLITICS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Forestry must be freed from party politics in New Zealand. Though 1 was at first doubtful about the necessity for ill my doubts have now vanished. -Ministerial responsibility is the essenco of the Parliamentary gystem, but Ministerial responsibility, like the 'law of supply and demand," does not work in forestry. Une has to wait too long for results. It may easily be 00, 80, or 100 years before a mistake in forestry becomes fully apparent to the public eye. No -Ministry lasts that time!

At the la-: lull session of Parliament, :i - is reported to have promised forestry reforms that would go far to place Ni w Zealand on a level with New South Wale-,, Victoria, West A South Australia —nay. even the United States. Give him popular support and it is certain that those reforms will not he long 'n coming;. And popular sup. port will be forthcoming, yea, one hundredfold, once the forestry League can get it realised what scienti;; estry is doing for other countries! (live the New Zealand Government .. date lor a forest-development loan; and the immigration i and Nature will do the rest. Nature will do more for the forest in New Zealand than in Europe, and the market for timber and firewoi New Zealand.

men in New Zealand who say let fortill after the war! Is it cousistent to conscript wealth for war purposes and yet allow perhaps 1,000 a year of the children's inheritance to slip through vacillating lingers:- ft is the children who will have to shoulder the great burden of

i am convinced that to get forestry outside party politics, with phemeral Governments, and above everything. It is in in the new British scheme of national forestry. It was insisted on by the Governor-General of Australia (a forester of acknowledged eminence) at the recent F\>rest Conference in Perth, West Australia. Let us never forget that leaving national forestry to party politics in England has cost England, some luring th, unaiy charge for imported timber, which tot som< been upwards o yearly.

A MINISTER FOR FORESTS.

There is this striking contrast between New Zealand and all the more advanced Australian States; that, whereas they have applied the war lesson at once and started on a sou: est policy. New Zealand i- allowing the shocking public waste over it foi ests to continue. This Australian forestry that has come forward since the no fitful advance in one State: it is solid progress throughout Australia. Thero has been nothing like it before in Australian history. And yet i, -iili earnest, independent

The appointment of Sir Francis Bell as Minister for Forest* was hailed with satisfaction throughout New Zealand: the more so as it was thought at first that it meant more than it actually did. Newspapers, commenting favourably reached me from quite unexpected quarters. For the first time in New Zealand history, its fine forest has a permanent official voice in the Cabinet. and, as befits the tardy entity of the forest into the councils of the nation, no weak or uncertain voice. Nevertheless a voice is not sufficient. The situation demands a hand equipped with the necessary powers to strike at once. Actually Sir Francis Bell has had forestall authority before, more than a year ago, when he had temporary charge of the Lands , Department during Mr Massey's absence.

The anomalous position of the Minister for Forests now is only too apparent. His first duty is to work the State forests nn f l presene them. But he cannot work the State forests and preserve them without a Forest De. pertinent. He is in the position of an able and-willing workman with all his

THE AUSTRALIAN FOREST LESSON

tools taken away. He may perhaps bo able to answer the prayer of the Forestry League and set his lace liki against further forest destruction. Hut that will mean forest development held up till there is an organised Forest Department. And forest development is particularly urgent now on account of the war, which has brought, not only a very good demand for Now Zealand timber, but returned soldiers ready to work in the Forest Department and to occupy the small farms opened up with forest development.

Kor> st League lias boon largely instrumental in obtaining the appointment of a real Minister lor Fori place of the dummv Commissioner of Forests that has so long figured on the Statute Book, riut a Forest Minister without a Forest Department can only be looked on as a verv temporary makeshift.

Among the 'Aims and objects of the ie," it is stated (p. 4—d): "To secure for distribution at costprice seeds of trees suitable for plant ing in various districts, and to ensure that these shall be true to name and of high germinating power."

Tho president, of the Forestry League, Sir James Wilson, has frequently expressed the wish that the New Zealand Government would estab•>n t fie model of that which has been in successful use in South Africa for many years past. You will be glad to learn that I have just received an official intimation that such a seed-store will be established as soon as accommodation can be found tor it.

15

writing ami talking behind me! The Waipoa work is described m the Government bulletin "Waipoa Forest - ' ami a brief sketch of it igiven in the "New Zealand Journal ot Agriculture for April, 1918. The ani nu'iit ha.s not been made officially but it i> understood that tu\ demarcation has been accepted, gi recommendations lor the future management ol tho forest approved.

I * will double purpose tting reli first-hand for the Government timber plantations ;i mi ol eda to farmer d-store will thus cost the country nothing, neither will it enter into competition with the nurserymen's seed businesses, as would the free distribution of forest seed such as is practised in many countries.

DEMARCATION (.!•' THE BEST KAURI FOREST.

Waipea i- the best Government Kauri forest now loft. Nearly two years ago. Sir Francis Bell authorised my doing the demarcation of this forest. I wished, when I left New Zealand, to leave something more than

Curiously enough, the demarcated area of the Waipoa Kauri forest is almost exactly the same as that of all the Government timber plantations. Not many people will have doubts as to which is most valuable. Kauri timber, or doubtful Larch, or quick-growing Insignis pine. The country has sunk £2,000,000 over the timber plantations; the Waipoa forest has cost the country, what? —the appointment of Sir Francis Bell to the charge of its forestry. What has the Dominion gained by preserving the Waipoa forest? It has gained a yearly net revenue of rather over £lO per acre per year, as soon as the forest is fully stocked and with its age-classes established. With this, too, will come permanent land-set-tlement at the rate of about one family per 75 acres, on logging and forest work, besides the large employment afforded by the timber mills. This calculation takes actual European figures allowing for both the greater value of Kauri timber as compared to European timbers, and for the greater cost of New Zealand labour. Thus the 30,0uu acres of demarcated forest would settle eventually, say in 90 years, about 400 families permanently on the land. Even for the present both profit and employment will be greater if the forest be worked rationallv than if destroyed.

»v* rvu wmu ii ae«.royeu. What has the Dominion lost by preserving the Waipoa forest? With the forest destroyed, the climate is so wet and the land so poor, that, say the farmers, it would have cut up nractically into about 20 or 30 cattle runs of rough, course grazing supporting some 20 or 30 families.

THE WORK OF THE FORESTRY LEAGUE.

Thus the first 2 years' ex forestry League are marked by 3 important points achieved:— (1) The appointment of n. Minister for Forests, giving New Zealand for-

16

for the first tune, a voice iu the Cabinet.

\ Government seed-si

i lie demarcation and »avmg ot tile \- '■•st.

Though New Zealand, in general forestry, lias fallen behind the other ol Australa i • pting Tasmania) since the war started, there Not one ol them has gid a Waipoa Kauri forest or a • d-store. For these two solid achievements New Zealand has to thank Sir Francis lie!! and Sir \\ ilson.

Forest League has prospered. It ts mm in tiie position oi thinking about a paid secretary. The league has begun the issue ot forestry bulletins. It liar Forest ill. such as have been ed du -t year in New South in Victoria, and in We-trulia.

GOVERNMENT HELP FOB THE FOREST LEAGUE

The question of a Government subsidy, or other help, to the Forest League ought certainly to be brought forward. In most civilised countries there is an active forestry propaganda promoted and encouraged by Government, both through the Forest Department and by means of subsidies to forest societies. In Canada and the United States and Spain the forestry propaganda iparticularly active. In Japan the forestry societies are numerous and influential. They are subsidised and used officially by the Goemment. In New Zealand an active Government forestry propaganda is specially needed, because so little is known about the forestry of other countries and what is to be gained by forestry in New Zealand as regards population and national wealth.

The “Touring Club” of France receives full recognition and active support from the French Government. Its

special function is to popularise the tg, and thus promote touring in France.

At present the »\ew Zealand Forest League particularly requires a paid secretary and travelling lecturer. There must be many civil servants retiring, or near tie- age of retirement, who . fulfil such duties with satisfacbenefit to tin- country. Such uii'i naturally help I ue in its knowledge of the

A FOREST PROGRAMME.

I -UL'grst that the Forestry League put forward the following programme against the next meeting of Parliament :

(1) The organisation of a Forest Department, with a technically-trained forester (Conservator of Forests) at the head of it.

r for Forests to be in charge of all forest work and all forest

1,111 and active forest iß'iu. especially roads, with an •heme of forest work and forest holdings for returned soldiers. beme to be open to the soldiers

(4) The first Ntep to take is forest c the organisation for that I panda Department.

ind that a complete Fori Act. must await the drafting of

ittlelus-

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