PROFITS FROM RANGES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 167, 14 July 1916, Page 4

PROFITS FROM RANGES.

■ In a very interesting article by an authority on the eubject which we publish to-day, the decision of the City Council to plant native trees on the catchment area of the water supply ie subjected to some very damaging criti cism. The decision of the City Council seems to ue to be a reflection of popular J indifference to the important question of afforestation, but the clear proof that our contributor supplies of the loss involved in the (.pun cil's action should arouse interest in the subject. He estimates that if timber trees that come to early maturity are planted, thirty-five years hence the timber will be worth £300,000, apparently as it etande, and that the profit on the work will be £161,000, whereas if "native trees and other evergreen shrubs" are planted, as proposed, the cost of planting will be very much greater, and there will be no return from timber. Altogether the loss to the community from the plan of the City Council, not reckoning the retail value of the timber and the work ite handling -would provide, would be £360,000. If the supporters of the idea of planting native trees can challenge these figures they should do so; if not, they ehould reverse the decision. For the primary purpose of the planting, the protection of toe ground, profitable trees are just as good as native trees. The truth IB that local bodies, like the public, do not realise .'how profitable afforestation can be made. Conservation of catchment-areas by tree-planting is a stop in the right direction, but there is no reason at all why it should not be combined with profit. In this case; which no doubt has been passed by in the - reports of the City Council proceedings by the average man as only an uninter- : eating detail, hundreds of' thousands of pounds' are .involved. All that is needed to prevent this .potential loss is the ■ of the. caeUj-ecceeeUe- know- ■

ledge and experience of many countries. Those -vrfio 'have studied the subject will not be surprised at these ..estimates, which <we are sure are on the coneeirvative eide. Thirty years hence . there may be such a famine in timber in New: Zealand that standing timber will bo worth much more than two shillings a hundred feet. That the City Council should have come to-such a decision is another proof of the need for a campaign in New Zealand to educate public bodies and the people generally as to the value and necessity of afforestation. This question of tree-planting on the catchment area is comparatively a minor matter, being part of the. whole great question of national afforestation. j