The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News,Morning News and The Echo. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1920. THE FORESTRY QUESTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 211, 3 September 1920, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1920. THE FORESTRY QUESTION.

For the eauae that Imeka oa«t««anoe. For the wrong that needs re.oiaianoe, For the future <n the distance, And the good that u>e am 40.

The report which the Director of Forestry lias just submitted to Parliament contains a large, amount of interesting and valuable information, but apart from this it marks a roal epoch in the history of the Dominion in regard to the. utilisation of our natural resources. For tho first time since settlement began in these islands a systematic attempt is to be made to deal with the timber question on comprehensive lines, and while it is still too early to form an opinion as to the prohaMe outcome of Captain Ellis' laboure, it will be generally admitted that the Forestry Report approaches the problems involved in a thoroughly scientific spirit, and opens up prospects of immense benefit to the country in the near future. The principal pointe on which Captain Ellis lays stress—the rapid decline; -of our indigenous timber supplies, the urgent need for replenishing thojn, the necessity for expending larjro sums of money on such purposes, and the certainty that such ex-pcnditure -would prove a most profitable investment for the countryall these facts are indisputable, and thin clear and forciblo statement of the. case of afforestation and reforestation at least encourages the Jiope that now at last something of real importance and value to the country is to be done in the matter of our timber supplies. As to tihe possibility of eupp-lying our requirements in this respect from our own resources, Captain Ellis points out that the syetem of cutting out and clearing bush country hitherto followed here has been wasteful in the extreme. What proportion of the original native bush has been utilised it is clearly impossible to calculate, but experts have expressed a doubt whether the country has ever got the benefit of much more than one-tenth part of the total amount of timber that has been destroyed. Even in the bushes which are now being milled more or less systematically, so Captain Ellis states, only about 25 per cent of the timber cut is actually marketed and used. In this connection the report emphasises etrongly the need for the more economical treatment of our timber supplies, and Captain Ellis even predicts that under a proper eyslem of cutting and conservation, as muoh as 05 per cent of the standing timber could be saved and utilised. But clearly -we cannot meet all our constantly expanding needs by economising out of our rapidly failing supplies, and Captain EUie advocates afforestation and reforestation on a largo scale to meet the circumstances of the situation. Somehow or other we are to develop at least 12,000,000 ucres of forest and keep it in good reproductive condition; and it is hardly necessary to add that this will involve a heavy outlay for a long time to come. 'We are glad to ccc that Captain Ellis' scheme is at tihe outset somewhat experimental in character. That is, it does not commit ■Uβ irrevocably or for any prolonged period of time. It is proposed to borrow and expend the sum of £840,000 within the initial period of five to seven years, lor the purpose of organising and developing our indigenous forests, acquiring native bush for the State, extending fche existing plantations, and encouraging planting by i local bodes and settlers. Judging by the proportions in which this sum is to be divided, we may assume that a conajdera'ble amount of attention is to be given to the cultivation and conservation of our native buffli. Apparently Captain Ellis lias not yet committed 'himself on the vexed question of the rate of reproduction of the kauri and other native timbers; and it must be remembered that even Sir D. Hutchine does not expect to get much in the way of return" from new kauri forests for the next hundred years. (But in any case Captain Mis makes substantial provision for extending plantations and subsidising private enterprise in timber growing,

and it is on the rapid growth of imported trees that we must chiefly depend for a good many yeaTs to come. Naturally the report deals by tho way with some of the worst effects of deforestation —destruction of soil, flooding and silting up of rivers, and failure of the water supply. But tho most urgent feature, of the forestry question just now is certainly the rapid decline of our native timber resources, and thie problem Captain Kllis handles in a manner that at least offers good ground for lope in the near future.