AFFORESTATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 15

AFFORESTATION.

A PAYABLE PROPOSITION. GROWING TKEES FOR TIMBER. EXAMPLE OF CHRISTCHURCH COUNCIL. The Mayor of Auckland stated at ' the meeting of the Forestry League on Wednesday night that he had, with expert advice, reckoned on a return of f3.000.000 in 40 years from the planting of 1,500.000 trees in Cornvrallis Park, at a cost of from £10,000 to f12,000. A visitor from Christchurch, j who is a practical man and an expert j on the question of afforestation, told a j " Star" reporter that he fancied Mr. Gunson's figures were somewhat optimistic (though he had not gone fully into the statistical side of the matter), i but all the same he was convinced by j the outlook, and by personal practical ; experience, that there was great profit j to be made in the planting of trees for j timber. There was a world shortage of I timber, caused by the ruthless destruc- I tion of forest.?, without any attempt to ' replace them, and this was being made ' more acute by tho growing demand. NET PROFIT £500 AX ACRE. The Christchurch City Council, he said, had shown New Zealand an example of I the profitable financial possibilities of ■ timber-growing. Pinus insignia, planted on sand dunes, partly to prevent drifts and partly for afforestation experiment, was cut some time ago, after 20 years' j growth, with handsome results. For. the purpose of binding the sandy soil, i the trees had been planted as close as sis feet apart. These made few boughs, | and grew to a height of 100 ft and over, good straight " spars," some being Bft and 9ft in girth at the base, and nearly all good milling timber, with but little j waste. These trees wero very readily purchased by sawmillers, and brought an average of £19 6/ each. The "waste"' j was cut up and sold as firewood, and, | after paying all expenses, the Christchurch City Council cleared a profit at the rate of £500 per acre. QUICKER GROWTH IN NORTH. This authority is of opinion that in the Auckland Province the pinus insig- | nis would attain milling maturity in twenty years, as they would grow more quickly here than in the colder conditions of the South. The trees he had referred to were found to have begun to rot at the base, and, taking this pro- j cess to have been going on for some four ' years, it was reasoned that the healthjj life of the pinus insignis in the Canterbury Province was 25 years, at which age it should be cut. No fewer than j 1680 trees per acre should be planted. Usually the trees were planted eight feet apart, but from his observations in regaFd to growth in Canterbury, he j favoured the trees being planted as ' close as six feet apart, as close planting tended to high, straight trunks and few , boughs, which was just what the millers sought for. Of course, in the profit of £500 per acre, the cost of planting and interest thereon for 29 j-ears had not been taken into consideration, but this would not amount to very much, as the land was free in any case, being a Government endowment. j A GREAT OPPORTUNITY. "We have the chance of building up a tremendous timber industry," said this expert. " I am - certain, tliat Australia alone would take £5,000,000 worth annually of soft woods if they could be got from us. They have plenty of hardwood over there, but very little of the softer varieties. When I came out here to settle in Canterbury some 45 years ago, the Government was giving each settler an acre of land for every acre he planted out in trees, but there is no encouragement of this kind now, and ! our forests have become terribly depleted. As for our kauri, it has, almost gone. It would pay the Govern- j ment to build up the timber industry in the interests of the country. One way i would be to pay any person interest on ' the cost of planting out timber trees until they arrived at maturity. There are tremendous possibilities in afforesta- j tion, and it is a«eubject that will well repay study and practical experiment."