OUR TIMBER INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 189, 12 August 1925, Page 18

OUR TIMBER INDUSTRY.

TO THE SONG OF THE AXE.

**»lOAZ. «U«H TOWHgHXF.

HEART OF THE KIXG COUXTRV

(Specially Written for the "Star.")

Xew Zealand's liutivp. bush ha» a glory all its own, a beauty ami grandeur which weaye spells of enchantment Tound the very eoul of the wanderer In the "Xe\er again, out back." Nowhere are those spells more potent than in the heart of the King Country. Within the last decade "Ichabod" has been written over many vistas of wondrou.-: bcuuty. The glory has departed "to the song ri the axe." In many cases it has been ruthless destruction for no apparent object or reason. On the other hind, borne of the most magnificent bush has Wn rlr»arod in order that homes might fee supplied to the p"ople. as well as to enable lands to lie brouglit into a ctate of cultivation ami productivity, often, pad to say, in complete forgetfulness of the fart that the forest crop is the most payable one that the land will ever parry. Hence it i* that one lies to travel far nowndny.n to get back into tho heart of the bush. Plant a Tree. For many years the slogan on Arbour Day was "Plant a tree: plant a tree." Then, as with other good intentions, a slackness canie and planting "topped. .Instead of tree-planting it was a eaao of cut and slash. Soon most of our. beautiful forests commenced to disappear. No trees were planted to replace the giantof the forest so ruthlessly slain. Men were thus compelled to jro further afield in search of timber. Ever-increasing areas were denuded by the axe of the bush-feller. Where magnificent specimens of giant trees once etood, the plough turned the furrow, and sheep and cattle came to graze on grassy slopes. It was one of the signs of the times — progress. Btitterfat was needed, and j butterfat, wool and meat must be had. Further and *till further from civilisation men went searching for timber. They wore followed in their tracks by the cultivator—the bush farmer. Year after year this went on, but few eeemed to give a thought to the future of the timber industry. Then once a«ain the public conscience was aroused. There •was a shortage of timber; it would he greater in the future; something must lie done. And bo the Government took * hand and private enterprise helped. To-day thousands upon thousands •if acres of our waste lands have hor-n •and are being planted with trees which in ten, fifteen, or twenty years will mature into profit. But not all of our beautiful bush was allowed to be sacrificed for commercial purposes. Certain portions were constituted foresr. reeerves. It would have been a pity if this had not been the case. But even now some of the best of our forests "away out back" arc being felled.. An endeavour will be made to tell the story of the bush and the battle with the forces of nature which daily takes place in the course of which men take their lives.in their hands every moment. Magnificent Green Virgin Bush. Tt Was while the special representative of the "Star" was traversing the King Country that some of the glory of the native bush was made manifest. Many Jnilea from Auckland and Hamilfon had to be travelled on the "Main Trunk" before the real bush wae approached. For Jniles and mile« and more miles the same scenes of cultivation, hill and dale. 7nountain torrent and stream, tussockland, tutu and fern country met the ey«j in every direction. And then the bush— the magnificent Virgin bush—whose treetops seemed to touch the very sky. It was such a delightful change, and a ■welcome one, too. Up a hill, round a curve, and before one realised it, the train had pulled tip in a real typical backblocks' bueh township. On the Edge of the Clearing. The whirring of saws, the loud hum of the planers, the puff-puff of the mill engine, the tiny shrill blast of the bush locomotive, and the call of one logman to the other, contributed to a scene of animation as the goods train began to disgorge its "inward" freight and passengers. Presently a blaet more shrill than any other yet heard rent the air, Jt was knock-oft" hour, and a silliness, startling in its suddenness, succeeded the bustle of a moment before. The day's work was over, and man )iad gone to hie well-earned meal. Night fell quickly. Lights shone out in the windows of the shacks, wharos and nouses. The mill township appeared to be deserted. Soon, very soon, the homely lights began to disappear. The mill town was going to sleep. A night owl hooted somewhero amonget the gaunt skeletons of dead trees, not worth the felling, the last, light flickered out, and one of the largest bush township* in New Zealand had gone to sleep on the edge of the clearing. : The Early Morning Breakfast. "Come on,- : get up; breakfafife is on," and with .'i violent push the sleeper wa* n wakened' by "Cookie" at the cookhouee. "What on earth is Mie time" It was pitch ; dark. After the. long and somewhat'tiresome journey of theday before <5t seemed as if one had only been in bed a few j.njoments. "IJalf-riast five," answeTed "Cookie," with a grin, "we get -;iip early jn. the bush,, you' know," he added, with a laugh. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the situation And so did those rough- big-hearted men of the hush when the "Townie" pulled into ; hreakiast. Deepitc the early hour these .men were full of life and vigour, and induged in real spontaneous, hearty laughter and good-natured chaff. And they took.-jitat- as good as they gave, too. . T . he 7 wpreji jolly, care-free lot, eating ?-\ f t U ? , ? f g00(l wholesome food with which the long tables were spread : A blast of the.whistle at the mill, and one and all trudged out to commence the day's work Ayy but the "StarV special. ; He went into the kitchen to have a varu .*° Cookie.' , It was bitterly cold on that early frosty morning in that Main : Trunk bush township, 2000 ft above sea- , level. -