The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1926. DOMINION TIMBER SUPPLIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 141, 16 June 1926, Page 6

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

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1926. DOMINION TIMBER SUPPLIES.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that u>e can do.

"We must grow our own wood within New Zealand or go without," eaid Captain Mclntosh Ellis, Director of Forestry, last night, "for by 1965 the visible domestic supply of softwoods will have been exhausted."' It ie impossible to over-emphasise the importance of this statement; the need for greater forest areas is already urgent, and is becoming increasingly so. For the shortage will become woTld-wide; when our foreets are cut out practically the whole world will be in the same position, and import will be impossible, save at a prohibitive price. The State has already done a good deal to meet the position —more, in proportion to its resources, than any other part of the Empire. But it has not done half enough, and it is essential that at least another 175,000 acres should be planted as fast as the money ie available.

The work already accomplished by the State Forestry Department has demonstrated that, on sound lines, timbergrowing is a very profitable undertaking. For over thirty years the Government has been experimenting in the work of afforesting vacant spaces for the purpose of discovering what methods are best suited to the Dominion and which timbers thrive beet here. An immense amount of valuable data has been collected, and it has been proved that sure and handsome profits are available, provided, as we have already said, that correct and proven methods are adopted. The experiments already made have established beyond dispute that exotic softwoods grow better in this Dominion than in their native habitat; that the trees reach maturity so rapidly that within a comparatively short space of time definite and eubstantial returns may be looked for. The result has been a general realisation of the value of afforestation as a national asset, and so great a disposition to regard afforestation areas as a profitable investment that there has been a greater "boom" in areas intended for silviculture than has occurred in any other part of the world.

Though the State has blazed the trail in this direction, it has not been able, owing ■to lack of funds, to plant a tithe of the areas which are remarkably suited for tree-growing, but are never likely to become profitable if used for other purposes. It seems to us, therefore, that the activities of the State might very usefully be extended by calling in the aid of private capital, and that a double purpose could thus be served. The issue of State guaranteed bonds covering tree planting areas would undoubtedly result in immense sums being subscribed by the general public, and it would also mean a vast influx of capital, for subscriptions in Australia would probably exceed those offered locally.

The funds thus raised would be sufficient to afforest large tracts of idle land, the areas nearest to the centres of Civilisation being taken first. Much of the work is necessarily done during the winter months, and thus the dual purpose would be served of increasing the potential timber eupply and providing work for the unemployed during the annually recurring period of general inactivity. Properly laid out camps with all the essential services would be provided in each area, so that the men would be comfortable and work under as healthy conditions as any other branch of the public eervice.

With the expert guidance of welltrained State Foresters, men who have learned in the school of experience exactly how the work be carried on, and who fully realise the dangers which beset such plantations, and know how they may be minimised, if not avoided, there can be no doubt of the success of the scheme, or of its popularity with the investing public. The Forestry Department can now plant out trees at the remarkably low cost of a pound an acre, this being made possible by the use of seed drills. Maintenance and the annual ploughing of firebreaks add to the cost, but the whole amount is only a fractional part of the value of the trees in, say, thirty years' time. Mr. Mclntosh Ellis, while he disclaimed speaking officially, gave strong approval to such a scheme. We put it forward for the consideration of the Minister and Cabinet, first, as providing a way in which the 175,000 acres, that it is claimed should be planted in the next ten years, may be afforested at no financial cost to the State, and, secondly, as a plan that will go a great distance towards solving the unemployment problem.