WORE TREES THAN SHEEP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 221, 18 September 1930, Page 25

WORE TREES THAN SHEEP.

FORESTRY IN NEW ZEALAND.

SIR' HERBERT .MATTHEWS' VIEWS,

Accompanying .the latest reports issued to bondholders in New Zealand Perpetual Forests, »Ltd., is .an open letter from Sir Herbert Matthews, the well-known. British authority oh Forestry and agricultural'subjects, who epent six weeks in the Dominion last December and January, and , made a full inspection of the company's undertaking. In the course of his report Sir Herbert Matthews 6aye:~ . ■ ''I.wai much impressed-by the great potentialities of the industry, of afforestation. New Zealand is , a wool growing country, but it is interesting to reflect that there are ii6w three times as many trees growing in. the plantations as there are sheep in the Dominion. The growth made by the trees since I was last.there, in 1926, .is incredible. At five and six years of age they are 25ft to'.\3offc high', \yith a circumference of 18 inches at six, inches from the ground, and are remarkably healthy looking: "I was impressed also by the extent and . thoroughness of the''loading on the plantations. I travelled -over several hundred miles of roads, and about two hundred miles of these were private roads on your properties. The importance of these roads is a safety factor which cannot be neglected, as' they enable rapid concentration of men and material, and, aided by the erection of the look-out towers and telephone communications, permit the whole force , of the company's staff to converge on any given point in a short period. The condition of the roade was sur« prisingly good. "Whilst I was in New Zealand I attended several meetings of the directors of the trust: company, which acts on your behalf, and can assure you that the question of the realisation of your plantations to the best; advantage is bein;? taken in hand with energy and with broad vision. I forecast the employment of a large amount of labour when pulp mills and other 'subsidiary industries are established in years to come, and riiy general impressions, as the result of all I eaw and heard, are entirely favourable."