PLANNED FORESTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 154, 1 July 1937, Page 6

PLANNED FORESTRY.

Though it has been in existence for forty years, the Forestry Department has never had the opportunity to develop a policy adequate to the requirements of the Dominion, either from the point of view of conservation of existing forests, planting new areas, or preventing soil erosion. The Department has been consistently starved, and though it has done excellent work its financial limitations have been such that so far from looking to the future, present needs could not be served. There is definite promise of a change in the outlook, for the Minister in charge of the Department, the Hon. F. Langstone, has announced that he is considering a long-term afforestation plan. His idea is to employ sustenance men in full-time employment in tree planting, and thus to create an asset which will enable a future generation to pay off some of the liabilities created to-day. The plan, if put into operation quickly, and upon sound lines, will do much more than that. It will prevent floods, by clothing the headwaters of streams I with a forest covering which will check sudden freshets, it will help to exterminate noxious weeds in deteriorated areas, and by providing an opportunity for doing first things first it will lead to orderly progress instead of the present haphazard system. If Mr. Langstone, besides doing this, can put sustenance men into steady and continuous employment, he will earn and will deserve the goodwill of everybody.