FORESTRY.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16947, 23 September 1920, Page 9

FORESTRY.

BIG SCHEMES AHEAD,

ior well over an hour on Monday night the members of the Wellington Central Progress League listened with interest, to a colloquial dissertation by Captain Ellis, Director of 3'crests, on a subject which has of late been engrossing tho attention cf n very large section of the community.

'"Inside of a generation." said Captain Ellis, "\vn will be up against it in New Zealand as far as timber supplies arc concerned." lie thought the policy regarding forestry outlined by the Hon. Sir Francis Jieli was sound. It was necessary to secure protection areas in Canterbury and Otago. but not sufficient attention was paid to that matter. Catchment areas, he also urged, should not be denuded of bush, and they should also insist that no timber should bo taken off land which was no good for growing anything but weeds. He contended that trVo greatest- waste of timber had been through irregular, ill-controlled cutting, and it was in that respect that they had to seek for reform. They had in New Zealand about thirty-live years' supply of timber, an'd they were replacing that by loO'O acres a year. That meant -that if tho Government did not adopt a definite policy, the forests would very soon be denuded. To supply the requirements they had to have 12,000,000 acres of land under forest, and tjie land necessary for tho purpose should be acquired before it was too late, becauso it took only a little while to destroy timber, but it took many years to grow timber.

Colonel -Mitchell: Aro our timbers suitablo for the development of the paper supply ? Captain Ellis: That is a case for demonstration. Tho advanco made_ in tbo technique of tho pulp industry is such that thev can use almost anything that has wood tissue.

Mr Stuart Wikson: I understand you to say that our handling of the timber supply is wasteful in the extreme? Captain Ellis: "Plain rotten." (Laughter.) They should, ho added, get tho non-agricultural lands under the control of tho Forestry Department, and that could only bo done by public support. He had an area mapped out that would lie sufficient for future contingencies. The Hon. Sir Francis Bell had announced a policy of afforestation, but the. speaker wanted to include in tho scheme all land that was not suitable for agriculture, and to encourage tree-planting by tho private individual and by local bodies. Neither scheme would cost the State very much.; but that po.licy should be laid down under a forest law. He hoped the new legislation would he jn force this year or next year. A Development Fund, would bo required, and he had suggested £800,000, to be expended over a period of a few years. Then there must be a State Forestry School. He understood that a sum would be put on tho SuppleI mentary Estimates for tho initiation of tho scheme, which included tho formation of a Chair of Forestry at on© of tho TJniveristies. Ho considered that if the scheme was carried out according to his ideas in twenty-five years the Dominion would be self-supporting from i tho timber point of view. In answer to Mr "W. H. Field, M.P., Captain Ellis said they had a million acres of dedicated forest land in the Wellington including Hawke's Bay and Taranaki. There should be 3,000.000 acres. One of tho points to be considered was tho planting of sand dunes; that could be carried out in conjunction with the local bodies. Mr Field remarked that the best example they had of what could bo grown on the sand dunes could bo seen near Foxton. .