FUTURE OF THE KAURI

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21726, 7 March 1936, Page 17

FUTURE OF THE KAURI

*r—commercial possibilities , It has been, said that.if the kauri forests had been economically managed they could to-day pay New Zealand's National Debt Does the kami stiff ’ offer similar possibilities as a regenera* i tive asset? In "Focus” (magazine of the Local Bodies* Officers* Guild) Mr 'K, B. W. • Thomas, LLB., an Auckland horti* culturist, writes: "The ftiture of the kauri is an unknown quantity. Whon* ever a kauri has been milled and the natural growth of ti-tree and other*. shrubs have been allowed to remain, one can see the kauri dfcas soaring upwards. As yet, no commercial attempt has been made at reforestation with the kauri on any scale, but it Is to he hoped , that something win be done before it is too late. The accusation is frequently made that the kauri, as well as other natives, is too slow grow* , Ing, but it may be possible that gtVhn .. suitable conditions, the growth . young trees xhfty.be adequate wi«L; one considers the high ctonxxtqrarc'; value of the timber which would mask it worth while doing so." Mr Thomas adds that "It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the aettiSs*. ment in New Zealand, and Its existence . as a component part with the Britt# . Empire was due in the first instaniae.to i two facts, the presence of which apm-;* > its existence a valuable caanatql >. s«tity^o«to#lMaMlM ■■ oftheland, ll' > kauri and the whale. It wxsalmoal 1 ! entirely dpe to .the visits of the:ftgpM>^ I ships for spfmk amt of the .