"Destruction Of Native Forest Has Gone Too Far”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28896, 16 May 1959, Page 18

"Destruction Of Native Forest Has Gone Too Far”

“Our society believes that the destruction of indigenous forests has gone too far, too long,” said Mr P. F. H. Rowley, of Amberley, a member of the Canterbury executive of the Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand. Mr Rowley was commenting on a petition to Parliament, drawn up by Miss V. A. Rucroft, of Whakatane, asking tor the protection of the ’last great stands of native bush by legislation. The society fully supported the petition but was not sponsoring it because it already had a similar petition before the Prime Minister (Mr Nash), said Mr Rowley. “We believe that all protection forests should now be preserved absolutely by making the A, B, and C classes .apply rigidly to all remaining stands of native timber,” said Mr Rowley. “Class. A is country that can be clear felled and turned into farmlands. B is country where selected trees can be milled and the rest of the forest allowed to regenerate, and C Is country that should not be touched at all.” Rare Species In addition, the society considered that wherever native forests existed which contained important or rare species of any sort Viey should be preserved. Native forest adjacent to or within reasonable distance of centres of population or of tourist resorts or recreational resorts, should also be preserved for the enjoyment of the people, he said. “The Forest and Bird Protection Society considers that before any permit is given to mill any piece of remaining native bush consideration should be given to the presence of native birds or to the possibility of their restoration to the district. These consideraions should form cogent reasons in making any decision,” said Mr Rowley. “Consideration should also be given to the areas of native bush remaining in the district concerned, and if it appears that the district has already lost too much of its indigenous forest then no permit to mill should be granted. Canterbury and Hawke’s Bay are instances. “The whole, of course, requires that reasonable compensation be

paid to those owners unable to mill timber.”

Mr Rowley said that the State Forest Service was doing a splendid job in overseeing ' n milling of indigenous forests on State land and in research on the destruction of deer and opossums.