More Exotic Forest Areas Might Stabilise Economy

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29206, 17 May 1960, Page 7

More Exotic Forest Areas Might Stabilise Economy

(Aew Zealand Prase AseoetaNmu

ROTORUA, May 16. Forest products earn more in export income each year from each acre than do farm products. The highest agricultural export earner, dairy produce, brings in an approximate national average of £2O an acre while the highest of the forest products, newsprint, returns £l3O from the same area in the same, period. This information was given by the Conservator of Forests,

Rotorua (Mr A P. Thomson) during an address to the third annual tree school held under the auspices of the Adult Education Council, University of Auckland, in Rotorua last weekend.

The figures he had given, said Mr Thomson, made a strong case for greater areas in exotic forest, not only from the point of view of export earnings but from the national economy aspect.

The wealth of the country had come from its agriculture, said Mr Thomson, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that there was insecurity in the future of agricultural products. In a recent address. Sir David Copland had spoken of the vulnerability of future overseas

markets, and had made a plea for industries based on the forests of New Zealand.

At the present time there was a glut in timber supplies, brought about mainly because such large areas were planted during the same period. He did not think, however, that the position would last for long and by the turn of the century, when the population of New Zealand had doubled, there could be a shortage, said Mr Thomson. New Areas By planting new areas now, the position could be maintained. A very broad view should be

taken and neither farmers nor foresters should be partisan.

It was possible that some of the land at present under forest could well go bark to farmland, and land serving agricultural purposes should revert to forest, he said.

Some of the exotic forest areas had became forests by accident. Because land was not required for fanning, it had been put into forest However, that particular land was not always best suited for that use.

This raised .the question of water and soil conservation, said Mr Thomson. Forests were essential for that purpose, and it was the existence of forests, both native and exotic, which made farming possible. “We should review our whole concept of land utilisation,” said Mr Thomson.

He said much of the undeveloped scrub land of the Bay of Plenty was scheduled, or tentatively scheduled, for development into farm land. However, before the work was done, he urged that its potential value should be weighed. It was possible that the land was better suited for forest, and its use for that purpose might be balanced by the reversion of some existing forest to farmland. "Each acre of land should be used for that to which it is best suited,” Mr' Thomson added.