Army training in State forests

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33520, 29 April 1974, Page 12

Army training in State forests

Sir, —The Forest Service) statement today about Army) activities in State forests! .does not square with the) ! facts. The Conservator of| Forests states that live firing is permitted only up the Eyre River, at Little Malaya. Why then did “The Press” print an Army warning that “poachers” (i.e., ordinary citizens) should keep out of Mount Thomas State Forest during the recent exercise there as they were likely to be shot by Army personnel? Mr Levy also says that Little Malaya is now closed to Army use and is being allowed to “rest! and regenerate.” I recently visited Little Malaya and found freshly-poured concrete linings in what appeared to be machine-gun emplacements in the bush. The cement bags were still lying around amongst all the other distinctive Army garbage. If the area is closed, why is the Army still pouring concrete? Will this concrete also rest and regenerate?—Yours, etc.. OWEN WILKES. Oxford, April 22, 1974. [This letter was referred to the conservator of forests in Christchurch (Mr J. W. Levy) who replies as follows: “The permit to the Army expressly prohibited live firing _in , Mount Thomas. All hunting . permits for the period were cancelled by Forest Service ..and a warning given to the SArmy that nevertheless there icould still be poachers in the ! area. The press statement of '(March 22 expressed the re-

verse of that intended, as it was the lives of the Army not the poachers which could have been endangered. As 1 stated earlier, live firing has been permitted only in Oxford Forest. The name Little Malaya refers to that part of the forest up the Eyre River and this was the context m my earlier letter. A new area designated for Army training in substitution for Little Malaya contains a live firing zone in which necessary concrete structures have been built. All Army activities are specifically authorised and controlled.”]