Hearing on Okarito logging row

Press, 24 February 1977, Page 2

Hearing on Okarito logging row

Wellington reporter

A dispute between the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society cm the one hand, and the Forest Service and Paynters Sawmills, Ltd, about the felling of logs close to the Okarito Lagoon, will now go to Court. The society issued a writ against the company in May, to restrain it from lagging within one mile of the edge of the lagoon. The Crown became second respondent, involving the Forest Service. The hearing for this action will take place on March 29 in the Supreme Court at Christchurch, with an initial hearing set down for March 15, when the respondents will question the society’s standing in the matter. The writ was filed in May last year, but as late as August the society was satisfied that Paynters were not logging within about a mile from the edge of the lagoon. On December 6, the society discovered that Paynters were logging along a road parallel with the Okarito River and, in its opinion, well within a mile of the lagoon. The society also found that a road had been driven into a second logging area, again well within a mile of the lagoon. Urgency was then sought, and in an affidavit on February 9 the society’s national conservation officer (Mr D. G. Collingwood) asked the Supreme Court in Christchurch to proceed without delay. I