'Folly to lock up hill lands’

Press, 8 March 1978, Page 3

'Folly to lock up hill lands’

New Zealand’s high-coun-try land could not be returned to its unmodified state, said the Minister of Lands (Mr V. S. Young) at the annual Marlborough high country field day yesterday. To lock up the high country now, in the belief that by not using it at all it would revert to its former condition, would be an even greater folly than any of the errors of the early settlers, Mr Young said. What was needed was the development of management techniques enabling these areas to be so managed that they could contribute to production in some way. Increased production was possible. At least 10 Government departments and more than twice as many agencies were involved in control or deci-sion-making on land matters, Mr Young said. Given prevailing trends, the number was likely to increase rather than diminish. This reflected New Zealand’s traditional response to immediate needs when deciding about land, Mr Young said.