Forestry, Lands and Survey merger shelved

Press, 28 April 1984, Page 8

Forestry, Lands and Survey merger shelved

PA Wellington Costs of about $4O million have led to shelving of a proposed merger of the Lands and Survey Department and the Forest Service. The Minister of Lands and Forests, Mr Elworthy, said yesterday that he still favoured the merger but probably nothing would be done until the matter was reviewed in September, next year. Asked if opposition to the merger from both departments had stopped the idea, Mr Elworthy said there had been opposition but “eventually what killed it was the costs. “The costs of putting the two departments together... was presented to us as being very high,” he

told NZPA. A report last year from a joint working party of both departments, the State Services Commission and Treasury put the merger cost at $4O million, mainly for office accommodation. Savings would have been about $1.5 million a year. “There was a short-term outlay with doubtful shortterm cash benefits,” Mr Elworthy said. “That was the deciding factor. "We decided to avoid the costs by not merging but trying to achieve the objectives of the merger without the costs.” It was suggested when the merger idea was raised in 1982 that it could lead to the creation of a forestry commission responsible for timber marketing and sales.

Mr Elworthy said there had been some discussion about the structure of the commercial division of the Forest Service. Various options were being considered by the departments and “I think I would be unwise to make any unqualified statements about what is likely to happen.”

He said measures had been taken to achieve closer co-ordination and co-opera-tion between the two departments. "I believe the co-ordina-tion will allow them to use their resources more effectively, thereby lessening the degree of duplication. The enthusiasm for doing this is coming from both departments now. They are seeing quite readily the benefits of closer co-ordination.”