The Dominion. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1908. THE VALUE OF TREES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 253, 18 July 1908, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1908. THE VALUE OF TREES.

$ — Few people in New Zealand give to trees any deeper thought than Peter Bell could afford for the "primrose by the river's brim." In a country like ours, almost virgin when compared with the older, semi-exhausted lands of the Northern Hemisphere," and. very richly endowed with forests, there might appear to-be little reason for an epidemic of afforestation-fever like'that which is spreading in America, where, owing to the publications of Me. Pinchot, chief of the forestry service, and to the Recent conference of State governors, the waste of natural resources has been taken up ad a question of transcending importance. People here, who forget readily, and re- , membfir rarely—who have almost forgotten Arbor Day, by the way—should consider whether it is not folly to leave un-. used and unconsidered our unexampled opportunities for making that stitch in' time which America forgot, and? is now regretting. In the Lands report, presented to Parliament this week, there are only meagre references to the forest resources of New Zealand, and while we are awaiting the various forestry reports —one of which, by the way, will deal with the unfortunate fact that kauri will not giow south of the 38th degreo of latitude —we may direct attention to the condi- < tion of tilings-created in America by . ruthless deforestation. At the notable congress of governors alluded to above, Mr. Roosevelt awakened the nation with voluminous proofs of the "ominously evident" fact that one natural resources :o? America are ".in the course of rapidexhaustion." More than half the timber of tho country is gone,' and the process f consumption has been hastened by the enormous demand for wood-pulp paper. Tho American ; pulp-mills' alono consume the product of 200,000 acres of spruce forest annually. But the dwindling of the forest assets is being felt in all industrial countries. Australia has hardly any softwoods left, and her hardwpod resources are entirely unequal to tSic demand! In Europe, and to a lesser < extent in Southern Asia, the same condition 01 things prevails. Generally speak- ' ing, our expensive civilisation is eating up the troes far faster than they can be replaced. > It is not as timber alone, however, that trees are so important to the world, Mr. Pinchot, in many recent writings upon the subject, shows that not only is Am- 1 erica within thirty years of the end of her timber resources, but that the deforestation has produced an enormous wasto of 1l .i. The exact relations between trees and climate are not yot tabulated and systematised, but the-known fact is that trees are essential to rainfall. As the forest 3 go, the deserts come. In Ameri- j ca greai tracts of arable land, stretch- j ing from hillsides and river banks, havo i boon deprived of the protecting trees 3 which regulate thq periodic floods of tho rivers. In consequence the lands are < being, swamped : by ■ the overflowing J streams, and the waterways are clogged \ by the soil washed from the land. For- 1 ests are the great bulwarks against erosion, and America, to quote Mr. Pinohot, has allowed ".that great enemy of * agriculture to impoverish and, over liun- j dredg pf squaro miles, to destroy our farms, • Tho Mississippi alone carries j yearly to the sea riiore than 4,000,000,000 c tons of the richestlsoil within its drainage basin. If this soil is worth a dollar j, ;t ton, it is probablo that the total loss of fertility from soil-wash to the farmers c and forest-owners of tho United States is £ not far frpm a. billion dollars a year." ( Nor is this all. For the clogging of tho ( waterways is a very serious dangor. As j Mr. Carnegie put : it at tho conference j of governors: " First, conservation of forests, for no forests, no long navigable j rivers; no rivers, no cheap transporta- o tion." The evil effects of deforestation * show out in unsuspected placcs. Thero is, for example, owing to the dwindling of the coal resources, more urgent need p than ever for reliable sources of water- 11 power.' Mr. Pinchot quotes the case of " the White Mountain watershed, where tho r reduction of " forest cover " has left the water-power in tho New England streams insufficient to run tho mills, and 95 per cent, of the water-power factorios havo had to use steam at certain periods of the ■ year or elso stop running. It is said that watcr-powor is becoming exhausted at the rate of millions of tons annually through tho operations of the wood-cut-ter's axe. To America the problem is a very grave one, since wood, water, coal, iron, and agricultural land are all suffering together. Thcimcro increase in America's consumption of coal during lOO? over 1906 exceeded tho total consumption in 1870, tho Centennial year. Fortunately America as a wholo has c been deeply impressed by Mb Roosevelt's b

declaration that " there is no other question now before tlio nation of equal gravity with t)ie question of the conservation of our natural resources." In courso'of time—and, with an intenser civilisation, at a more rapid rate—what has happened to America will happen to New Zealand unless we get the idea firmly planted in our minds that our forests are not mere masses of raw timber, but the clothing and protection of our lands and rivers. Let us realise now, in good time, what America has realised almost too late, that natural resources are not inexhaustible. Our kauri forests are being eaten up very rapidly, the butter export trade is wiping out the white pine: already Oregon timber comes in in largo quantities, and hardwoods aro imported from Australia. In the Lands report, it is observed that the revenue from all State forest sources will amount to £18,000 . during the coming year, " whilst at the present moderate rate of expenditure at least £24,000 is required for operations." In face of the importance-of forests, this careful noting of a small debit balance of £6000 seems rather absurd, The Government can well devote some real energy to the work of afforestation, and it might with profit furnish Parliament with papers relating to the situation in America, and to the experiments of Australia, such as that of the Victorian Government in connection with its pinus insipnis plantation at Creswick. Begun fifteen years ago on a tract of hungry country, this plantation is an asset now worth from £100 to £200 an acre. "To plant a tree," was one of the trilogy of human duties prescribed by an ancient philosopher, who must have been a shrewder man than he was accounted. It will be a good thing if, whenever he sees a block of bush, the New Zealander will remind himself that it is his duty, in Mr. Roosevelt's words, "so to handle the grcai sources of our prosperity as not to destroy in- advance all hope of the prosperity of our descendants."