WATER BOARD CATCHMENT AREA

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 172, 21 April 1928, Page 13

WATER BOARD CATCHMENT AREA

Sir, —I have made a study of the views of your correspondents on the treatment to he offered this endowment, and have visited the forest lands it is proposed to mill. Sir, the absolute lack of vision on the part of the members of the board, who for one moment would consider cutting down the remaining bush for' the paltry royalty to bo ol>tained, is surely a reflection on our present-day democracy.. As I sec it. the policy of the board as outlined in your columns is to appoint a forest officer and staff to superintend the milling of the present forest, the royalty obtained to be spent in paying .the staff, and any surplus to be spent in reafforestation. For a water board this is a most extraordinary procedure. Captain Campbell Walker, Conservator of Forests in 1887, just fifty years ago, reported to the Government about this very land: “That when the bush is cut down not only the streams tend to disappear, but the water carries the fertile soil into the va“eys, and the storm water causes sudden and disastrous floods in the lower valleys." I am convinced that there is the making of a beautiful resort, as well as a first-class water catchment area, in this endowment if properly treated: a place which our children’s chiladren will appreciate, but not if the miller is ato take his toll first. Much more could be written, but the idea of cutting in the remaining forest is too impossible to discuss.—l am, etc., J. NATION. Miramar, April 17.