THE FORESTRY SCHOOLS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 183, 2 May 1934, Page 8

THE FORESTRY SCHOOLS

With the temporary closing of the Canterbury College Forestry School this country will be without any provision for the scientific training of foresters. The merging of the Auckland and the Canterbury schools some time ago was a wise economy, but the closing of the sole remaining training centre will be a national loss, notwithstanding the small number of present and prospective students affected. We may have gone too far and too fast with our grandiose schemes of afforestation, but extensive areas haVe been planted, and the country in consequence is committed to administrative responsibilities in regard to the care of the forests and research work in reference to blights and insect pests. This entails the maintaining of an adequate staff In the earlier stages of the afforestation policy there was a rush' of entrants into the new profession of forestry, with the result that qualified young men now find themselves crowded out. lie temporary suspension of the Canterbury School may therefore be for the best, but it would be unwise to allow the highly important business of afforestation to get into a state of drift. There is now too much at stake, both in State and private forestry enterprises.