TO SAVE FOREST

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 138, 12 June 1936, Page 10

TO SAVE FOREST

ACQUISITION OF LAND

EROSION DANGERS

A DOHIXIOX PKOBLEM

A meeting of local authority representatives, called by the New Zealand Forestry League this morning decided to call on the Minister of Lands and State Forests (the Hon. F. Langstone) this afternoon to urge on him the urgent necessity of having an inventory taken of all watersheds privately held throughout New Zealand with a view to influencing the Government to acquire them. Particular reference was made at the meeting to the cases of the Maymorn Estate and the Waiopeliu Block, the possible denudation of which, it was stated, would affect the water supplies and intensify existing erosion in the Otaki and Hutt Rivers.

Mr. A. L. Hunt (New Zealand Forestry League) presided and there were also present Messrs. A. J. McCurdy (Mayor), and W, Greig (councillor), Upper Hutt Borough; Messrs. F. J, James and A. J. Gearing, Hutt River Board; Mr. A. Scholefield, Mayor of Petone; Mr. J. Ryder, Otaki River Board; Mr. G. A. Monk, Horowhenua County Council; Mr. J. Maher, Mungaroa; Councillor J. Burns, Wellington City Council; and Messrs. F. S. Pope and S. Duncan, New Zealand Forestry League. An apology was received from the Mayor of Wellington (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop). It had always been recognised that in a hilly country like New Zealand, said the chairman, erosion must be closely watched, and his league had frequently made representations to the Government in the past in regard to this question, which was now assuming great national importance. The headwaters of rivers should not be upon private land, as in that case the forest was almost invariably felled. , OUTSTANDING CASES. There were in the Wellington district two outstanding cases in the Maymorn Estate and the Waiopehu Block, the watershed affecting both coasts, said Mr. Hunt. If the Maymorn Estate was felled it would mean more erosion and would affect the security of the city water supply, besides causing more disastrous Hutt River floods. This land had been for sale for years, but recently contracts had been let for the taking of firewood, which would be the beginning of the end as far as the native bush was concerned. It had been decided to ask the Government to shoulder the responsibility. In the case of the Waiopehu Block it was chiefly the Otaki River which was affected. There was already considerable erosion, but if the Waiopehu Block were denuded some of the finest farming lands in the country would be threatened. The area of the Maymorn Estate was 18,741 acres, and that of the Waiopehu Block 9000 acres. The Government had been recommended to buy the whole area years ago. Other countries were paying a tremendous price for felling forests on the high lands in the consequent erosion. In America this had devastated 50,466,000 acres of land. Was there any danger, asked Councillor Greig, of a private company buying some of these lands and felling the timber? Serious losses had been made over years by the owners of each block, said the chairman, and it was unreasonable to suppose that, in order to keep the timber standing, they would continue to be public philanthropists. MATTER FOR GOVERNMENT. | Speaking of Maymorn, Mr. Monk said that Horowhenua had been drawing small revenue from it, but he did not think that the county would object to the acquisition of the land by the State, considering that if the bush were denuded, erosion would have a serious effect on lands nearer Otaki. There was a possibility of some of the bush being milled. The whole matter was .in reality not one for adjacent local bodies, but for the Government. These lands should never have been privately owned. As for the Waiopehu Block, good riverbed lands would be affectcd. The riverbed was now gradually rising above farming lands, which constituted a danger. Mr. Ryder agreed that the land should be taken over by the Governm ftlr. Maher discussed the possibilities of the Maymorn Estate and the rugged nature of the country comprising it, stating that the extent of milling timber was small, and much of the country inaccessible. The opinion of his district, saicl Mr. McCurdy, was that the bush should be preserved in the interests of the water supply, and to prevent further erosion. One of the chief objects in visiting the Minister, said the chairman, was to stress the position over the whole of New Zealand, with the object of inducing the Government to tackle the ' question as a national one. Unless the deer were got rid of the forests on the high country, particularly in the South Island, and in such fine scenic districts as the West Coast sounds and fiords, were doomed. On the chairman's motion the action indicated above was dccided upon.