OUR 75th. ANNIVERSARY

Grey River Argus, 30 November 1943, Page 3

OUR 75th. ANNIVERSARY

TREES FOR TO-MORROW

(By E. L. Kehoe)

. Two years ago, in 1941, at a meeting of the Greymouth Borough Council, it was stated by one of tne Councillors that sawmillers had taken up with the Honourable Commission of Forests the questions of pushing ahead with the re-afforestation of the West Coast. It was only too well known, he said, to most sawmillers that in fifteen years, more or less, there would be very little standing bush for milling purposes north of Hokitika.

Last week the Greymouth Borough Council considered the report by the Conseiwator of Forests on the future of the Council’s Endowment Reserve at Kaimata. The report stated that of the two areas of bush on the reserve one contained a strip of bush approximately 400,000 board feet of timber, but it was probable, that the removal of that timber would result in slips endangering the railway line. It was suggested therefore that the timber in that area be set aside as a reserve for scenic and protective purposes. The other area contains approximately 250,000 board feet of timber, and it might be possible to exploit this area. The Council it is very pleasing to note decided to take no .action, in the meantime. The word exploit in the report of the Conservator is noteworthy. Let us see what it means: The dictionary gives exploitation as a successful application of industry and skill to any object; unfortunately as applied to the forests of Westland the word has taken on a low and sinister implication, viz. the ruthless use of the bush for immediate monetary gain without due regard to the future of the forest.

This year of grace, 1943, marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of our existence as a Borough and there has been already some desultory discussion in the Council regarding suitable memorials of the event. In the same year of the birth of the Borough, 1868, the House of Representatives canned a motion “That, it is desirable the Government should take steps to ascertain the present condition of the forests of the colony with a view to their better conservation.” Now here is an idea for the Greymouth Borough Council to fittingly recognise our Pearl Anniversary; inaugurate a slogan for Westland. “Trees for to-morrow”—and for a start conserve for all time any Bush Endowments the Council may still control —these to be the beginning of a new provincial outlook towards our remaining forests and their conservation, regeneration and ultimate rehabilitation. Such areas might well be the beginning of .a great Provincial School of Natural Forestry for Westland. There, perhaps. could the foundations be laid for a logical continuance of the .timber trade, if this is to survive. But we must put first things first--we should safeguard our new slender stock-in-trade by careful husbandry. What could be a more fitting memorial to the seventy-five years’ past than that the Greymouth Borough Council give a lead, however small, in the general direction of conservation, swinging away once and for all from the profligate policy of destruction which has obtained since our occupation. At the beginning we were presented with the finest natural erpp' the world has ever known —this crop has been more abused than used and is now at vanishing point. The future of our province still must be in our forests. Our aim should be perpetuate these remnants and help their regeneration by rotational cutting. Milling and forestry can, and should, run in double harness.

If. such a gesture as I have indicated. is made perhaps West Coasters of 1968, twenty-five years hence, wifi have cause to remember with reverence, gratitude and pride the present day occupiers of local body positions. Then the Centennial celebrations of that historic year will not be just drearily noted by defeated inhabitants grimly fighting for existence in a defeated land. No, the celebrants will be citizens of no mean Province—Westland, whose mighty forests will be known as the Long' Green Arm of New' Zealand, where a prosperous and hardy population will live on in harmony and well-being for centuries to come.

Experts in the United States have estimated that another war twentyfive years from now will see that country without wood for another war and America we have thought the most advanced in its forest outlook; in some States, however, there is still ruthless waste. Nevertheless many big timber and paper companies have taken to heart the conservation agitation of the last thirty or forty years, .and follow the fixed oolicies of “farming” trees as crops which (an* be kept coming in year after vear instead of stripping t’.mberlands as miners necessarily strip coal seams or mineral deposits. In that great country during recent years, before the war, there has been some invaluable work done in reforesting denuded timber areas, and spreading the gospel of timber conservation and cultivation. Germans have practised timber conservation for 1000 years. Thereby they have saved their country from ruinous floods, rapid soil erosion, dust bowls and other evils that come from the destruction of a nation s timber.

Can we in Westland, led by our local bodies, exhibit as much prudence as our German foes in a matter like this? Is it too late to create an active conscience and consciousness towards our land? If we can it will be patriotism of the highest order, for our forests constitute one of our Province’s most vital resources. We are using much timber now for war needs, and so are other countries. According to statistics of priority specialists in U.S.A. —-“if the war should last .several years usable wood will be as scarce as aluminium is today.” Nevertheless, trees are a crop —not a mine. They can be grown starting from scratch with only the slightest of human help especially our own native trees —and with the least human hindrance they wiH grow themselves. Only the simplest ingredients make up the formula fo the perpetual growth of trees. They may P be 1 cut selectively, i.e. cut certain trees of desirable size and leave the rest growing—successive cuttings to be made as younger trees reach their growth. Trees assure watershed with consequent power, and lifeThey prevent floods and erosion. Thy are our trees—the people’s trees. No minority* no Qarelcs§ or thoughtless minority should be able to jeopardize our common citizen in terests in our own trees.