The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, May 8, 1948. IS GRASS CROP ENOUGH?

Grey River Argus, 8 May 1948, Page 4

The Grey River Argus SATURDAY, May 8, 1948. IS GRASS CROP ENOUGH?

wool inclined still to rise in price, dairy produce firm, and meat yet showing little sign of decline, the outlook remains satisfactory for those forms of land utilisation. It is, however, a moral certainty that in a very few years those commodities will encounter competition on the overseas market. Britain is going in for mechanised farm-

ing on a continually growing scale, but, while this must augment output in some directions, it may mean a change from the careful land husbandry which small holders have displayed in putting back what they take from the soil. All other peoples meantime hard up for food will produce it at a greater rate as soon as they are able. New' Zealand therefore may yet be obliged to diversify its land products. As it is, the land of the Dominion is largely being robbed of essentials, by cropping mercilessly, by the use of inorganic fertilisers, and by neglect of rotation and spelling. It is time to turn attention to alternative usages. The Government’s guarantee to buy for the next ten years the whole of the phormium tenax —known as flax—at payable prices, reviewed from time to time, ought to induce people to grow more of this increasingly useful commodity. It does comparatively well on the West Coast, and much more is needed for New Zealand’s wool packs, ropes, binder and baling twine. Of course it is not a yearly crop, requiring five years to mature, but with a certain payable price until 1959, planting now upon swampy areas should assure a profit. It has become necessary to plant for a greater crop of softwood timbers. For fifteen years there is going to be a world shortage of these. The market will remain a seller’s market. The Government intends increasing the output of sawn timber, which means inevitably a decrease in the reserve of indigenous trees. There has been _ an argument as to whether the right location for a Forestry School is the Auckland district or the Canterbury district. It would seem that as regards regeneration of native forest, the future lies more with this island than with, t'he other. The climatic conditions and the extent of forested land is very much the greater in this island. Regeneration thus has in the South Island much the better scope, there being in the North no large extent of territory in a virgin state. It is indicated that the step-up in cutting must include a large proportion of the exotic plantations, which as yet are much greater in the North, where the climate suits the pines of the Monterey type to perfection. It transpires that our native timbers are well adapted both for pulp and newsprint. With continuing large -waste of this timber in the milling industry, the pulping industry ought to prosper if costs of production could be regulated to ensure competitive prices. There are suggestions that the Government might enter this industry in the North. Island, but the latest official statement is that market limitations must. be. borne in mind. American mills have ample raw materials, much of it through reafforestation in southern States, and newsprint competition abroad is likely to remain keen. New Zealand newsprint consumption would not absorb more than the output of at, most a couple of large mills. There are at. present two companies manufacturing, one in Otago turning out kraft paper for commercial users at a i satisfactory profit, and the other

at Whakatane, producing board ,to an extent not far short of- the national demand. Competition within a limited Dominion market might be uneconomical meantime were a number of new mills to be launched. In time, however, there is bound to be a greater demand, and it is prudent to be ready for the opportunity it will afford. It is at anyrate confirmed that in themselves newsprint and pulp mills -would be entirely an economic Dominion development, American experts having indicated their intention of reporting to this effect in five months’ time. _ The only drawback, as remarked, is that the export market is not encouraging. On the other diand. should it be evident, that the local market would absorb the output of even one newsprint and one pulp mill, production could proceed economically. The outcry meantime in Britain regarding newsprint shortage is due to the dollar shortage. British newspapers have large interests in Baltic paper mills, but American supplies are also needed, and in the interest alone of political education it is urged that the United States at this critical time should afford the finance for adequate newspaper supplies in Britain. Australia is interested in pulp importing, and it had- been anticipated that a trade might be possible in that direction. It should be eventually, and for that reason exotic plantations are likely to prove more payable in future than hitherto, if there is a better technique. There thus are various indications that land usage should be diversified in New Zealand as far as conditions permit.