PUBLIC OPINION.

Hutt News, Volume 1, Issue 26, 30 March 1928, Page 10

PUBLIC OPINION.

The question of allowing timber to be milled in the beautiful Akatarawa Reserve is still, .exercising Uhe minds of many persons interested in preserving (and not destroying) the few remaining strips of forest lands adjacent to our Empire .City. A further contributor to the "Evening Post" columns, writes as follows: — "Sir, —Many comments have been made in the city regarding the decision of the Water Board to appoint a forester to supervise the reserve at a salary of £'750 per annum. The decision arrived at seems to be a hurried one. The persons who were against the taking over of the area have adopted the attitude of 'I told you so,' and if the Board is incurring sarcastic criticism it can only thank itself. Considering the ratepayers will pay the salary, it is incumbent on the Board to state publicly what the duties of this officer will be and what he is to accomplish. It would be far better to appoint a working forester at a salary of £5/10/- per week and during winter expend the balance in engaging men to do planting. The manner these so-called publicly appointed boards are carrying out their work is making a byword of the much-vaunted name of Democracy, and there are more boards to the acre in New Zealand than any other part of the globe. It would be far better if the City Council spent the £750 in planting their own sordid and bleak hills, which have been a re r proach to New Zealand ever since Wellington was Wellington. It is evident that the Board's jaunt in a motor-car along the roads skirting the reserve has not provided sufficient knowledge to enable them to arrive at a policy, and it is to be trusted that the Board will indulge in a little reflection and defer making soft appointments until the position is a little clearer.—l am, etc., D.H.0."

[Quite apart from any appointments associated with this latest move in the direction of "commercialising" our newly-acquired forest reserve at Akatarawa, it is this journal's solid belief that, to permit any milling rights whatever in this beautiful watershed area would be not only a "daring," but "dangerous" experiment. Here is something for the new Lower Hutt Beautifying Society to exercise a little free discussion upon, when the Easter Gala is concluded.—Ed.]