NEARLY EXHAUSTED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 423, 14 June 1922, Page 6

NEARLY EXHAUSTED.

DOMINION'S TIMBER SUPPLY

Mr "Will Lawson, organiser of the Now Zealand Forestry League, spoke to the Palmerston North Lunch Club yesterday on the subject of forestry as t'iewed from a purely commercial standpoint. In the cour.se of his address, Mr Lawson stressed the imperative necessity for perpetuating the timber supply in this land. In the Dominion, he said, there are eleven million acres under bush, this representing 14 per cent, of the total area, though it had to he admitted that perhaps half of the area mentioned as bush was really scrub. In 1840 the proportion was 45 per cent. In 1950 there would be no timber unless afforestation was undertaken now. Local bodies had done a certain amount of planting, but the farmer had to have the advantages made clear to him. The value of shelter trees was not fully appreciated, said Mr Lawson. A belt a chain wide protected an area five times wider than the area of the tree'-, while a single belt took little more room than a fence. The question of the profitable returns to be made from areas of milling timber was dealt with at length by Mr Lawson. who was accorded a hearty t'ote of thanks.