'Save What We Have'

Northern Advocate, 17 June 1947, Page 3

'Save What We Have'

Dr Archey pointed out that of the 39,000-acre forest area, only 29.01 K were in standing bush. Five thousand acres of heavy kauri and 5000 acres of lighter and scattered kauri were to be found in the whole area.

Those who had studied the rise and fall of any form of life knew that it the numbers fell below a certain mark, regeneration could not take place.

The minimum number of acres needed for kauri regeneration was unknown.

“We have only 50-00 acres of heavy kauri and 5000 acres of scattered kauri. Surely in our present state of ignorance our only wise, safe and sound policy would be to save what v/e have,” he said.

Referring to the large area of heath land bordering the forest, anc’ the plantation of exotics established by the State Fcrcst Service near its headquarters in the forest, he mentioned the need for constant supervision against the fire hazard. Pine seeds were being wafted into Waipoua every autumn and the operations of the departmental officers whe were making clearings in the forest were just what was needed to give the

pine seeds an opportunity of establishing themselves. The pine plantation was a potentiial menace and should be removed, am' this fact was justification for the request that control of the forest should be removed from the State Forest Sc;-, vice.

Waipoua was not the only kauri forest in existence, but the-departmen-tal policy was aimed at converting nature’s wasteful and sporadic distribution to a more abundant uniformity. The policy was not to preserve the forest intact but to modify it to a more productive plantation, he concluded.

Mr McGregor, after pointing out that if Waipoua was declared a national park it would not be allowed to become derelict, dealt briefly with New Zealand’s timber requirements.

He said that the Dominion's annual consumption was 400,000,000 board feet and this figure was likely to increase. In Waipoua there were about 100,000,000 board feet of kauri.

“If we took the whole of Waipoua to sacrifice it for our economic needs, it would not be sufficient to meet one year's demand and it could not alleviate the present position,” he said.