Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1918. AFFORESTATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 115, 21 May 1918, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1918. AFFORESTATION IN NEW ZEALAND.

THE awakening interest throughout i 1 the Dominion in afforestation is a ; healthy sign. At the recent meeting in Nelson, the very large attendance may be taken as an indication that this district is keenly alive to the importance of the subject, and it is satisfactory to record that it is intended to go on with thf> proposal to form a league here. There is great scope/ for afforestation in Nelson, where in the | years to come the fruit industry alone \ will call for immense eupplies of timber j which can be very well grqwn in the . district. This is a matter which might j well receive the earnest attention t of the City Council. The city is the | jjwner of extensive reserves which could be planted with trees to supply future demands for fruit cases, and there is no reason why in time to come Nelson should not be in the same position, as some Scandinavian towns and by reason of the revenue derived from its timber . i-eserves be practically rate-free. There J are tremendous possibilities before Nelson if afforestation is earnestly taken up by the City Council.' In a publication of the New Zealand Forestry League' it is pointed out. that, unless our forests are conserved, the large i number hi hands now employed at timber-milling in New Zealand will in- j evitably be thrown out of work. On j the other hand, however, if a proper j system of afforestation were adopted, each hundred acres of forest, on the average, would give employment, year in and year out, to one man, so that scientific forestry, thoroughly carried out throughout the Dominion, would , not merely provide permanent employment for "all" now engaged in our tim- | ber-milling industry, but a larger number of men.would be employed by main I taining forests ou our poorer lands than J if such lands were used as sheep rjuns. | A further consideration, which ought to j carry no little weight, is that, with a I Forestry Department in active opera- { tion, a very lai-ge number of men returning from the war could be pro- j perly and suitably employed on such woi-ks . New Zealand, it is shown, is . already paying over half a million ster- j ling per annum (or £1383 a day) for j imported timber, which could easily be j grown in the country, and in ite growth and utilisation would support a _ large i and healthy population ; whereas, if the j work of afforestation is not taken up with energy and efficiency, the Domin- j' ion must become more and more der.en- j dent upon distant and costly supplies. I A strong plea is made by Sir James Wilson, President of the New Zealand Forestry League, on behalf of our noblest tree, the kauri pine. "I think," j he writes, "it is acknowledged l by nearly { every person who knows' the kauri forest, that the kauri timber is the finest timber in the world';" and he points out that while Mr.D. E. Hutchins, of the Indian and South African Forest Services, had formerly "always looked upon the redwood tree as ithe finest timber," "he now acknowledges { by his experience of what he has seen of the kauri that the kauri is superior." "If therefore," adds Sir James Wilson, "we can retain for New Zealand a kauri forest sufficient for our own purposes and for export, the Forestry League will foe doing an immense benefit to the future of New Zealand, I may say that Mr Hutching • lays great stress upon this point, that if we vigorously conserve the present kauri forests which we Tiave, perhaps j with the addition of some poor scrub j land adjoining, which "might Have to be re-purchased by the Crown, we can lay up 500,000 acres of land suitable for kauri growth, and in a few years j w«> should not only be able to pay all

costs in connection with the timber, but We should be able to add a handsome J amount to the finances of the country as time goes on."