TIMBER SUPPLIES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 167, 12 July 1918, Page 2

TIMBER SUPPLIES.

THE NEED OF THE FUTURE.

CONSERVATION ANGD REAFFORESTATION.

According to latest, advices>t)fe> Qcsyernment, with a view to conserving supplies of white pine for internal use, has instructed Commissioners of 'Crown Lands that future sales' of white pine shall be conditional on its use for ~New Zealand requirements only, and not for export, whilst mining wardens hav<» been requested to deal with areas l of this timber under their control similarly, states the New Zealand Times. In ii, Ministerial reply to Mr W. H ; . Field. M.P., the Premier states .that for the past three years, with a view to providing for those indufertiriee requiring box timber, pinus insi'gnis has been largely planted in the North, and South Islands. Popkvrs and willows are also being planted and some cuttings of specially quick-growing varieties of the. former have been imported from Europe. All this will be good hew« -to dairymen,, fruitgrowers, and others for whom white pine is a vital necessity. The iposition particularly affects the dairy companies, for, after all, they are the people who use most of the white pine, and for whom supplies of a timber which will not convey any tain/, to their produce is* of paramountimportance. It has been estimated that at the present rate of consumption, both for local requirements anid export, the New Zealand forests contain not more than ten years' supply of

white pine. Now it is ho doubt correct that considerable areas have been [planted- with pinus insignis in» both North and South Islands, but apart from what (the State is doing, we fear that a very small proportion of trees are being planted by private individuals' under those conditions which forestry experts have demonstrated will alone producetimber of a commercial. quality. Tbv ; particularly refers to pinus iusignie, which produces a good box timber if: the trees are grown close together so as to prevent the growth of side branches, and at the same time gives the 'long straight trunks, free from knots which are so desirable from the . sawmillers' and the boxmakers' points of view. It is a quick growing timber and will from properly planted forests, marketable case timber in from 20 to 25 years from the seed. But the dairy factory, particularly _ cheese crates, requires a big tree in order that the end of the cases' may be cut from one solid! piece of wood. Butter boxes and, above all, fruit cases can be made from narrower timber than the ends of 'cheese crates 1 . Wo mention this to show that the newlyplanted areas will have v to produce something more than saplings of ten or twelve inches 1 in diameter before they cam be of much use to the dairy companies, and even the quickest growing trees cannot give these dimensions oh Biich land as would be taken for forestry purposes in a few years. _ For years there has been a terrible' waste and useless destruction of timber iii« New Zealand, and if we are not to pay the penalty in an actual shortage of such varieties as the white pine; not to speak of the oftier evils which follow in the train of reckless deforestation, then a national system of replanting the denuded ' areas will have , to speedily be undertaken. The great fire such; as that whi.rh swept the Waimarino county last March, would destroy more timber than all "the artificialy planted forests in New. Zealand, Stateowned and private as well. ■ What we have done in the matter of reafforestation up to the present is only a fleabite, a j3ro|p in the bucket' audi the scheme will have ito be much bigger before it will have any appreciable effect in checfting the threatened timber famine of the future. . It'.'cannot be urgeoi too, often that a properly planted forest from which the timber is cut on proper lines, js» *a sound business investment for; any country. This has been abundantly proved in/ the older countries' of the world, as well ak in Australia and' America. The forestry service of the last-named country is a magnificent one, and recognise ing the folly of an unrestricted destruction of the natural forests, the United States Government has not only planted extensively, but ha® spent large suiris on repurchasing great blocks of forestland in 'order that their resources-may not be destroyed in the reckless way : which characterises the operations of • the timber contractor, the world over, but rather that the State forests may ( bo made to yield their anniual crop of , manke'table timber year by year, new i plantings constantly coming to ma- : turity to fill the gaps created by the | demands of the present day. Sooner |or later this plan- wilt have to foe i adopted in New Zealand, as it has • been in other countries, as part of a big national scheme, and the sooner it is taken in hand the better it will be for all concerned.

Evea if our white pine supplies are conserved in every way there will .come a time when this timber will be difficult if not impossible to obtain 1 , for our cheese crates and butter boxes. The dairying industry is going- to be a much bigger thing' than it is to-day, ■ and the demand for suitablfe box tiin- ! bers-will.naturally grow with it. Already some of the people interested are talking of eking out the supply by means of a species of three-ply, bound cheese (orate, something after the style of that us'ed iii Australia. When we see. that the- .'big co-operative box companyi at Eltham, which makes the crates and butter-boxes for T-rac-tically all the dairy .companies of Taranaki, requires some feet white pine in order to cope with tho orders for one season, it gives', an idea of the demand- which is behjjg made each year on our splendid native forests. :But the end is in sight, and in the future we will have to aid nature if the threatened timber famine is to be averted.