PINE PLANTATIONS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 9 June 1945, Page 4

PINE PLANTATIONS

WAIMEA COUNTY'S ASSET 1000 ACRES OF FOREST ON RABBIT ISLAND ESTABLISHMENT OF MILL BEING CONSIDERED The Waimea County Council’s pine plantation on Rabbit Island is now considered to be approaching maturity and the council is investigating .the possibility of establishing its own mill to handle the timber. The matter was discussed at yesterday’s meeting of the council, when a letter was received from the Conservator of Forests,.Nelson, advising that the State Forest Service was not in a position to carry out an assessment of the standing timber in the plantation. A copy of a memorandunr received from the Director of Forestry was enclosed, in which it was stated that the recommendation that the service should carry out an assessment and formulate management proposals for the 1000 acres of County Council forest could not be acceded to. The memorandum continued; “The service cannot advise on such matters of domestic policy as the establishment or non-establishment of a coun-cil-owned sawmill and local body entry into the timber trade. Any local body must make its own decision on such policy matters and then seek the necessary consents and permissions. The securing of prior advice from you as a Government official is a reversal of procedure which would cause grave embarrassment to the Government authority responsible for the issue or withholding of final consents to such activity on the part of a local authority. •“The Waimea County Council should be advised that, with an asset of the magnitude of the forest described, the time is ripe for it to secure independent professional advice in the form of a working plan to be submitted for approval in terms of the original vesting order. Similarly the matter of whether or not the council erects a sawmill and enters the timber trade is primarily a matter for the council’s submission to its legal adviser, to advise whether it has legal powers to expend ratepayers’ moneys in such a fashion.” CHAIRMAN DISAPPOINTED The chairman, Councillor J. Corder, remarked that he was rather disappointed with the reply that had been received from the department, but perhaps the council had been expecting too much. He moved that the County Engineer (Mr W. Bullivant) be asked to bring down a report on the Rabbit Island plantation. The motion was seconded by Councillor L. A. Higgins, who said that the council had a big question to consider when dealing with afforestation. In the Nelson Province the royalty fixed by the Government was 2/- per hundred superficial feet. That was most unreasonable. If the council could not obtain a higher royalty than that it was not going to receive the remuneration it had expected from the plantation. The motion was carried.