THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1883.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6820, 26 September 1883, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1883.

Though; their.seclusion- has riot been many years really broken, tlie South Seas will be ere long as -busy' a thoroughfare as the Atlantic . or Mediterranean. The Panama Canal will vastly hasten . the ; growth of new countries like our own,* and will infuse new life into older communities like what were.. once '. the" Spanish dependencies—Mexico, Peru, and Chili. A large share of the great trade of the ocean must needs be to our hands here, Kew Zealand standing in the van of Australasian colonies; in the approach from Europe bv the' new and 'direct route; and the question is, how -will we bo about the means of shipbuilding

in the next generation 1 It is well to look to it betimes, for timber will then be scarce* and dear in the world's markets, anil we have now the opportunity of preserving a store to meet our prospective requirements. If we had State forests really saved from devastation, they would stand by our necessities through the coming time. But these State forests are only marked off on paper, and are ravaged like the rest of the woods, by axe and firesticfe, and often the iinere pipelight of a careless wanderer. The woods are disappearing from New Zealand by reason of the needs o!t settlement, and also by uncalled-for, wanton destruction, and now-a-days, too, by the large export of the timber to the great Australian cities which, having used up their own forests and those of Tasmania, now look to other quarters for the supply. As the main exporter of this article, North New Zealand now stands in the same relation to Australia as Canada does to the United States and Europe. It, of course, brings much ' present profit—this timber trade; and if we were discreet enough to have a provision for the future, which should not be used up in the present, all would be well. But no such provision is made, and as the case is, we are burning the candle at both ends—are killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. "Why do we not make this timely provision, which would save our maritime enterprise from being terribly crippled some years hence 1 ? Auckland shipbuilders have already won repute for constructing fast yachts and coasting craft, but shipbuilding on a large j scale has scarcely commenced. Before long it will need to be carried on extensively ; and how then about the timber, when our own stock is giving out fast 1 Where is the import to come from 1 The United States, whose backwoods were once thought measureless and inexhaustible, are now complaining as the Australias are complaining. Canada, who once believed her lumberers' axe by the Saginaw and the Montmorenci, would ring till the " crack of doom," can now forecast the year, not far off, when her resources in this line will come to an end. Yet Canada in the five years before 1876 . exported to England alone timber to the value of twenty-four millions sterling; the value of . grain, her next chief export, being sixteen millions sterling. The same cry is heard from all parts of the world in the present day, because among other reasons the extraordinary spread of commerce and colonisation has so much increased the consumption of timber, and removal of the woods. The startling fact is now witnessed of Melbourne, to supplement her present sources of supply, actually importing timber from Baltic Russia—that is fetching this bulky article almost the length of the world, from St. Petersburgh to Melbourne ! Last year there was a Forestry Congress in Montreal to considers the alarming situation on .the Western,. Continent, and we find that next year a Forestry Exhibition is to be held at Edinburgh. Of course, there are other considerations besides the mercantile one we refer to. Even of still greater importance than that, is the climatic necessity for a sufficiency of woodland. In hot countries, the undue removal of the woods brings visitations of drought, and introduces the desert character in the surface of the earth; while in cooler latitudes it also disorders the system of nature, causing irregularity in the rainfall, and rendering the sea- : sons unseasonable. l In the letters from our special correspondent in Fiji i vwe, are told that, steps , are being taken there to ensure in good time a suitable reservation: of forest; Then, besides the. influence.- oni climate, health, and agriculture, and the necessity to have a permanent timber supply for the needs of a maritime'people, there is a third .consideration—the beauty of the scenery.- • . Scenery indeed!—hereupon .some tremendous utilitarian, 1 i who only believes in what he can transmute into . current coin of the realm, may possibly indulge in a guffaw. But not so fast, good friend, even from your own point of view —in New Zealand at any rate the quality of the, scenery is likely to touch very materially the pocket and the pot. Already visitors ' begin to :.Visit - our « country for- the, sake of the beautiful.scenery, and by-and-by, with the increase of population in the other colonies, and the facilities>of4swift travel from Europe and from India, they , will come in crowds 'here, just as they .now go', to : Switzerland and. to Italy, and v >with.: immense;..profit to* the inhabitants.: : But take a way the crown of the. woods, and where are the,beauties of the landscape ? , Th 6 undulations of hill arid; dale and nverimust iwear the charm of the greenwood if they are to : delight , the. soul of man. V Some day :the matter will be, taken : up, when perhaps it will 1 be too late, and'when there "will be,l crying over what is lost, for to preserve and to restore are very : ' different:tasks. ."A ■bonus' of £4:' to the. acre 'tis ; given;', to ..encourage, plantation; ' but we ■ seefby the last Crown Lands lleport that scarcely .more' than 2000' acres have been planted: and.sown within the' ? last four , years,/.even on the vast plains iof Canterbury;,treeless., and.- exposed— ." the district' of, least rainfall in New Zealand, which would with advantage take, more rain and less;, wind." - It would be well to set our minds on keeping a proper '.share, of wliat we have, instead of trying to replace it when: it is gone. ■ "Never too late to;mend" is ! .not; a, maxim applicable in this case. ,The subject' is neglected session after . there was no occasion for its neglect in the late one;-but it-is now possible to ; do ..much . departmental!}*. At present certain reserves of forest are marked out for the ■•: permanent service of the public, but. neighbour-ing/bushmenhave-really no. reason to suppose that the arrangement has any meaning—is more than a farce. Of course, it. is' ridiculous:: to think vthat the ' reserves .will be': respected.' while there is nothing in the action of the ■■authorities 7 to' indicate that .they are meant to be. Until the perpetrator of mischief is punished when discovered popular co operation cannot be even asked for. ..iThere is much dense ignoj raUce as to the meaning of the forest in the economy of nature, but to dispel this, and enlist the assistance of the people a powerful instrument is ready to hand iu the network of district schools. A few pages in one of the school manuals to show the necessity and the various uses of such reserves would instruct the rising generation, and - moreoveii the new ideas communicated to the children would often reach their elders. If this plan had been

carried out .] State forests would now be proL-.f i by the people. ** J