FIRES AND TIMBER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13647, 15 January 1908, Page 6

FIRES AND TIMBER.

While the whole of New Zealand is covered with the haze of innumerable bush fires, some of which are doing a large amount of damage, is a good time to ask whether there is any wisdom in the frequently heard proposition to impose such restrictions upon the timber industry as will prevent our forests from being speedily worked out. If the native timber could be conserved there might be some basis for the proposal, but as a matter of fact fires destroy at least as much timber as is marketed. It is as much as we can hope to do to save reserves upon which posterity may see the beauties of our native bush; and even this can only be hoped for if we take extraordinary precautions. As for the forests themselves they would be generally burned away within a generation if they were not worked. If the wilful and careless destruction of timber could be prevented there would be much less need to look with alarm at our disappearing forests. In any case, the timber of the future will be generally grown in plantation, where it can be easily handled and properly protected : and the kauri will be known only as a wonderful and curious survivor from a past age.