NEW ZEALAND FORESTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20075, 12 October 1928, Page 19

NEW ZEALAND FORESTS.

INCREASE IN PLANTATIONS.

WORK OF THE PAST YEAR.

OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE.

Tho annual report of tho New (Zealand State Forest Service for the year ending March 31, 1928, issued by the Director of Forestry, Mr E. Phillips Turner, makes very interesting reading. In his introduction the direccor says: "Tho past year's work shows a remarkable increase in the area planted ( approximately 35,000 acres of now plantations have been created, which constitutes a record in this respect, and brings the total area of State-owned exotic forest plantations to 133,997 acres, exclusive of areas forested by direct formation methods, which for the year aggregate 2600 acres. "The revised afforestation programme for 1928-29 provides for tho establishment of at least 54,000 acres of new plantation, and tho direct seeding formation by power drilling, spot-sowing, etc., of an additional 13,000 acres. " It is expected that forestry work will necessitate the employment of approximately 1500 men during the winter months which labour will bo scattered fairly evenly all over New Zealand. Tho permanent staff in 1923 totalled 110, temporary officers numbered 34, while the ordinary labourers numbered about 140 Q. Large and Rapid Increase. "Tho total area of State forests, provisional State forests, etc., under the control of tho department at tho end of the year was 7,708,489 acres, showing a net increase for the year 81,545 acres. It will be seen, therefore, that the operations of tho Forest Service are on a large and rapidly increasing scale, control being exercised over an area as extensive as one of our largest provinces and representing a value of many millions of pounds. It is somewhat to be regretted that the report deals so meagrely with the work carried on in regenerating and improving New Zealand's indigenous forests, which have produced so much wealth in the past, and which, in the past, have been so ruthlessly treated. The indigenous forests which are now under control of the Forest Service must aggregate some millions of acres, and are of great importance in many ways. It may be taken for granted that the greatest proportion of this forest is growing on high and broken country which cannot be used for agricultural purposes, but which, nevertheless, exercises a considerable influence on agriculture because it affects the climate of adjacent districts, regulates to some extent the rainfall, and certainly plays a great part in conserving tho rainfall, preventing sudden Hoods, and maintaining tho even flow of rivers, creeks and springs. Waste and Restoration. It was expected that work on a large scale would be done to assist tho growth of many of our more valuable native trees and to* help nature to restore as far as possible what man has in many cases wantonly destroyed. People with extensive experience of New Zealand forests know that even in those which have been cut ovei for timber, and evert in those through which fires have ravaged there aro myriads of sturdy seedlings, and in many cases vast r|uantities of trees which range from a few inches in diameter to two or more feet. This seems to particularly apply to the kauri, one of our most valuable timbers, and it appears to the ordinary observer that in such cases time and cure would gradually bring back to such areas a vast amount of timber at no great cost. It seems, however, as if the planting of exotics is being looked to as tho chief" means of supplying the future needa of tho country.

It is quite evident New Zealand's source oil native timbers is gradually but surely being depleted. The old days, when cargoes of logs, baulks and boards were shipped away almost daily from mills opex'ating from Southland to llokianga, and when the Northern Wairoa exported kauri by the millions of feet aro gone. Xew Zealand mills still cut large quantities of native timber. In 1957, the output was 307 million feet, and in 1928 it was 310 million feet, but these quantities, as they may seem, represent a 3teady decrease. So far as our exports of timber are concerned the Forestry Reports states that the year ending December 31, 1927, was the poorest experienced by the export trade for over thirty years. Tlio actual quantities exported for the past three years wcro 37,180,548 ft., valued at £425,928 in 1927; 41,953.879 ft., valued at £480,247 in 1926; and 51,549,439 ft., valued at £605,187 in 1925, Fluctuations in Imports. With regard to imports of timber into New Zealand the report states that daring the past years there have been considerable fluctuations. In 1918 the imports of some timbers totalled only 10,000,000 ft. During the next threo years the trade increased rapidly, and by 1921 had reached tho high figure of 47.000,000 ft. During it fell again to 35,000,000 ft., but reached 82,000,000 ft. in 1926. During 1927 61.767,992 ft were imported. There is a vast amount of other valuable information in the Forest Report, and its author, Mr. E. Phillips Turner, is to bo congratulated on giving what might ordinarily be dry-as-dust particulars as living interest, arid showing to the nation great undertakings in a very clear and vivid manner. Wo have evidently, as a people, passed through tho period of waste and destruction so far as our forests are concerned, and are beginning to build up through our Forest Service and private companies new sources of supply on a large and scientific scale, nnd at the same timo making tho very best use possible of the timber resources which still remain uncut.