DOMINION FORESTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22179, 5 August 1935, Page 12

DOMINION FORESTRY

Sir, —The Commonwealth has a very great interest in industrial forestrj in New Zealand apart from financial participation, and that is in the ability of New Zealand's plantations to supply the ever-growing volume of the Commonwealth's softwood timber needs. Various authoritative estimates of the future softwood consumption range up to 1000 million feet annually, and_ in the satisfaction of this demand New Zealand can look forward to a volume of business worth to her at least £5,000,000 a year. The need for closer trade and social relations between th« two Dominions is therefore vital, and everything that can be done to advance a happier understanding and tolerance must work out to our mutual advantage. The writer notes with regret, however, that New Zealand has not sent a delegate to the Empire Forestry Conference that is shortly to take place in South Africa. This is to be regretted, as the South African technicians have advanced very considerably the technique of thinning. It is to be hoped that this phase of forest culture will receive the attention that it deserves, and that it will be tackled without delay in the vast State-owned timber farms in the two islands. L. Macintosh Ellcs.