FOREST CONTROL

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10685, 3 September 1920, Page 7

FOREST CONTROL

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT PBOPOSALS OF mm DIRBCTOB. Discussing the position of New Zea* land forests in his firvt annual report,' the Director, of Forestry (Captain Ellis) states that the visible supply of timber in the Dominion is variously estimated> at : from 35,000,000,000 to "60,000,000,000 superficial feet. He expresses an opinion ; that within a generation the annual national consumption will probably be 1,000,000,000 feet—oonsideraWy more than ! fjhree times the amount of tim-, ber cut in the Dominion during the last financial year. Emphasising the significance of these figures,'Captain -Ellis strongly urges the necessity of immediate measures to ensure continued supplies. " Apart from the organisation of an efficient forest service, and due provision for the training at forest technicians and rangers, he recommends that economies should be instigated in forest working by the abolition of the present * system of royalties on mm output, and the adoption of. royalties based, on.,the cubic contents of the log. and adjusted (at five-year internals) in proportion to the ruling wholesale prioe of tun ber. Whereas the present system puts a premium on forest waste, the new system, it is urged, would , offer every inducement to economical working,: and also add Ljpvely to the revenue now collected by the State. As a means of securing continuity of policy, the report urges that the Forest" 1 Service should be {riven full and unhampered control of all details of forest development—and administration. Under exisfcag conditions, it is stated, only 25, per cent, of the wood in a forest acre is utilised, whereas in a few years it will be possible to utilise probably more than 6f« per cent. PRCKJRAMME OF DEVELOPMENT. . Captain Ellis declares, that it in quite safe to say that the Dominion .must aim at developing twelve million acres of forest, or more, if & safety margin is to bo attained against high prices and a famine in forest products.--" The report elaborates in detail a programme of-forest development and extension jtfl bevcarried out during a period of from five to seven years. It is proposed that during this period loans should be raised to cover an expenditure of .£240,000 on the, organisation and dwelopmemt : cf indigenous forests, JS9O2JOOO on' the extension of plantations, • ,£200,000 ,oh the acquisition of forests and \ forest lands, and .£IOO,OOO in the encouragement of private'and , local body planting, etc. Captain Ellis estimates that by the time the Dominion is consuming 1,000,000,000 feet of timber per annum 30 per cent, of the annual supplies will be derived from private forests < and from importations. Timber imports, he states, will necessarily decline to a. negligible quantity, but he is of opinion that conditions in this country are exceptionally favourable to tree-growth, and make it an exception to the general rule that forestry can be undertaken only by the State. The growth of trees for special uses in New Zealand, he remarks, is a sound and remunerative business. While he looks .to private enterprise, assisted: and fostered by the State, to nrovide nearly ,30 per cent, of future timber supplies, Captain Ellis assumes that native foreats, put into- s state of permanent productivity, will yield 60 per cent, ot these supplies and State .plantations V per cent. ■ One of the .proposals . advanced is that native-owned forest lands when they are unsuitable for agriculture should be conserved and worked by th« State in'trust for the natives.