TIMBER IN THE MOTU.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9095, 13 March 1901, Page 4

TIMBER IN THE MOTU.

(To the EditoTof the Herald.) Sir,—lt was stated at the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce last evening that the above subject is one of the chief points to. place before Ministers. Can there be the slightest doubt that it is the chief point? Any deputation should bring all 4t«: force to bear upon itj the strongest insistence must be used to set tie desired object foremost in the minds of Ministers, and as far as possible definite plans, suggested and promises secured. If gold were discovered in the Motu, and a rush of 500 men to the. district produced a few thousand ounces of the precious metal, with prospects of more, we would probably see the Government straining every effort to carry the railway through within a twelvemonth. But the humble timber apparently dges not get hugged to the heart in that fashion, nd yet a modest computation shows that there is a million pounds' worth there. Why, the value of the timber alone justifies .the railway. ' Hitherto, Ministers have viewed the need of a railway merely as an aid to settlement. Now they should be brought to see a railway as, in the first place, the indispensable means of realising a vast store of wealth in timber. The first object is to get the timber. We want it. Settlement will follow. Let the construction of the railway drag over five years or more,- and . the bulk of the timber' will have- gone ] to the bushfeller, an irreparable loss to the district. It is not a speculation, like . gold-seeking, but an absolutely certain 3

investment. Therefore, let us get the , railway through within 12 or 18 months . and save the timber. With the prospect of a railway before him, the settler would be chary of destroying an important source of revenue, but he can't afford to wait too long. The present rate" of construction is far too slow. It should be pushed on four times as quickly, and if the present system will not allow it, let the work be done by contract, with a time limit. : — Yours, etc., LOCOMOTIVE.