OUR DISAPPEARING FORESTS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11109, 25 October 1907, Page 4

OUR DISAPPEARING FORESTS.

The Builders' Conference which has been sitting at Napier passed a resolution calling upon the Government to conserve the remaining timbers of the Dominion for the use of the people thereof, and to extend the system of, forestry so that the country may be ensured of a continuous supply of timber for future use. The subject, vas we have often pointed out, . is one of exceeding importance to this young country, where m the past the forests have been destroyed with prodigal waste. The men comprising the Builders' Conference are men who, being intimately connected with the timber trade, must see the serious aspect of the situation, and as men of foresight, looking to tbe development of their businesses they naturally want to know where the future supplies of building material are to be obtained. As practical men deeply concerned their representations must carry weight, and if the conference succeeds ,m stirring up the Government to greater activity with its tree planting operations its 1907 session will not have been held m vain. Mr Clarke, an Auckland delegate, the mover of the motion we have quoted, gave a most interesting statement, which brings the timber problem before the public ma' striking manner. He said that even at the- present rate of consumption they would find their areas used up very soon, sooner than some people imagined. The milling timber m New Zealand at the present time was thirty-six thousand million feet, eighteen ana three-quarter thousand million of which was on Crown lands and seventeen and one-quarter thousand million on native and private lands. Last year's output was 432,000,---000 ft., thus at the current rate of output they might expect their supply to last for 83 years. The output of 1905 was less than this year's, however, by 19,000,000 ft.,, and a large amount must therefore be allowed for increased output, reserves for scenic and climatic purposes, waste by fire and destruction, inaccessible situations, and smallness of areas rendering working non-payable. This would reduce the supply to say less than 50 years. If they deducted onethiurl of the timber available as being unsuitable for building purposes this left them with twenty-four thousand millions of feet m kauri, riniu, totara and matai.

These were the principal timbers m use at the present' time tor building purposes f and the supplies existing were: — Kalui 647,000,000 ft., red pine or rimu 17,900,000,'000ft., totara 1,025,000,000 ft., black pine or matai 3,823,000,000 ft., miscellaneous say 605,000,000 ft.; total 24,000,000,000 ft. If then the areas of inferior timbers were left out of the reckoning it would reduce the amount available and thus bring the limit of supply from 50, or at most 60 years, to about 35 or at most 40 years. The output' of kauri for 1906-7 was 106,000,000, and at the current rate of use six years would exhaust the present supply. The Auckland sawmillers had stated that they had made arrangements for the time when local supplies were worked out, but Mr Clarke went on to quote Canadian reports to show the rapid consumption there and said that if that were, adopted here it would clear every stick of timber out of New Zealand m two and a half years. It' was plain that Canada would have soon to .safeguard her forests for her own use v while the United States were m need^bf all their timbers. Where was New Zealand's supply to come from? After dealing with the climatic effects of standing forests, Mr Clarke said that it cost £15 per acre m labor to convert mixed standing' bush into marketable timber, while the land was worth £1 per acre more for pastoral purposes. If, however, the effect of the complete denundation of timber from, the soil was the same as that experienced m Russia, of . which the speaker, quoted examples, there would be no gain to They were often told that the farmer was the backbone of the country, but the backbone was not so independent of the ribs of commerce arid the 'nimble fingers and skilled brain of the town, and city .craftsman as some of those worthies would have them believe. The body Eolitic was very much corporeal and the a-ckbone witliout the ligatures of life and action pertaining to the complete anatomy soon became 1 a hopeless jumble of unsightly and useless fragments. It was pointed out by one delegate that the Government had done a great work m planting forest trees but had failed m their cultivation of them. As soon as they were planted they were simply allowed to grow and the Government took no control. There was,no system and a number o^ the trees planted never reached their full development. Unless something wag done m this direction very shortly the efforts'of the' Government would fail. When ( we hear that the kauri supply is likely I>o be; exhausted m six, years it make us ponder whether wej should express much satisfaction at the felling of tw.enty or thirty thousand acres of forest m this district this year; To us it appears to be a national crime that the great Motu forest, as described by Mr Campbell Thomson the 1 other day, should have been allowed to be consumed, by fire, and the facts; brought forward at the Builders' Conference give emphasis to. the claim frpm this district that the railway should be- rapidly ad- 1 vanced to the Motu so that the remnajits of bush that remain may be utilised instead of being- waste fully sent up into the air m smoke. " i