FOREST CONSERVATION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19104, 27 August 1936, Page 15

FOREST CONSERVATION

(To the Editor of the Herald.)

Sir, —I notice that the subject of the conservation of our native forests came up for discussion in the local Chamber of Commerce last week, and that no positive action in the matter .was taken. i do not desire to criticise the chamber for the attitude it has taken up, as no doubt, it bad its own reasons, but at the same time I think the commercial sec-, tion of the community, in so far as it is represented by the chamber, is taking rather a short-sighted view of the question." W.bile forest conservation may not have a direct and immediate value from a financial and commercial point of view, I maintain that it is of prime importance in our national economy. May I place before your readers some important facts that have a bearing on the subject:;—(l) Less than 12 per cent of the country is, now nominally under forest. As this includes mountain tops lakes and other waste lands the actual area -is probably about 8 or 9 per cent. (2') One hundred years ago from 60 to 70 per cent of the country was under forest. (3) All the leading countries of Europe, France, Germany, .Scandinavia, Russia, etc., with the exception of the British Isles, have a larger percentage, in some cases much larger, of forests than has New Zealand. The British Isles has much of its area, especially in England and Ireland, under more or less intensive agriculture and forest culture may be uneconomic. (4) The timber exporting countries are reducing their external trade in timber as their internal requirements increase. (5) The I value of timber all over the world has ! been steadily increasing during the twentieth century as the world's supply has been correspondingly diminishing. (6) The area under afforestation in New Zealand, national and private, is about fiCO.OQO acres, less than 1 per cent of the area of the country. (7) The greater part of this area, probably about 80 per cent, is under pinus insignis. The value of this timber is limited. It is used for boxed goods, such as fruit, etc., for concrete boxing, and scaffolding. When used for houses, probably the life of the house would be about 25 or 30 years. Its use for the manufacture of paper has been considered, but is not past the experimental stage as far as New Zealand is concerned. (8) The exotic timbers can in no sense take the place of the native forest trees. (9) According to the last Year Book the Government is contemplating the re-estab-lishment of the kauri on a commercial scale. This will take at least a century, and probably more, before trees of commercial value will be available. Apparently it is only when our kauri forests have almost disappeared that it has been considered necessary to do something other than mere talk. (10) Unless a more sane attitude can lie taken by our governing authorities it looks as if our rimu, white pine and tofara forests will follow the same way as the kauri; that is, when the end of our rapidly diminishing supplies of these timbers has arrived 1 , only then will it be necessary to consider their replacement. (11) It may be said that we cannot have our cake and eat it too. This adage unfortunately is quite applicable to the present, method of handling our forest timbers. However, if the principles of, forestry am applied, as they are in some countries where the forest sense is more highly developed than appears to be the case in New Zealand, the forests would be a perpetual asset to the country, instead of as it is now the rapidly dissipated capital of the prodigal. (12) In 1930 New Zealand exported timber valued at £300,000, and at, the same time imported timber to the value of over £900,000. Since the depression, of course, wo have had to live a little 'more economically, but- at the same time the value of the timber exported in 1534, the last year for which figures are available, was much more than in 1330. To many perhaps this would! be a subject of congratulation. It might be if it were not an export of unreplacable capital. I trust that these remarks may be of interest to some of your readers. —Yours, etc., "ARBOR"