SANDY POINT DOMAIN

Southland Times, Issue 18968, 15 June 1923, Page 4

SANDY POINT DOMAIN

The statement made to the Town Council by Councillor Farrant in advocating the adoption of a defined policy in connection with the afforestation of the Sandy Point Domain, was sufficiently impressive to make it clear to the people of Invercargill that behind the sand dunes can be built up for the future citizens a heritage of noble proportions. Councillor Farrant, who gracefully acknowledged the part played by Mr C. M. Smith, of the Forestry Department, in the preparation of the facts he put before his fellow councillors, declared that 3000 acres should be utilised for planting, and added that this area in 45 years would produce 240,000,000 superficial feet of timber, not 240,000 as previously reported. The royalty paid on Southland timber now was 2/- a hundred feet, he said, but he estimated that the royalty on the plantation at Sandy Point would work out at a higher figure. Putting this royalty at 5/a hundred feet, he claimed that the area in forty-five years would show a return of £600,000, achieved on an outlay of £20,000. Pursuing this subject, he suggested that a larger area could be acquired, say to the Waimatuku, which would give them 20,000 acres, and then for a total outlay of £BO,OOO a return of £3,000,000 could be expected forty-five years from now. These figures will strike uninformed people as astonishing, but the experience in other countries, and the development that has taken place in the plantation at Rakahouka, is enough to show that Councillor Farrant’s estimates are not unreasonable. The public generally has a lot to learn of the possibilities of systematic afforestation, because New Zealand is so backward in this connection, but in the older countries the commercial advantages of forestry cultivation have been proved beyond doubt, and if the Invercargill Town Council takes up this business firmly it will be following examples which have already proved that there are big profits in trees. It is essential, of course, that afforestation should be pursued on a clearly defined plan, and the Council has taken the wisest step possible in seeking the services of an expert from tho Forestry Department. It is to be hoped that Mr Smith will be available, because he has specialised in sand dunes, and is particularly fitted for the task of laying the foundations of this project. If the Council hopes to carry the afforestation of the Sandy Point Domain through successfully, it must ensure that the initial work is sound and that there is continuity of policy. Anything of a patchwork nature will be so much waste. Councillor Farrant’s statement on this matter was lucid and informative, but the strongest point he makes is the absolute necessity of a vigorous prosecution of the scheme on carefully thoughtout lines. The planting of the domain must be taken up and pursued as one big project; to enter hesitatingly, or to philander .with small portions of it, will lead to costly disaster.