AFFORESTATION.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 135, 14 July 1914, Page 12

AFFORESTATION.

STATE AID SUGGESTED. "Anyone who has watched what has been going on during the last twenty years," said the Prime Minister in his address to the Board of Agriculture, '' must realise that in the next quarter of a century there will be very little timber left in New Zealand—that is, that the indigenous forests will have been cut out. Already the kauri is almost a thing of the past, except in certain areas which belong to the Crown. We have reserved two or three kauri forests north of Auckland, but there is always a certain danger hanging over those reservations. If duri7ig a dry summer a fire gets started, away goes the timber, because once a kauri bush gets on fire it is impossible to save it; and the same thing applies to a lesser extent to other timber. The position is that we have not sufficient supply for the purposes of the 'people of New Zealand for .much more than 25 years to come, and the time has arrived when we should do a very great deal more than we are doing in the way of reafforestation, and the Government realise that they have a serious (luty in this respect, it is true th,at the Governments of this country have done more in,.the way of afforestation than has been imagined, but, even so, enough has not. been done either by the Government or by local bodies. I know the county councils have done a good deal, but, generally speaking, they have not done enough. The same remark ajipilies to private, individuals. More must be done by the whole of the people, of New., , Zealand—the Government,, the local bodies, the settlers, and by private individuals —than has been done up to the present unless New Zealand, is going to look to other countries for its supply of timber, and I do not think we shall be very safe in doing that, because some other countries are very much in the same position as New Zealand. In the United States and in Canada there is now a feeling of alarm as to what their position will be as regards timber supplies 25 years hence. Here again we ask the advice of the Board of Agriculture." Mr .F. G. Wilson (chairman of the Board) said that he had been glad to hear Mr Massey refer to the subject of forestry, and it seemed to him that the Prime Minister might have gone still further in dealing with it. "I am speaking now," he said, ''in the presence of Mr Mackenzie, who has charge of the .Forestry Department, and I canhot help saying I do not think forestry has.had a fair consideration in the past. In my opinion we should have someone Tit the head of this branch who is a trained forester. Mr Mackenzie mayor may not have a knowledge of forestry, 'but, in any case, I am sure he will acknowledge at once that he has had'no •regular, training in the subject. I think ptobabiv the Minister will expect us to take that important aspect of the matter into consideration. I do not, know," Mr Wilson went on to remark, "whether the Government expect the ratepayers to spend their inOney upon forests, 1 because the Government do not provide us with the money for this pUxip'Ofce.' I am quite sure the members of present who are members',o'f lpcq.l bodies will plant as much as they possibly | can if they are with the money, because, they all realise the 'importance of it. But the Government practically bar us from borrowing money from them, and they will not give

us authority to borrow from anyone. else, so that I do'not think they can blame the local bodies. At the same, time I think private individuals might help. In Canterbury, for instance, I know that Sir John Hall planted a great many acres of trees in the .Ilororata Gorge, and that plantation wa.s pf immense benefit to the district, for the reason that the wind used to come down that gorge with such tremendous force as to seriously damage, the pasture dand. In those days the Government did give some assistance, and even now some concession is given, because land tax is not charged on growing timber whieh individuals have planted, because it would be rather hard to have to pay taxation on timber which would not become available for thirty or forty years. But I think we ought to consider whether it would not be well to ask the Government to renew the assistance which used to be given, because there is hardly any question of such importance to us as this question of forestry.'' The Prime Minister pointed out that although the Government had not been in a position for a year or two to lend t: local bodies, the position was quite different now. Local bodies could b»;rjnw from the State and also under a State guarantee. "Then,' lie continued, < ; as to the; question of whether the local bodies should not do a little more jh the- way of afforestation than they have done up to the. present, I may say that in certain parts of New, Zealand the local authorities have done & good deal. There aret ,c;ounty councils in the Canterbury provincial, district who have spent a considerable proportion of their revenue on planting trees, fcnd what has been done in Canterbury, I. know can be done in: other districts, 1 know that, speaking generally, the local bodies in the North Island want the bulk of their money for the making oi roads, but I think "they have duties in connection with-the; planting of trees, and I believe even where roads are hard to make a little more could 'have been done in the way of reafforestation than has been done up to the j. resent.'"