The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JUNE 28, 1909. TIMBER INDUSTRY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13940, 28 June 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JUNE 28, 1909. TIMBER INDUSTRY.

I I lie report 1 of the Timber Commission has not, yet been published, though t lias now been in the hands of the Government for some days. All 'that wo have seen about it is a brief telegram, from Wellington giving an extract from an evening paper there hinting at the probable findings of the Commission. Two of these deal with the present price of timber • and the importation of Oregon, matters which it would be well not to criticise until the fullroport thereon comes to hand. Since the. Wellington forecast was published, however, we have come across an interview with Auckland sawmillcr* who hail with satisfaction the reported finding that Oregon in bulk shall be admitted free of duty, because " that will permit us to export more largely our overplus of first-class kauri." This strikes us as a most extrabrdii» /,r y statement to make, and has let fit .the secret of the demand by builders for Oregon to .supply the place of the first-class kauri they have been unable to get. It has long been'known that best kauri can be bought.in Melbourne or Sydney cheaper than in Timaru ami Dunedin ; in fact it can be bought in Mel bourne and landed here at as cheap u rate as though the order for tL" timber bad been placed at the mill >n its native forest. It would bo well, therefore, for the Government to take notice of the Aiieklandc.r's views, an:! see if first-class kauri grown in New Zealand cannot be kept for New Zealanders. The, third, aiid, perhaps, most important finding of the Commission is that the time has conic when afforestation should be put oil a. thoroughly workmanlike footing. " Stat? Forests" have been established for some years, and a good deal of excellent work has been done in treeplaiftiiig in several localities. But a. more vigorous policy is called for. Half a century will see the kauri forests completely cut out, and taking a century as a liberal period, the pine forests of Wellington, the "West Coast, Otago and Southland will all have, passed through the mills. To replace 'the fallen forests is the'work of the State. So far this work has cost a few thousands per annum. Probably with the report of the Commission before them, members of Parliament will during next session tackle the subject in real earnest, for the days of playing with it are numbered. At present the greater portion of our timber is the produce of primeval forests that hare cost nothing to create or to maintain! Wo are now face to face with the fact that the circle of supply is rapidly closing in. In recognising this wc are on' common ground with Britain and America." The latter ' has for yearn carried out great scheines of' reafforestation,, and conservation" of the younger growth of the forests. Britain, like New Zealand, is seriously considering the position", as defined in a report presented to the House of Commons in January last. .It is projxised to'employ- 30,000 men on the work of tree-planting- during the coming winter, and as these men will come from the ranks of the "•■unemployed," it strikes us as a good idea for New Zealand t'i follow, for once in a while, an example from the Old Land. Had the New Zealand State' Forest Depart-, nieut been in a position to anticipate the report of the Commission, or had it been in readiness to start ivork im- , mediately on receipt of it, employment could have been found for a large number of men this winter. It will pay the State to vigorously prosecute a treeplanting policy, for forestry furnishes a product for which there must be a continuous and an always /increasing demand. .