KAURI TREES ARE OF GREAT VALUE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19108, 28 June 1930, Page 32 (Supplement)

KAURI TREES ARE OF GREAT VALUE.

government secured REPORT FROM EXPERT. (Written for the “ Star ” by E. J. HOWARD, M.P.) I find my statement, which was referred to in a letter signed “Worker,” read as follows: “If we had planted kauri trees when we borrowed the money for the dreadnought the timber to-day would almost have paid for her. She is at the bottom of the sea, but the debt is still afloat, and we have to find 5 per cent annually. If we had planted kauri trees when we started the railways (60 vears ago), the timber __ to-day would have paid or nearly paid our railway debt.” Members of Parliament receive a very large number of reports and statements during a session of Parliament, termed Parliamentary papers. Some of these are of great value and some of them are otherwise. But to suggest that any member.can read every paper, or book, or report, in addition to the Bills that come down during a session, is to suggest something that is almost impossible. But some of them one does read, and whilst one may forget the name of the author, some of the matter will remain. Then one may quote without paying the authority the compliment of saying from whom he is quoting. Report Reviewed. In 1919, Sir Francis Bell was Commissioner of State Forests, or Minister in Charge, and he commissioned Mr D. E. Hutchins, 1.F.5., to report on our forests. This gentleman held a -worldwide reputation as a forester and would be accepted by anyone who loved trees. He had been in charge of forests in India, Africa, etc., and had reported on the forests of Cyprus and other places. This gentleman was taking part in a meeting of the British Association in Australia when he was invited td come here. To use my anonymous friend's words, “his report to Sir Francis is a gem.” But I mean it in the sense that it is worth its weight in any precious stones. On page 4 of that report Mr Hutchins says: “Kauri, with half a million acres of demarcated forests, could still pay the cost of the war—perhaps twice over.” Then he sets out to prove it with a wealth of detail that should satisfy even the most doubting Thomas. As a result of the reading of this report in 1922 I visited the north of Auckland to see the kauri trees, and I came back convinced. I saw trees sixteen years old, twenty-eight years old, and some, I was told, that were hundreds of years old. I had the pleasure of travelling with a lover of trees, and he took me to view stumps of cut-out trees that must have been great trees. I took photos, made lantern slides, and told the story on my return, but just as in the days of the past when certain people believed no good could come from Nazareth, so there are those who believe no good can come from a Labour man. Settlement of Land. I would, if I could, have Mr Hutchins’s report put into every school. Listen to this: “Ten pounds net per acre per year can be confidently expected from the cultivated kauri forests of the future.” Here’s another, from page 5 of his report: “Half a million acres of kauri forest cultivated as in Europe would find much forestry work for returned soldiers and eventual permanent land settlement exceeding all that has been effected up to date, under the Closer Land for Settlement Acts since 1892, and the Land Settlement Finance Act. 1909.’* Here is what Mr Hutchins says of the land after the kauri had been cut out: “Though the forest was so good, the soil was mostly poor, and naturally became poorer with the loss of the forest covering. On the best of the soil dairying is in progress, with the result that, from inquiries made on the spot, 200 acres gives employment to one family.” He says the same family could have lived more comfortably on 75 acres of kauri forest land. He says whilst £1 per acre gross was being returned from grass, £7 per acre net could be returned from the kauri if the forests had been systematically worked. (Page 57).

There is no time like the present to plant tkees. Mr Hutchins says on page 29 of his report: “It seems possible that if New Zealand were to continue to follow the cut-throat policy of Australia up to ten years ago, and complete the destruction of the kauri forests, it might eventually import kauri timber from South Africa. As everyone knows, this has actually happened with the Australian black wattle. Kauri is now being systematically introduced to the native forests of South Africa." Forests and Slices.

Compar : g forestry with our mines, -Mr Hutcl ns says, on page 24: “The total valu of all the minerals yet produced in New Zealand is not equal to the value _of a dozen medium-sized kauri fore fs. And what is more, many of the b- Jt mines are worked out, whereas tljfe kauri forest under cultivation will ±ibout quadruple, in value in a bvmdred years.” I could not help thinking of the story of the Boer children who for 200 years played with pebbles looking like bits of heavy glass on the banks of the Vaal River* (Page 23.)

In my previous article I said that if we had planted kauri trees when we borrowed the money for the dreadnought the timber to day would almost pay she debt. I said that if we had planted kauris when we started the railways the timber to-day- would be nearly equal to the debt. I said “nearly equal". Mr Hutchins says, according to his figures, “more than equal” that kauri could be grown to pay the war debt.

Then, speaking of kauri as a fastgrowing tree, he says, on page 17, “A number of planted native trees in’ the Auckland Domains . , . rimu add kauri, the two important timber trees of New Zealand, grew the fastest, and at twenty years they averaged eighteen inches diameter and 28ft high. A Scotch pine in Central Europe at the same age will average 2in in diameter and 57ft in height. Thus, compared to the five chief European timbers. . Xew Zealand trees show the same thickness in less than a quarter of the time and the height in half the time. Kauri grows in thickness nearly twice as fast as the five chief European forest trees, and in height grows 2.3 times as fast.” And finally, because space will not permit a more extensive quotation, ‘ Enough has been said here to show that kauri amongst forest trees is a fast grower.” Largest Yield.

Grow kauri and make provision to pav the national debt, and our grandchildren will bless us. Grow kauri and employ double the population we employ now. Plant kauri now and we get out of the doldrums—kauri, our national tree, the largest timber yielding tree in the world. “Jock, when ye hae els£ tae dae, ye may be ayfe stickin in a tree; it will be growin’, J 0 w^ en ft ye’re sleepin’! ” (Matthews.) Worker ’ says: “His last ‘if’ is a gem-. If, said he, we had planted kauri trees about twenty or thirty years ago, we would now be getting somewhere