The Waka Maori. WELLINGTON, TUESDAY, JULY 28, 1874. THE PARLIAMENT.

Waka Maori, Volume 10, Issue 15, 28 July 1874, Page 182

The Waka Maori. WELLINGTON, TUESDAY, JULY 28, 1874. THE PARLIAMENT.

In our last we made some remarks upon the reckless lighting of bush fires in various parts of the country, and the consequent destruction of extensive and valuable forests. We now give the following abstract of Mr. Vogel's speech in the House, on the conservation of forests, when moving the second reading of the New Zealand Forests Bill, on the 14th of July instant:— Honorable members would recollect that at the end of last session, the Colonial Industries Committee brought up a resolution recommending Government to obtain from the different Provincial Governments all the information that could be obtained upon the subject of forest lands. In obedience to that recommendation a circular was written by the Colonial Secretary to the Superintendents. Some of them, in reply, had furnished interesting information, which would be found in the printed paper which had just been laid on the table. The Bill was a step in advance of merely obtaining information ; for it embodied a definite proposal for the establishment and management of State forests. The subject was a new one, and one to which personally he had not given much attention until very lately. During the visit which he paid to the southern parts of the colony, during the recess, his attention was first called the subject, when he was forcibly struck by the large demand which had arisen for timber for railway and telegraph purposes, and also how very great were the injuries caused by floods, and how much deterioration the climate was liable to sustain' from the destruction of forests. He felt that the whole subject was one which demanded urgent attention; it was one which not only affected this immediate generation, but would make itself felt in years to come. It was a question of the most importance, if not the question of questions for the colony. In the first instance, it seemed to him that, it would be desirable to keep distinct the question of planting new forests from the conservation of old forests; but the more he had looked into the matter, the more he had felt the fallacy of any such separation—the more he had recognized that forestry comprehended just as much of making the best use of existing forests as of creating new ones. The paper laid on the table contained all the information on the subject of State forests that could be found available, not only in reference to the forests of other countries, but also as to those of New Zealand, and what had been done respecting them. One part of the paper contained reports of debates on the subject, that had taken place in the New Zealand Assembly; another part contained reports from the provinces, and from the Australian Colonies,_ which had been presented to the House at former times, which he considered it desirable to collect under one volume. And again, there was the report of Captain "Walker, of Madras. This report, a copy of which had been sent to him from India, had attained a world-wide celebrity. Another paper he had laid on the table was recently presented to the United States Congress by the Association for the Advancement of Science, which he had only received within the last two or three days, and therefore had not been able to have it printed.

Although he had not paid much attention to the subject until very recently, it would be unfair to allow _it to be supposed that it had not already occupied considerable attention in the New Zealand Assembly. It had attracted considerable attention, not only among present members of the House, but among those had ceased to be members of it, and in past sessions had taken a great deal of interest in it. The Legislature at various times had shown a disposition to deal with the subject; and, indeed, to some extent had done so by the various' Acts which had been passed, and by giving bonuses for private planting. He did not mean to say that this system had not anything to recommend it, but it had not, to his mind, much weight; as the establishment of State forests, conducted by the State, should mean their preservation with the utmost care! If the State was to pay for planting, it was only reasonable that the result should belong to the State. However, under the proposal which he was about to explain, it was not at all intended to interfere with previous legislation. Private planting would be left in the same position as it now stood. The Press in New Zealand, he was happy to say, had taken a very large interest in this matter. He would ask honorable members to direct their attention to the question of the importance of preserving the forests, and to the injurious effects of destroying them; effects which were very serious upon our climate with respect to rainfall. There were almost innumerable authorities to show that the effects of the removal of forests was to seriously prejudice climate, to cause floods, to destroy original watercourses, and to wash away soil ; and it was an accepted fact that many old countries in the East which had taken a large part in the history of the world had been literally destroyed and rendered almost unfit for man's residence by the destruction of their timber, which led gradually to destructive torrents, by which the soil was washed away, while the absence of forests at the same time seriously impaired the climate. There were instances on record in which resort to planting had secured the reverse result—had restored, to some extent at least, the original climate, aud had especially done away with floods, and re-established water-courses. One advantage derivable from tree-planting was the shelter it afforded to land, enabling culture to be carried on where, without such shelter, culture of the land would be impossible. [The honorable gentleman here read extracts from official and other reports on agriculture and destruction of timber in various parts of the world. We have not space to notice these reports here, but we propose to make some extracts from them in our next Waka.~\ The next branch of the subject to which he invited the attention of honorable members, was the fallacy of supposing that the timber supply of the world was inexhaustible because forests were large. It must not be supposed that " forest" was a convertible term for " supply of useful timber." Indigenous forests, untended and uncared, produced nothing like so usefal or prolific a supply of timber as forests reared for the purpose. Still, as a matter of interest, he had ascertained, and only in the vaguest possible manner, the extent of forest lands in different countries. If in countries where it was thought the forest land was inexhaustible, it was still considered necessary and desirable to inaugurate a syatem of careful management, what must be the case in a country where the supply was limited, and the forests comparatively small? [Here Mr. Vogel gave a statement of the estimated area of the forests of the

world and their annual yield, and read extracts showing their destruction.] He said there seemed to be a growing feeling throughout the world of the necessity for dealing comprehensively with this huge matter. At the International Congress of Land and Forest Culture, held at Vienna last year, the following resolutions were addressed to the various Groverninents of the world:— We, recognise the fact that, in order to effectually check the continually increasing devastation of forests which is being carried on, international agreements are needed, especially in relation to the preservation and proper cultivation (for the end in view) of those forests lying at the sources and along the courses of the great rivers, since it is known that through their irrational destruction the results are a great decrease of the volume of water, causing detriment to trade and commerce; the filling up the river's bed with sand, caving in of the banksj and inundation of agricultural land along its course. We further recognize it to be the mutual duty of all civilized lands to preserve and cultivate all such forests as are of vital importance for the well-being—agricultural and otherwise—of the land, such as those on sandy coasts, on the sides and crowns as well as on the steep declivities of mountains, on the sea coasts and other exposed places, and that international principles should be laid down, to which the owners of such protecting or " guardian " forests be subject, thus to preserve the land from damage. In Prance, the greatest attention was devoted to the subjects of forests ; America was awakening to the necessity of interference. In Switzerland, the subject was considered of immense importance. In Canada there had been a large amount of legislation on the subject. In Sweden, the laws were most stringent. Private owners were required to plant and protect from cattle, two timber trees for every one cut down. In Victoria and in Australia the importance of the question had been recognized, but as yet little had been done, except planting on a small scale in Victoria. The hon. gentleman next referred to a calculation made by Dr. Hector, showing the extent of our forest land in this colony in the years 1830, 1868, and 1873, from which it appeared that the average destruction of forests over the whole colony, between 1830 and 1868, amounted to about 25 per cent.; and during the five years from IS6B to 1873, there had been destroyed about 20 per cent, of what forest we had in 1868. In Germany, he said, it would be considered as heinous to set a forest on fire as to set a house on fire; but in jS"ew Zealand a man would have little hesitation in lighting his pipe or boiling his billy of water, and endangering a whole forest, extending over many thousand acres. An argument that might be used was that in some places there existed large quantities of timber, and some people might think legislation on the subject unnecessary ; but experience had shown the rapidity of their destruction. It was rather difficult to realise large numbers, especially when the eye involuntarily opposes the instincts. A man in a room where there were 100,000 sovereigns, would hardly suppose that such a sum could be expended; but if he were a member of the government of a country he would form a different opinion. A man seeing a great storehouse filled with food, might think that the people near it could not, by their consumption, ever make an impression upon so vast a quantity. So with our indigenous forests. When the House came to consider that in the State of New York alone, 50,000 acres were required each year for railway use alone, it would be easy to understand how

futile it was to speak of forests being inexhaustible, unless something was done in the way of replacing He was glad to see a disposition now being shown by some provinces to attend much more carefully to the matter than formerly. Notably, in 'Otago and Auckland, a large amount of attention had been given to the tree-planting question, and, he begged leave to think, with beneficial results. In the course of time, State forests would possess an enormous aggregate value. Therefore, the Government came tcTthe conclusion that the provinces should hand over to the colony three per cent, of the whole of their lands, to be set apart as State forests ; and in return, they would propose to the Parliament to relieve the provinces of interest and repayment of principal on the cost of constructing the railways. He thought further, that the proposal would come particularly well from them to hand over State forests to those Avho came after them, and to say to them, " We have borrowed money by which to cover the' country with railways; we have taken care not to injure its climate ; and we now hand to you, in these forests, a magnificent property, which will more than pay the liabilities we have devolved upon you." The great object of the Bill which he was proposing was, to take the land over which no private right existed, to be absolutely converted into State forests, and to apply to it the very best possible management that the most experienced skill could devise. "We have not space to notice further Mr. Vogel's remarks, which extended to a very great length. But, should the Bill become law, doubtless its contents will be explained to the Native inhabitants of the country in due time. Wednesday, July 15. Mr. Taiaroa moved, " That a Select Committee be appointed to inquire into and report on unfulfilled promises to Natives in the Middle Island; Committee to consist of Mr. McLean, Mr. Fox, Mr. Parata, Mr. Sheehan, Mr. J. L. Gillies, Mr. Williamson, Mr. Williams, Mr. Swanson, and the mover." The Government did not oppose the appointment of the Committee, and several honorable members spoke in favour of it. The matter was eventually adjourned until the arrival of Mr. McLean, who was expected to arrive very shortly.