The Wanganui Chronicle. " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1909. A BIG SCHEME.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12166, 6 March 1909, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. " Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1909. A BIG SCHEME.

The existing high price of timbor in New Zealand, the knowledge that the available supply is rapidly diminishing, and that so far no adequate attempt has been made to provide for the requirements of the future, are facts which lend a more than passing local interest to the report of the Royal Commission on Afforestation in the United Kingdom. It has been described as absurdly characteristic of' our British methods of "muddling through" that a Royal' Commission which was originally appointed to consider the encroachment of the sea on the coasts of the United Kingdom should have been empowered by iin inconsequent, but happy after-thought, to take into consideration the subjects of dSbrestation and unemployment, and that it should now present a report of ths greatest prastical importance.on, these subjects and make recommendations which aro large with promise lor the future. TII3 Commission makes out a strong case for tho immediate afforestation of large areas in tho United Kingd )m—amounting in all and ultimately to some 9,G00,----000 acres—and at the same time it demonstrates the fact.that such afforestation, both by creating a new industry of such dimensions and lending itself to considerable seasonal expansion and contractiq.il, will be of the utmost US3 in relieving the insistent stress of unemployment. Tho Commission points out that of the 13,000,000 acres of rough mountain land in the United Kingdom 9 000,000 acres are fit for afforestation purposes under methods already well established and found entirely satisfactory in Germany, France, and other Continental countries. Tha scheme submitted by the Commission proposes the afforestation' of 150,000 acres annually, a work whicli " would give temporary employment to 18,000 men and permanent employment to oils man for every IGO acres planted. This means that when the Stat-6 forests wers fully established an army of 90,000 men —with wives and families representing half-a-million peoples-would be engaged in highly-reproductive work upon land now comparatively useless. For forty years there would to no revenue, and tho expenditure, including wages and interest, would range from £90,000 in the first year to over £3,000,000 in the fortieth. By the sixtieth year the Stat3 forests would be self-supporting, and when in full bearing would yield nearly £17,500,000, at present* prices, gqual at S per cent, to a capita Lvalue of £562.OOOjGOO, over £100,000,000 more than their cost. This vast and far.-reaching scheme may not be adopted in its en-

tirety, but it will undoubtedly come into somo form of material existence, for

the Continental forestry departments fire all completely successful and several

States draw enormous annual revenues from foresight and enterprise in afforestation of past generations. It is claimed that am&ng the great benefits of the scheme would be the checking cf tlie influx of country-bred labourers into the towns and that it would tend to relieve the rates of all workers who were capable of doing a sufficient day's work at one of the simplest and most interesting of open-air occupations. The Commission has certainly made out a strong case, and has afforded ample proof of tho reasonableness of its contention that "Uio afforestation of suitable lands in tl\e> United Kingdom, if ] undertaken on an adequate scale and in accordance with well-recognised scientific principles,, should prove at%present prices a sound and remunerative investment." But, as an English contemporary remarks, even if the recommendations of the Commission are accepted in their entirety,' afforestation can only relieve, and is quite incapable <:f curing the social*dise S3 of unemployment. Many of the employable unemployed will be unaffected by the adoption of this great scheme of national afforestation. The largest proposal cf tli? Commissioners contemplates the temporary employment daring the six winter months of an average of 18,000 men for "tho purpose of preparing and planting 150,000 acres a year; and th? permanent employment of 1500 men for every .150,000 a", res which have been ■afforested. Tfc is true that when at th-3 ontl of dxty ve:u\s, r.s contemplated by tho Commissioners, tbe whole of the 9,000,000 acres shall have been planted tlino will he at !e.ist 93,000 men per< manontly employed; but the Commissioners so?m to have overlooked tho ' fact that sixty years "hence the population of the Mother Country will havo , Lecomo so much greater as to lender i theso figures by no means so significant : aa they now seem. Yet, even as they "• stand, tl.ey clearly will only touch the ] fringe of the unemployment question. One point, however, in connection with 1 this subject must nob be overlooked. '• Directly any large area becomes ripe for thinning—which will take place in half ] tho timo required Tor tlie first harvest- 1 ing of the crop—a largo secondary in- i dustry will automatically arise in con- j nection with the inevitable conversion • ■and manipulation of the crop, and that \

industry will progressively increase until it will employ four or five times tho number of persons directly engaged in tho work of afforestation. So far as the .scheme of afforestation itself is concerned, it is wholly commendable and tho recommendations of the Commissioners will doubtless be favourably considered by the Home Government. It is to bo hoped that tb.9 report will also have the effect of expediting the work of .afforestation in this Dominion. It is a, matter of the greatest "importance that steps should be taken to provide for the timber requirements of the near future-' Thc> position to-day is bad' enough., but it will become infinitelyworse if the comparatively small amount of bush now standing is permitted to bo cut out before adequate provision has been made for its replacement '■•"■.