TIMBER-RAFTING ON THE RIVER.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 12003, 22 October 1906, Page 4

TIMBER-RAFTING ON THE RIVER.

The fact that the Cabinet has favourably considered the request of the Taumarunui sawmillers to be permitted to raft timber on the Wanganui River should give general satisfaction both to the inland settlers and to all in Wanganui anxious and desirous of promoting the commercial interests of the town and district. The steamer owners were no doubt within their rights in protesting against rafting if they conscientiously believed the industry could not be carried on without endangering a traffic which they had built up by their unflagging industry and by the expenditure- of a very large snm of money-. But as the sawmillers were prepared to give a guarantee for the payment of an •indemnity in the event of tho river protective work* or the steamers being damaged by the rafts, we were always at a loss to understand why the Departments interested did not allow the experiments to be made. The refusal to sanction tim-Ijer-rafting was all the more inexplicable in view of the fact that the millers raised no objection to their licensed being cancelled if it were shown that rafting was

dangorous to tlio steamer traffic and could not be successfully carried on. Captain Hedditch, a gentleman who has had a life-long experience in limber-rafting, has expressed the opinion that there are no insurmountable difficulties to overcome, and he has demonstrated the feasibility of rafts being successfully handled, even on the most dangerous rapids on the river. In th« circumstances, therefore, it seems but reasonable that the Govenimejtt .should assist the timber industry, fit their •Sorts at safeguarding the interests of the tourist traffic, we hope that the regulations the Government contemplate framing will not be of such a stringent nature as to be tantamount to a prohibition, for it is not inconceivable that drastic Orders-in-Council might reader the issuing of licenses a dead letter.