The Wanganui herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.]

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXI, Issue 12319, 13 November 1907, Page 4

The Wanganui herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.]

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1907

OUR DYING FOREBTB.

Accobdino to an Auckland telegram, published last week in our columns, the timber merchants in the Northern capital are complaining of the present unprecedented shortage in the supply of kauri timber. This, we are informed, is due, not so much to the extent of the export trade, but to the excessive demand which exists locally, and the decrease of the general output. Mr D. Goldie, a well-known Auckland, merchant, says there is no getting away from the fact that kauri is fast working out, and it is likely that another fifteen years will witness its disappearance. This same very important subject of our dying forests was referred to at the recent builders' conference at Napier, when Mr Clarke, an Auckland delegate moved "That the Government be urged to take immediate steps to conserve as far as possible the building timbers of t the Dominion for the use of the people of the Dominion, and to extend the present system of forestry so as to ensure a continuous supply of timbers for future use,, and for climatic and scenic benefits." Speaking to the motion Mr Clarke said that the supply of timber in the Dominion was becoming a serious matter. Even a> the present rate of consumption they would find their areas used up very soum sooner than some people imagined. The milling timber in New Zealand at the present time was 36,000,000,000 feet, eighteen and threequarter thousand million of which was on Crown lands and seventeen and one-quar-ter thousand million on native and private lands. Last year's output was 432,000,000 feet, thus at the current rate of output they might expect their supply to last for 83 years. The output of 1905 was less than this year's, however, by 19,000,000 feet, and a large amount must therefore be allowed for increased output, reserves for scenic and climatic purposes, waste by fire

and destruction, inaccessible situations, and emallnesft.of areas rendering working non-payable. This would reduce the supply to, say, less than 50 years. If they deducted one-third of the timber available as being unsuitable for building purposes, this left them with 24,000,000,000 feet in kauri, rimu, totara, and matai. These were the principal timbers in use at the present time for building purposes, and the supplies existing were: kauri 647,000,000 feet, red pine or rimu 17,900,000,000 feet, totara 1,025,000,000 feet, black pine or martai 3,823,000,000 feet, miscellaneous, say, 605,000,000 feet; total 24,000,000,000 feet. If, then, the areas of inferior timbers were left out of the reckoning it would reduce the amount available, and thus bring the limit of supply from 50, or at most 60 years, to about 35, or at most 40 years. The output of kauri for 1906-7 was 106,000,000 feet, and at the current rate of use six years would c iust the present supply. The Aucklan.. sawmillers had stated that they had made arrangements for the time when the local supplies were worked out, but Mr Clarke went on to quote Canadian reports to show the rapid consumption there, and said that if that were adopted here it would clear every stick of timber out of New Zealand in two and a half years. It was plain that Canada would soon have to safeguard her forests for her own use, while the United States were in need of all their timbers. Where was New Zealand's supply to come from? After dealing with the climatic effects of standing forests, Mr Clarke said that it cost .£ls per acre in labour to convert mixed standing bush into marketable timber, while the land was worth £1 per acre more for pastoral purposes. If, however, the effect of the complete denudation of timber from the soil was the same as in Russia, of which the speaker quoted examples, there would be no gain to agriculture. They were often told that the farmer was the backbone of the country, but the backbone was not so independent of the ribs of commerce and the nimble fingers and skilled brain of the town and city craftsmen as some of those worthies would have them believe. The body politic was very much corporeal, and the backbone, without the ligatures of life and action pertaining to the complete anatomy, soon became a hopeless jumble of unsightly and useless fragments.

In the face of the figures quoted above it does not require a seer to predict that the time will come when New Zealand will have to import timber for its own requirements. For some years past the Government has been endeavouring to provide for this emergency by planting forest trees, and in connection with this industry a special department ha* been established. It has six nurseries in operation — in Central Otago, Southland, Maryborough, North Canterbury, and Auckland, and some 20,000 acres have been planted in various parts of the polony. The varieties of trees grown at the nurseries and plantations vary according to climatic conditions, soil, aspect, and elevation. For instance, in Central Otago the species found to be suitable to withstand the rigorous climate are very fe«r — larch, Austrian and Corsican pines, and the heavy-wooded pine being the principal kinds dealt with. In the Tapanui district the principal trees raised are the tyrolese larch, English ash, English oak, the common spruce fir, Oregon pine, heavy-wooded pine, clear or Weymouth pine, Austrian and Corsican pines, a^d several species of maple, walnut, birch, and chestnut. One plantation area in this district, containing 845 acres, has been filled up for several years, no less than 2,000,000 trees being planted there. In Canterbury the Department was fortunate enough to purchase a very fine plantation some fifteen years old at Raincliff, containing 50,000 treet, principally larct. Oak, ash, sycamore, elm, chestnut, and lime, as well as the more prominent conifers, are also to be found growing there with amazing rapidity. At the Hanmer Springs, where the principal work is done by prison labour, the climate is similar to Otago, and the trees planted are like those in the Southern province. In the Auckland district tome 3,000,000 trees are raised annually at the Botorua Nursery to supply two plantations at Waiotapu (another prisoners' depot) and Whakarewarewa. The trees planted include Austrian and Corsican pine, blackwood of Australia, Oregon pine, heavy-wooded pine, Weymouth pine, Californian redwood (all of which do remarkably well), Australian eucalypti, cork oak, and several New Zealand timber trees, including totara and puriri. While these efforts at replenishing our dying forests are very commendable, it will be many decades before the timber can be utilised. Every year tens of thousands of acres of magnificent bush are sacrificed to the fire fiend with the object of "improving" the country — a short-sight-ed policy, surely. Unquestionably the better areas of timber country should be careully preserved from the woodman's axe; but, unfortunately, no inducement is held out to the settler — either on freehold or leasehold land — to protect the timber. On the contrary, the conditions under which the land is taken vp — and this applies more particularly to leasehold sections — preclude the preservation of bush suitable for timber-cutting. In the district inland of Wanganui thousands of acres have been destroyed which should have ' been preserved. We have heard of several settler* who have quite recently acquired good timber country, and who are anxious to have it turned to good account, but the native owners can claim a royalty which the lessees consider unreasonable, hence they prefer to get the bush down and carry out the "improvements" provided for in the leases, in which case no royalty can be claimed. Evidently the matter wants looking into; i deed the whole question of onr dying forests ia of sufficient importance to engage the serious attention of Parliament, and experts should be called in to advise as to the best means of conserving the remaining timber areas.