1878 



Canadian Furcstri/ Journal, September, 1918 



Why Forests Pay Better Than Mines 



(Bij D. E. Hutchins, late Conservator of Forests, South Africa.) 



The forests of New Zealand are, 

 after the climate, the best natiiral 

 asset possessed by the Dominion: 

 they have escaped development solely 

 l)ecaiise New Zealand has been dev- 

 eloped by men coming from a country 

 where there is no State forestry. 

 Forestry- is a technical subject, and 

 the value of any forest has to be 

 a j)p raised by professional men who 

 make forestrA>' the business of their 

 lives. The value of New Zealand 

 forests has lain hidden for seventy 

 years, one might almost say, as were 

 the South African diamonds for two 

 hundred years. 



The coalfields and goldfields have 

 been examined by engineers and 

 geologists. If a fraction of the devel- 

 o})ment that has been put into coal- 

 mines and goldmines had been be- 

 stowed on the forests they would 



now be more valuable national assets 

 than the coalmines and goldmines put 

 together. Thus the New Zealand 

 coalfields have produced up to date 

 a total of £22,610,067 worth of coal 

 and coke. With a proportionate at- 

 tention to forestry with no appreciable 

 loss to other industries, nothing more, 

 in fact, than a very little poor grazing 

 (of which much has already gone back 

 to scrub, gorse, and other noxious 

 weeds), the forest industry' could 

 have produced this total value of, 

 say, £23,000,000, in two years, if only 

 the home market, the larger part of 

 the Australian, and a small portion of 

 the two other timber markets in the 

 Southern Hemisphere had been filled. 

 Ordinary attention to forestry thirty 

 years ago would have enabled New 

 Zealand to do this in part now, and 

 later altogether. 



Australia Demands Trained Foresters 



{Australian Forestry Journal] 



It is essential even at this late 

 hour to develop the forest wealth of 

 Australia and to utilize it, not only 

 to-day, but hereafter for all time. 

 New South Wales has made a good 

 start with its Forestry Act of 1916 

 and the declaration of a definite 

 "forest poHcy." Queensland, Vic- 

 toria and Western Australia are 

 moving in the same direction, and 

 after "many years of neglect and 

 waste the ruling powers have awak- 

 ened to a realization of the wicked- 

 ness of past indifference. The pros- 

 pects of improvement in forestry 

 matters and the contingent influence 

 iil)on every branch of the timber 

 trade in Australia are nqw good. But 

 the harvest will not be ready for 

 reaping next year, nor the year 

 after. ^ If the value of the forests is 

 to be reaUzed to the full, those 

 forests must be preserv^ed and cared 



for in such a way as to permit of 

 current supplies being available when 

 required, without causing deteriora- 

 tion in the worth of the standing crop 

 from which future demands must be 

 met — for the usefulness of a properly 

 conserved forest will continue for all 

 time, and should increase. 



But the passing of Acts of Parlia- 

 ment will not of itself ensure the best 

 utilization of the huge asset contained 

 in the forests of the Commonwealth. 

 The expenditure of large sums of 

 money will not give us adecpiate 

 return, unless, throughout the For- 

 est Services of the several States, 

 we have complete efficiency. For- 

 estry is a science, and the forester 

 must be a skilled man — a specialist. 

 The time is no more when the 

 application of practical and local 

 experience brought a full harvest 

 from the forests. It is not sufficient 



