WASTE OF TIMBER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2607, 15 September 1909, Page 3

WASTE OF TIMBER.

AFFORESTATION URGED

In the United States of America, and, indeed in most places where timber is. easily accessible, the most wasteful consumption (says “Engineering”) has been tolerated without hindrance. Like the spendthrift who gets rid of his capital when he should have lived upon the interest, and finds himself faced with the stern necessity for retrenchment, so the United States is feeling the effect of reckless extravagance in the past, and the pinch of approaching exhaustion in the future, v 'Profusion led to waste, no doubt, but "the great increase of the population has required more land for agricultural purposes, and has necessarily diminished the area upon which timber can be profitably grown. This cause, which tends to restrict the output, is operative more or less throughout the globe, and with the growth of civilisation will be more apparent. As a sign of approaching scarcity, it is mentioned that greater latitude js now allowed in specifications for lengths and scantlings, and an American authority is quoted to the effect: “We are down to rock bottom, and require every sound piece of timber that can be put up'ttrrthe market.” The anxiety of the authorities is shown by the extent and accuracy of the inquiry that has been made into the existing supply. The result of the examination, so far as the hard woods are concerned, is not reassuring. A,,.conservative estimate puts the total amount of hard-wood timber ready to be cut as not more than sufficient to last fifteen years. Some few years ago the life of timber for pulp-wood was stated to be twenty-one years; but now, notwithstanding the large quantity of timber for pulp manufactunc.s tllat are brought from Canada, the visible supply is shortened to thirteen years. Of course facilities for transportion of a bulky article pf small valqe have been considered carefully. Scarcity of supply will no doubt furnish a corrective to past extravagance, but the disappearance of the once apparently limitless forests of America, affords a lessoii the significance of which will not be lost on nations whose anxiety is now fully aroused. The same drain is being made on the forests of Canada, Sweden, Norway, and Russia; and' though the latter' country possesses, ,bofh in Europe and in her Asiatic dominions, an almost unlimitable wood-producing area, she-is in. no more favorable situation than was the United States; and without husbanding her resources, the same fate awaits the forests of Russia that has overtaken those of America. The world’s wealth in timber (adds “Engineering”) is being used up in a reckless, manner. The remedy, at best partial and expensive lies in afforestation, and statistics show an awakened interest in this provision for the future. Several countries have adopted conservative measures for some years past. Sweden and Norway are quite alive to the serious position in which they may be nlaced if a valuable! asset he exhausted. Our Government in India has long been fully aware of the necessity of conserving the forests, and it is not a little satisfactory to have the opinion of this able expert tlrat in our own country, densely peopled as it is, “a proper scheme of afforestation may he made to pay.”