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REPORT

CHAPTER I.—FOREST POLICY (Resolutions of the Fifth British Empire Forestry Conference and Reviews of Progress in New Zealand Forestry) Resolution I: Forest Policy 1. The Conference reaffirms Resolution No. 1 of the First British Empire Forestry Conference (Great Britain, 1920), which sets out the fundamental principles of sound forest policy. It reads as follows : (a) Forest Policy.—ln view of the great importance to the Empire as a whole, as well as to each of its component parts, of producing a sustained yield of all classes as timber, of encouraging the most economical utilization of timber and other forest products, and of maintaining and improving climatic conditions in the interests of agriculture and water-supply, each of the Governments of the Empire should lay down a definite forest policy to be administered by a properly constituted and adequate forest service. " A definite forest policy was laid down by the first Director of Forestry, Mr. L. Macintosh Ellis, in 1920, and has been under more or less constant review ever since, a special introductory section of the annual report having been devoted to this subject since 1934." (b) Survey of Resources.—The foundation of a stable forest policy for the Empire and for its component parts must be the collection, co-ordination, and dissemination of facts as to the existing state of the forests and the current and prospective demands on them. " A national forest inventory was undertaken between 1920 and 1924, and a survey of current and prospective demands was presented in the annual report for the year ended 31st March, 1925. A recent check on prospective demand confirmed the validity of the original estimates." (c) Constitution and Status.—ln order to attain continuity in the development of forest resources it is desirable that certain elements of stability be secured in the constitution of the forest policy. This may be done by the following measures : (1) The definition (where this has not been done already) of forest policy in a Forestry Act or Ordinance. " The passing during 1947 of the fifth series of amendments to the principal Act, the Forests Act, 1921-22, indicates that legislation has been under constant review, but the time has now arrived when both consolidation and strengthening are necessary, and this work is already in hand." (2) The reservation for the purpose of economic management and development of forest land under conditions which prevent the alienation of any which is primarily suitable for forest except for reasons consistent with the maintenance of the forest policy as a whole. " This objective ivas achieved in the Forests Act, 1921-22, and over 6,000,000 acres of permanent State Forest have already been so reserved."

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