Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1936. AFFORESTATION AT SCHOOLS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 279, 7 September 1936, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1936. AFFORESTATION AT SCHOOLS.

Mr H. H. Hawkins, head teacher at the Eiffelton School, deserves commendation for his proposal made to the County Council on Friday with the object of increasing interest in afforestation in that school and district. There is much truth, though perhaps not so much as was formerly the case, in the old saying, give a boy an axe and he will endeavour to cut down a tree. The instinct to destroy has survived from primeval times, but the urge to create and preserve has to be taught. Thus any movement that has as its object the development of a “tree sense” in the community should have whole-hearted support. In the national aspect of the subject, New Zealand has suffered much from the pioneer s axe and match box, and every heavy rainfall provides ample evidence of what might have been prevented had forests now stood on the Dominion’s many scarred and ugly hillsides. New Zealand’s forests once provided a great national asset,but indifference to the interests of posterity left us lamenting the loss of millions of acres of verdant forests. But while it is impossible to bring back the past, the people of today can, in a measure, regain the heritage by developing a national desire to plant trees and preserve forests. So far as Ashburton County is concerned, Nature did not clothil the plains with trees, the feature that impressed pioneers being the treeless nature of the country. The trees that now dot the district were all planted by man, and those whose memory carries back to the early days testify to the great benefits that the farmer has derived from the plantations. The whole community has reaped advantage from the improved agricultural conditions. That is the most important aspect of the matter. But there is a secondary consideration of public interest, in the fact that the plantations owned by the County Council and by private individuals are now proving a commercial asset, a factor that is capable of development. But if gain in this respect and, perhaps to a lesser degree, also as regards agricultural conditions, is not to be temporary only, it is necessary that the trees removed be replaced by young ones. The scheme proposed by Mr Hawkins will assist the County Council in replanting, and at the same time inculcate in the minds of the children the value of afforestation, ihe work of tending the trees in their early stages should provide pleasurable instruction that will influence the whole lives of those taking part, rme service to the community might be performed by other teachers following the example now set.