AXE AND MATCHES

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 11, 14 January 1935, Page 6

AXE AND MATCHES

In . its attitude towards arboreal beauty New, Zealand has acted on the injunction not to let its left hand know what its right hand is doing. One is reminded of this by the discussion at the Matamata County Council on the state of the bush along the Mamaku Road. New Zealand has developed two separate and distinct policies towards its forests. It has slashed and burned in the name of development, and it has carefully conserved in the names of beauty and scientific interest. The two policies have never been propclrly reconciled. Bush scenery has been preserved by law, and a Forestry Department has been developed to guard standing timber and extend the country's forests. At the same time the Lands Department has encouraged the clearing of forested land for settlement. Even steep hill sides of the Urewera, which grow trees but could not grow anything else, have been threatened. It is quite obvious to-day that large tracts of country have been cleared that should not have been touched. The quality of much of this land is poor, and its denudation has led to washing away of surface soil, silting of rivers and consequent floods. Yet' we still lack a national classification of forest wealth into what can and what cannot be spared, and a rigorous enforcement of these categories. Take the Mamaku Hills road. It is part of the high road between Auckland and Rotorua, and therefore the bush has a high value as a scenic asset. Following complaints by the county engineer that there was needless destruction of forest on the road, councillors went to see for themselves, and what did they find? That the instructions of the Forestry Department for the preservation of the bush were being ignored; that the beauty of the bush was being destroyed; that timber was being cut in a very wasteful manner; and that in the gaps noxious weeds were growing profusely. And while this is going on, motorists, many of whom have the bush scenery at Mamaku, are engaged in a most praiseworthy movement to plant trees along the main approach to Auckland city. That is to say, we plant trees for ornament and shade on one part of a highway, and at the same time, on another part of the same highway, we allow the destruction of trees

that are providing ornament and shade in abundance. Our offence is all the greater because the native trees we destroy are slowgrowing. It may take as long as a thousand years to produce a great tree, but a few hours' work may lay it low. With all too much justification has it been said that on the coat of arms of this Dominion an axe and a box of matches should be borne.