The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1936. NATIONAL PARKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 57, 7 March 1936, Page 8

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1936. NATIONAL PARKS.

For the cause that lacks assistance) For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, 'A_nd the good that vie can do.

More than forty years have passed since the Government of New Zealand adopted the idea of reserving and preserving places and areas of scenic, biological or historical interest. There are now 965 scenic reserves, most of them small, but aggregating 671,000 acres in area, and there are eight national parks, of which one, the Sounds National Park, occupies 2,266,000 of the total area of 2,845,630 acres. This, as Mr. E. Phillips Turner remarked in his address to the Institute of Horticulture, is a creditable record for a small country. The reservation has been accomplished, and there is now a sufficiently strong public opinion to ensure that the great work shall not be undone by deliberate action, but there remains for this and future generations the duty of ensuring that it is not undone through failure to preserve the reserved areas in their natural state. First, what is the purpose of reservation ? In some few places, notably Little Barrier and Kapiti Islands, the purpose is to preserve the birds, and these islands are sanctuaries not open to the general public. But the great majority of our national parks and scenic reserves are always open to the public, and the improvement of highways and the rapid growth in the popularity of, motoring have resulted in much larger numbers of people discovering the exceeding and varied beauty of the national heritage. And there can be no doubt that their numbers will increase even more rapidly in future. The responsibility of those who control the national parks and reserves is therefore becoming greater, and this alone furnishes a reason for seriously considering Mr. Phillips Turner's suggestion -—based on a lifetime of experience—that there should be a change in the system of control. Mr. Phillips Turner proposes that the purpose of reservation should be positively, clearly and permanently defined by law, so that no departure from that purpose can be made. Further, he considers that Board control of parks and reserves is not satisfactory, and that where it exists it should be replaced by the control of a distinct branch of the Lands Department. Nothing can be said against the first proposal; indeed it is possible that if it ' were given effect the existing Boards would then have a "consistent policy," which Mr. Phillips Turner complains they lack at present. But on general grounds any proposal to dispense with the voluntary services of public-spirited men and women in favour of the paid services of a Government Department must be viewed with doubt. If some Board members have "little interest in and' no knowledge of the measures necessary to ensure the maintenance of the vegetation of the park in its natural condition," then those members are not the best available, and a discriminating Minister will see to it that they are not reappointed.

But new laws and a new administrative system will not alone assure the preservation bf national parks and reserves. The only sure foundation is a public opinion based on knowledge, and the place to lay the foundation is in the schools. A good case could be made out for attaching the proposed Bureau of National Parks and Scenic Reserves not to the Lands Department, but to the Department of Education. If the boys and girls now at school can be taught that the national reserves are— during their lifetimes —their own property, to be cherished, protected and enjoyed, the future will be assured.