PRESERVING THE UREWERA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 118, 21 May 1938, Page 8

PRESERVING THE UREWERA.

"One farmer (from north of Napier) reports that . . . his property has bfeen completely denuded of 1200 acres of hillside pasture. The pastures of the Te Pohue area have been obliterated by slips, 'which have not merely removed the grass and topsoil, but have washed the soil away right back to the bare rock. . . . Another settler in the same locality has lost just on 1000 acres*4n the same way." The report of which this is one passage should be read in conjunction with the statement made at Whakatane by the Minister of Lands, the Hon. P. Langstone, expressing determination to conserve the Urewera bush. He said that if the community allowed the timber to be felled in the watersheds of the hree rivers "which had their sonrce in the Jrewera it would mean the destruction of the lands and homes of the settlers. Mr. Langstone eserves hearty congratulations upon his efforts thus to bring to the people a realisation of the link between reckless deforestation and disastrous floods. There is a widespread public tendency, after expressing concern and sorrow at the damage caused by one flood, to forget all about the subject until another flood occurs. In combating that tendency, and in insisting not only upon conservation of remaining forests, but on a comprehensive reafforestation programme, the Minister should have the support of all non-partisan organisations. In the case of the Urewera, there are other reasons impelling action besides those mentioned by the Minister. The rapid improvement of motor roads a is bringing the Urewera region within easy reach of Auckland. It should be, in the near future, one of the most favoured holiday resorts in this part of the Dominion. But its value will be lost if its ratural condition is not jealously preserved a sample of primitive New Zealand.