The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The sun. SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1940. RESTORATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 70, 23 March 1940, Page 8

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The sun.

SATURDAY, MARCH 23, 1940. RESTORATION.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the uyrong that needs resistance, Far the future in the distance, And the good that v.e can do.

The heavy task of reconditioning the country devastated by the flood is now in hand as far as the Public Works Department, the Railways Department and the other bodies charged with the maintenance of roads and railways can take it. But that is not nearly all; it is only the beginning. The surface and clothing of the land from mountain top to valley, the demarcation of forest areas, the restoration of the ranges to their natural order of indigenous vegetation, the complete protection of existing mountain forests—all these must enter into the scope of the restorers, the national working parly. The time has come when the most troublesome problem of all, the transference of misplaced farmers from unsuitable land to areas -where they are safeguarded and enabled to carry on their -work, should be faced. The areas -which they are obliged to vacate by the pressure of natural conditions will have to be left to Nature once more to repair the wrong done by ignorant mankind.

This transference of operations will naturally give a vast amount of inconvenience, and the cost will be great, but there is nothing else for it if the country is to be saved from utter ruin in such places as north and south Taranaki, the southern King Country and the heart of the island round about Taumarunui. Timber clearance, whether for misapplied farming or commercial purposes, in the basin of the Upper Wanganui, where a hundred rivers rise, will have to be stopped; that is imperative. It should be stopped, despite all the objections that will be raised, and most of the milling operations transferred to the west coast of the South Island. If the remnant of the bush in this ravaged island is to be rescued, and if the enormous quantity of soil now being carried out into the ocean is to be saved, all watersheds exceeding a safe degree of steepness, that is an angle at which grass will remain in flood time, and certainly all range tops, should be declared unsuitable for settlement. There is land in safe and fairly level districts which could be turned over to farmers for whom Nature's hand lias been too severe. All this will be most unpalatable to the Government and to others, but can anyone aware of the facts honestly deny that -resolute action of some such kind is inevitable? There is necessitjy-ulso, for restoring the protective wooded banks of the rivers, grent and small. There is no use turning this restorative work over to the Forestry Department, or this job and that to the Department of Agriculture and some other body of officials. It has been urged again and again that a national body with wide powers should be set up to deal with the rebuilding of security for the soil and forest and human population. This to-day should consist of representatives of all the interests concerned, with the widest possible range of action. Xo commissions to take evidence are needed. Nature has brought the evidence before us, and will continue to do so until we draw' the necessary conclusion.