HEARTS OF OAK

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 181, 2 August 1944, Page 4

HEARTS OF OAK

| WOOD FOR BOMBERS ] COLLiK'GWOQD'S FORESIGHT But for the wisdom and foresight of a British admiral of 150 years ago in undertaking a one-man afforestation scheme for the preservation of England's mighty oaks, the Mosquito bomber, extra light and super-fast fighting machine of the R.A.F., may never have been built. The construction of the Mosquito calls for a balsa wood covering over, a framework of oak. When the need for this oak became apparent, an unavailing search was conducted ov°r a wide area for suitable trees. Plenty of oaks were found, but were discovered to have been *'poJJarded,"-j that is, the main members had been lopped , off many years ago, and thei trees stripped ox" their bark. The wood was* useless for the construction of aircraft. It was not until the oak trees planted a century and a half ago by Admiral Lord Collingwood were discovered that oak could be used in building the bombers. There, in the north and Midlands of England, Britain has all the good solid oak she needs, as the result of the admiral's painstaking, self-imposed task. After Trafalgar, where Collingwood took command after Nelson died in the hour of victory. British politicians among themselves refused to undertake a scheme of re- ' afforestation that would assure the Roj'al Navy in the future all the oak it wanted "for the gallant fighting ships of the time. Collingwood knew : that England relied on oak for her

ships, and would always need oak. He tried every means in his power 1.0 have the scheme put into operation, but without result. In these davs the Royal Navy had ■ the right to take whatever oaks it needed, and for that reason many landowners, thinking that the need for building ships had passed, decided that if they grew any trees at all they would not be oak. Where oak trees were already growing on their estates, they "pollarded" them so that they would be of no use for the building of warships. Admiral Coliingwood made strenuous efforts to obtain leave to carry out his plan of replacing England's oak trees. When he did get it, which was very rarely, he would nil his pockets with acorns and go out and plant them, sometimes in plantations, sometimes only in a row, sometimes even singly. He worked at his task all day and every day during his leave periods until his death. To-day scores of thousands of oaks stand in the north as an abundant source of material for the construction of machines a hundred times faster and more powerful than the old "wooden walls." They bear witness to the vision of a man who could see further ahead than the immediate defeat of an enems*. Though he had never heard of Arbor Day, Admiral Coliingwood was undoubtedly imbued with its spirit. "RACKET" DANGER SEEN