UREWERA COUNTRY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LII, Issue 8570, 16 April 1924, Page 5

UREWERA COUNTRY

.VISIT OF DR L. COCKAYNE

D. 1 I m 1 R s I| ju t 11 t u n li< \\ < llm n loji dim II \ mil to Uu Ji imts id the I n Wi ii i ouuli \ \I !i ipuini B up ot tills i xti ii i\ ui iid A o n L i land is now a in nui ol < im*nh i able public-intei i t itTsinUud nig to learn n r mini., it from the point it mu ol tin scientist . Thh wis iU nh s i l forth by ])r Cod am 1 j i Duinm ion reporter who mtt i w tu d him “The 1 :ewci i uuiiiix suit Dr Cockayne, i, <i \iih (xti i of most mi iv n 1 uni— i lontusul sei’ies ol nn n\ a dims goi n s and fail*!\ lo i\ mount mis —l\i ig south of tin Bi\ d Pli lit\ out embracing lln bismsid tin mo AVhakatane, its tnlmt uu s ml some of those oi tin imi Rm i taiki, while in tin s mth d m eludes the Tlnirau range and Lake, Waikaremoana. All is covered with noble forest cf exffcinc density, ex f -‘pt in a few short, open valleys wii no lie slab Failt villages and the cultivations of the Urewera Alaoris, themselves like their surroundings, still much, as Nature fashioned. To examine these forests, and ascertain their composition, is no easy matter, situated as they are on extremely steep slopes and with, an undergrowth of almost unbelievable density. Evidinth Bom the economic viewpoint they me the only plant-coven ug hit id bn su::h inaccessible c-oicnln md it is not difficult to pictuu vhd would happen should they be interfered with, except in the most open fairly wide valleys and the Itw gentle .slopes. They iu imhcl a natural safeguard against such floods and erosive action as void I irreparably damage the rich lands of the Bay of Plenty. The surface soil is pumice, so easily moved by water from the underlying rock. At present most attempts at grassing the hillsides have resulted in replacing the beneficent forest by barren fern or makomako. Then there is also the water supply of Waikaremoana to he considered, now that this lovely lake is being turned to the service of man in the matter of elec-h-.city. In short, it seems n,n* pern tree that most of the Prewera should bo left in its natural condition. The hillside forests up to 2000 feet altitude contain magnificent stands of rimu in extreme abundance, while on gentler slopes is much lofty kahikatea ami matai. In the basin of the Whilinaki river is totara in extreme abundance, recalling the great trees of the early days. It is to he hoped that many forest reserves will be created, and such' placed under the administration’of the State Forest Service, which alone has the necessary means, knowledge. and skill to see that they are used to the best advantage and in the proper manner. All deplore that so much _ forest throughout the length and breadth of our land has been foolishly destroyed, so that surely by now the lesson has come home, an dthis, almost the last example of primeval New Zealand in the North Island should he dealt with according' to a well-considered plan, its millahle timber being used where practicable, but the forests from which it is taken being otherwise preserved intact to still play their all-important ,part as protectors of the soil. ‘•'At 2000 feet altitude the rimu and its companion plants give place to southern beech forest, with two species, the red and the silver. With them is perhaps the most beautiful flowering free of New Zealand, the tawari—most easy to cultivate —delightful with its profusion of white hlossonns and its lance-shaped, rather thick, dark green, glossy, muchtoothed leave*: so conspicuous are its flowers that the l.reueia Mauris hsvc tor them the special num c. Whakou. The _ scientific ,1-iiik' ff Tvf'vff' Lvevo'des: it found onlv in New Z< aland, has -o n. ir kDßvp aoy ~1 n,w. rm earth, and ilmre is but il, .v ( ,i-p w'iTi''', •>i 1 I \ ; , ’ moo i i iff %