Lake Manapourt

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29059, 23 November 1959, Page 3

Lake Manapourt

Laxe Sir,-4l wish to join with ALushUlria Woodand others to protesting against the proposed desecration of Lake Manapouri. Surely Mr Lush to right to saying that Manapouri does not belong to the Government. nor to us, the I present generation, but belongs)

primarily to posterity. Future generations may curse us as vandals if we desecrate it. We are morally bound to preserve it for ■their enjoyment. May I also express my astonishment at a passage in your leading article' of November 19? How can you possibly contend that such a desecration, committed for a utilitarian purpose, could promote cultural growth? Surely the first criterion of culture is the valuing and appreciation of beauty. Has not the desecration of this country in the last hundred years been shocking enough already? I ask your acceptance of the proposition that any society that persistently fails to respect and appreciate beauty will ultimately incur a grievous penalty.—Yours, etc., M. BEVAN BROWN. November 19, 1959.

Sir, —Your reasonable editorial on this subject hardly needed the backing of “Civil Engineer” in his special article of November 19. Among his “golden syrupbreathing” statements was that “all the wounds caused by volcanoes, by earthquakes, and by the efforts of men, have been healed.” Has he ever heard of the Pink and White Terraces, of Murchison, of shingle rivers choked by erosion, of the thousands of acres of fertile land spoilt by sluicing which gained a -few ounces of gold, of the beauties of the Marlborough Sounds spoilt by a few boxes of matches? And so on.—Yours, etc NICE HOT BATH. November 19, 1959.

Sir,—Would your mortallywounded correspondents on the above topic agree to any or all of these statements. One, the majority of tourists see the lake only from the road and consider it a humdrum patch of water. Two, the Great Unknowable causes wide variations in the lake level and no protest prayermeetings have been held about this. Three, the average New Zealander would sooner see nature after it has been decorated with concrete or otherwise mucked about. Sightseers throng to Roxburgh hydro and to the Wairakei steam-bores.—Yours, etc., TRANQUILLISER. November 20, 1959.