Industrial Threat To Scenic Assets Discussed In Report

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29251, 8 July 1960, Page 14

Industrial Threat To Scenic Assets Discussed In Report

(Neto Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 7. During the last year New Zealand had come face to face with a problem already met in many older countries—the conflict between industrial development and conservation, said the DirectorGeneral of Lands (Mr D. N. B. Webb) in the annual report of the Department of Lands and Survey, tabled in the House of Representatives today by the Minister of Lands (Mr Skinner). "Centres of controversy have been Aratiatia. on the Waikato river, the site of a proposed hydro-electric scheme, and the Lake Manapouri area, where an agreement between the Government and Consolidated Zine Pty„ Ltd. allows the company to investigate the potentialities of hydroelectric development,” said the step was the appointment of a committee of the National Parks Authority to work with senior members of the Ministry of Works and the New Zeeland Electricity Department to minimise damage when roads, railways, transmission lines, and other developments essential in the national interest infringed on scenic attractions. ‘The authority is working quietly but with determination to honour the trust which is its responsibility ” said the report. As a positive step toward mak-

ing the tourist and power area near Wairakei and Aratiatia more attractive, Mr C. M. Smith, former Director of the Botany Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, had been employed in an advisory capacity. “With the full co-operation of the Ministry of Works, and the Electricity, Internal Affairs, and Tourist Departments, he to planning beautification and scenery renovation not only in Wairakei and Aratiatia, but also in the whole Taupo basin,” the report continued.

“The proposals involve the establishment of a native plant nursery In the Taupo area to produce trees and plants suitable to the particular climate and soil."