DANCER OF SPRAWL

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31090, 20 June 1966, Page 11

DANCER OF SPRAWL

“I feel sure that much of New Zealand’s coastline could soon disappear in the face of urban sprawl” said Mr N. C. Mitchel visiting lecturer in geography from Queen’s University, Belfast. “Already In Britain and the United States, industrial development and urban sprawl has had a devastating eSect on coastal and inland areas set aside for National Parks,” said Mr Mitchel. Mr Mitchel was addressing the annual meeting of the Canterbury branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand on natural resources.

“Many New Zealander's would find overseas national parks very strange compared with those in New Zealand” said Mr Mitchel. But the aims of the protection societies and park authorities were the same. “A National Park must be a museum in its own way. It must offer an intellectual challenge as well as being an area of scientific study. “The natural resources of many parks especially in the United States have been ruined by misuse, and are in danger of being loved to death.” Mr Mitchel said that in 1925, two million people visited parks in the United States. In 1960 there were eight million visitors and by the year 2000 there would be 154 million visitors each year. “It is a question of using or preserving our natural resources” said Mr Mitchel.