Blackwood “fairly sound”

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33065, 4 November 1972, Page 21

Blackwood “fairly sound”

The Forest Service has told the Christchurch Girls High School board of governors that the 110 year-old-blackwood tree in the school grounds is “reasonably sound.”

However, the tree showed unmistakeable signs of old age and was in a “dying back” process, which might spread, said the report of the Forest Service inspector. Cutting back some of the

big limbs would help the problem, but would not solve it. Trees were living things and had a definite but unknown life-span and the tree could live on for many years, apart from the fact that a heavy branch could be tom off in a gale. The Forest Service said that the expense of engaging a tree surgeon scarcely would be warranted, especially since it was not known what would happen to the site once it was vacated by the school. ‘HISTORIC’ IN 1940 The blackwood tree was listed in June, 1940, in the journal of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture, as an historic tree. It was number 95 in an article, “Historic Trees of New Zealand,’ by Dr H. H. Allan, according to Mr J. R. Allison, the secretary of the Canterbury regional committee of the Historic Places Trust.

In a letter published in “The Press” on Thursday, Mr W. S. Baverstock said that in 1959, if not before, the tree was one set down for preservation because of its historic value. COUNCIL RECOGNITION In fact, the tree had been included by the Christchurch City Council’s director of reserves on a preliminary list of trees meriting consideration and eventual incorporation in the provisions of the district scheme, said Mr Allison. In a letter to the trust in August, Mr S. W. Burstall, of the Forestry Research Institute, Rotorua, expressed concern that if the school was resited, the tree might be felled by the new owner, said Mr Allison.

Mr Burstall said that the tree (Acacia melanoxylon) was one of the largest and flnest-looking examples of the species in New Zealand. It was planted between

1860 and 1865, by Dr Silas Stedman. And in 1970 its dimensions were: Breast height, 44in.; height, 58ft; spread, 66ft; and trunk height, 14ft. ‘REGRETTABLE’ LACK A report in “The Press,” on June 3, 1959, also gave other trees in Christchurch as having been accepted as historic trees, according to the chairman of the Christchurch Civic Trust (Mr I. G. B. Wilson). The trees were a group of white pines in Riccarton Bush, a ginkgo tree in the south-west quadrangle of the University of Canterbury, and a copper beech at the university.

“The Civic Trust hopes that tree preservation orders will be included in codes of ordinances,” he said. “It is regrettable that the city operative scheme now excludes the trees listed in the appendix of the proposed scheme.”