LAKE MANAPOURI.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 94, 14 January 1908, Page 7

LAKE MANAPOURI.

THE FOREST DYING. ' '.

' , FOtJR.NEW LAKES. : . (DT, TELEOBAI'II—SPECIAL COHBEBPONDENT.) ' Clirlsichurch. January 13. It will come as a shock to many who have admired the-beauty' of Lake .-Manapouri. to hear,' on. the ; authority of Mr. S. li. Moreton, a well-known Christchiirch artist, who has been' faiftiliarwith' the lake and' its Surroundings for'the past forty years, .that its charms are.passing-away, arid/ that' there. is a great danger of its forests being Utterly destroyed at the baso of Mount Maiiapburi. ' ' Mr. Moreton said to a "Press" representative"'l" found a," great' many .'.tracks which had almost the same r.ppearance as cattle-tracks: In traversing the 'bush for. a very considerable distance, 1 found the forest fact, dying. This has caused 1 mo a great deal of concern, because when I was on'the lake I made the discovery that there was a pink tinge on the timber which was not natural to evergreen bush. Travelling several miles each way to ascertain what this, meant, I found that these ciittlo tracks wero extending through the forest, and that they were killing *the forest. , The whole of the' breastwork of the forest wherever I landed has 'boeii' totally 'destroyed by pigs, which have rooted 'it open. As sooii as the breastwork is open and the wind gets in the fato of the forest is sealed. It will dio, and that is what is going on at Manapouri. Four years ago' I noticed the devastation caused by the pigs. Now the. Uamago has bcconio more general. The same devastation' is going on over miles, artd it is only , a question of time when the whole of the country surrounding the lake will be denuded. Tho ; beauty'of. tho country,will then be gone." While at Manapouri, Mr. Moreton saw : four new. lakes, whoso existence has not previously. been, remarked.. In Mr., Moreton's opinion, they lie in the route of an old 'outlet of Manapouri.' Between tho chain of lakes : there is a. heavy forest, but tlie ground is merely quagmire. ■ Mr.' Moreton had a word to say about tho •detestable mosquito. "I have never," lie ! said.with emphasis,'" in all my travelling in Africa, India, and Australia, met tho equal 'of the spiteful naturo of the. mpsquito-I met witli this season." /Nothing was too difficult : for them to penetrate, and the noise they rmado was tromeiidoiis. Mr. Moreton considers that they, wiH'have a very bad offeet 'oil tourist traffic to Manapouri.