SAVING OF WILD LIFE

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 74, 20 December 1929, Page 7

SAVING OF WILD LIFE

PLEA FOR NATIONAL PARK BY LORD BLIJDISLOE

Lord Bledisloe, Governor-General designate of New Zealand, in a recent contribution to the “Daily Express,” advocated a national park for the saving of wild life, the joys of which could be shared by human beings. “At first sight the possible incursion of rowdies and the scattering of litter seem likely to prove serious obstacles to any such scheme. But I have few misgivings in the matter,” he wrote. “We have grown so used to regarding the ‘tripper’ as a vandal that we cannot imagine conditions under which such people, instead of wanting to destroy or maim wild life, will as a matter of honour and national duty feel themselves bound to protect it. Yet this has been the experience of the trans-Atlan-tic national park authorities. By bringing protected wild life in direct contact with groups of visitors within a 'sanctuary,’ a sense of duty to protect all that is beautiful in nature and in art is speedily developed in the least refined and sensitive of men. Before long they realise that vandalism ana untidiness are not necessary factors in the enjoyment of the countryside, and that birds, badgers, butterflies-and bluebells were not meant to be harassed or rendered incongruous by brom bottles, ‘beaups/ JwUtoags