BRINGING BACK THE TREES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 150, 20 March 1936, Page 10

BRINGING BACK THE TREES

The Minister of Internal Affairs will find he has touched a responsive chord in the hearts of Wellington citizens by his ardent advocacy of restoring the city’s early setting of native bush. There are few people of the present generation who do not regret the excessive lengths to which the axe and the firebrand have been carried in the settlement of our country, and every effort to make amends can rely upon wide silent support. In Wellington not only the Beautifying Society, which Mr. Parry especially mentions, but also the Reserves Department of the City Corporation is actively engaged in such an effort, although neither of them on as large a scale. as would be possible with more money. That is a point upon which Mr. Parry may care to remark in Cabinet. Planting to beautify, however, implies something more than simple afforestation, or even reafforestation. There should be an attempt at artistic blending of growth, and not exclusively of native growth. By all means let us have native trees and shrubs, and in predominance; but a skilful arborist will not hesitate to splash his living canvas with the colours of other lands.