Kauri Trees

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 72, 18 December 1937, Page 18

Kauri Trees

During the years 1840-43 Mr. T. Laskett, author of a well-known book, “Timber and Timber-trees,” made several visits to New Zealand in his capacity as timber inspector to the British Admiralty, for the purpose of procuring spars fit for the topmasts of line-of-battle ships. During these expeditions he had great opportunities of studying the kauri, and writes of it. in his book. His findings quite upset the theory that the largest kauri trees are anything like the enormous age credited to them by many people, namely, more than 4000 years. The next writer of note to study the question of age was Dr. Hochstetler, and in his well-known book, “New Zealand: Its Physical Geography, Geology and Natural History,” lie gives by far the best and most reliable account of the kauri that has yet been published. He, too, upsets the theory of great age. On page 147 he says: “The oldest and largest trunks attain a diameter of 15 feet, and a height of 150 feet and 180 feet to the top of the crown. Such trees are probably 700 to 800 years ?ld. Having examined several trunk sections I found, as a mean result, from 10 to 12 rings to one inch.”

Investigations by later scientists have established the fact that the average rate of growth is nine to seven years for every inch of the radius of the three; therefore it is fairly easy to tell within a few years the exact age of New Zealand’s forest giants. The great tree at Mercury Bay, popularly supposed to be more than 4000 years old, is nearer 1396, and the specimen at Maunganui Bluff some 1280 years. Worked out on the 9-7 to the inch, a 7ft. tree would be about 400 years and a sft. tree about 290 years.— “M.W.” (Wanganui) .