A WARNING THAT SHOULD BE HEEDED

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 283, 24 August 1940, Page 10

A WARNING THAT SHOULD BE HEEDED

Mr. Leigh Hunt’s warning in his address as chairman at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Forestry League against the dangers of soil erosion in this country through uncontrolled timbercutting touches no new problem. What he complains of is the apparent dilatoriness of the Government and other controlling authorities to put in hand forest conservation measures where these are urgently needed. He refers particularly, as local illustrations in point, to the process of forest denudation being allowed to go on apparently unchecked in the hill country which forms the watersheds of the Otaki, Waitohu, Waikawa, and Ohau rivers. In the Akatarawa area, com prising portion of the catchment basin of the Hutt River, a similar process is said to he at work, 1 here can be no doubt that unless this is checked, serious problems of flooding and soil erosion will arise in the future. The Akatarawa forest-clad hills are of especial importance in their relation to Wellington’s future water supplies This is a matter in which the Wellington City Council is immediately concerned, as indiscriminate cutting in this area may create risks to its own adjacent controlled reserve.