NATIVE AND EXOTIC TREES

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 75, 28 March 1936, Page 8

NATIVE AND EXOTIC TREES

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Your correspondent, "Beppo," of March 25, draws attention to the damage being wrought by denudation of • the surrounding hills. I would appeal to your' readers to visit the estuary of the Hutt River after a day or two's heavy rain to see for themselves the terrific amount of topsoils which are being carried down by the water. Multiply this damage by the number of rivers in New Zealand, and one will realise what poverty our country will be faced with in not many years ahead! Just because (as "Beppo" says) we are "tied to the town," is it not our privilege, nay, duty, to take an active interest, and definite action in the matter, by first associating ourselves in any movement whose object is to get down to the removal ■ of causes of this soil erosion? I am not a propagandist for any particular body, but in suggesting the Forest and Bird Protection Society a definite lead is given to those who wish to help but may not have made contact with such a movement, which is worth many thousands of pounds to our country. As for the latter portion of "Beppo s suggestion inviting the City Council to plant out areas'such as Highland Park, Ngaio, etc., as has been done elsewhere in the city, may I implore the said council to confine their planting to indigenous trees? When one views such reserves as that leading up to Brooklyn, which, on examination, re- %- veals a collection of exotics and native shrubs and trees, one wonders who is responsible for this. Much discussion is centred round the point of natives versus exotics, and I would like to quote from a contemporary (the best advice which can be given on the point and advice which will appeal to all true New Zealanders): ". . . . Viscount Bledisloe, on the occasion of the opening of Brooklands Park at New Plymouth, should not be passed over light]y T>o not on any account," he said, ■and however great the temptation may be mix up your native and your exotic STmlt a love of the Old Land or a pride in the "Devon glorious Devon" of your ancestors should stir ?p sentiment in favour of incursions of the latter into the sacred P«cuicte of the former. If you or your children effect this, this magnificent environment of pure native bush V* be tar ever ruined in the eyes not only of expert botanists but of those who love symmetry and arborial compatibility Ind who^eem Nature's primevalpan to be better even than that of the most experienced landscape gardener. Jurt as well-nigh on a century ago your pioneer forefathers made English homes and clustered round: English firesides amid New Zealand surroundings, so let New Zealand native bush continue to constitute without any exotic adulterant the verdant belt of this reserve, however much you may Anglicise the area which it enj dosed.' »-I am, etc.,