BIROS AND FORESTS.

Evening Star, Issue 23128, 30 November 1938, Page 10

BIROS AND FORESTS.

The preservation of New ‘Zealand bush and bird life has become a matter of such importance in the eyes of most inhabitants of the Dominion that the attitude taken up by the Hon. W. E. Parry (Minister of Internal Affairs) in answer to the Southland Acclimatisation Society’s request for an open season for pukeko and godwits and for the protection of wapiti should win wide support. '■ Mr 'Parry attempted nothing in the way of political circumlocution when he told the deputation which waited on him that he could not hold out much hope for the wapiti. Apparently he is well aware of the fact that scarcely anything—certainly nothing that an animal can do—is more destructive than the methods adopted by the wapiti in breaking through native bush and procuring sustenance from it. People who do nob believe that acclimatisation societies should be allowed to perpetuate the mistakes made in the early days will surely concur with the department’s declaration of war on what Mr Parry terms “the lot ” —deer, goats, thar, and chamois. In regard to the godwit, it may be said that the world has taken it to heart, and there is no urgent reason why the bird should not be given sanctuary in New Zealand, which should be a paradise for birds, after its return from migration, and indeed at all times. Farmers, Mr Parry reminded his audience, could obtain permission to destroy pukeko if it were found that these birds were harming stacks. It is reassuring to know that the present season for shooting will not bo altered to suit the whims of sportsmen. It is now well known that the questions of preserving bird life and the fulsome beauty of the native bush are interwoven. Our forests provide food for birds which are unparalleled either for beauty of plumage or sweetness of song, and in return the birds, through their seed-carrying, accomplish little miracles of their own in helping man to keep the country suitably garbed with foliage, and thus give his arable laud needful protection from flood ravages. The problem of soil erosion has been scientifically threshed out in recent years; it is undeniable that bird life is more essential to the national wellbeing than the sport provided by such animals as deer. Fortunately the Dominion is gradually awakening to the fact that it is high time it shed its notoriety as “ the only country with a forest policy which does not provide for the perpetuation of its own timber trees.” Apart from the war on deer, there is now progressive pressure towards maintaining bush which shields river sources, binds soil on steep, high ridges, and fringes roads and banks. The load given by such bodies as the Wanganui Acclimatisation Society is worth following. Five or six years ago the society organised a scheme to plant and rajise trees that produced nectar and berries for bird life, and since the inauguration process thousands of young trees have been distributed not only in the Wanganui district, but also in many other parts of the Dominion where bird lovers have interested themselves in the movement. The heads of Government‘departments will assuredly have been more favourably impressed by Wanganui’s efforts than they are likely to be by the Southland Society’s recent representation^.