NATURE AND MAN

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 12869, 23 May 1936, Page 12

NATURE AND MAN

THIS YEAR’S TREE DAY

MEMORIAL TO SIR FRANCIS BELL.

(Edited by Leo Fanning)

When the hands of the clock sprang hack the other night, the face of winter peered over the sky line at fall off next day. ‘‘Nearly dark at five o’ clock,’’ people said in many parts of New Zealand. So plenty of folk began to think of the kinds of coal and wood which, in their belief, would help to fill the long nights with cosiness. March of the seasons! Decline and fall o'! the sun’s empire! A sinking of sap for a rising in the spring, then a glow of daffodils, and then summer, roses, Christmas and next; En star.—and* a not her y<>n r tick ec 1 off for all of us.

Now that flio young of the plant world are beginning to drowse through the winter in many nurseries, isttu.i'o-lovcrs should turn- their thoughts to Tree Day, which promises to have the best celebration since it was projected long ago. ‘‘Come tine, Come all’’ is practically the call ol the Hon. W. E. Barry, Minister of Infernal Affairs in an exhortation to the public to have Tree Years instead of Tree Days. ‘lbis moans that the Minister has invited the .people to set the pace for him. Will they not ic=pond? Will they not encourage him to stop out ? Yes. No doubt a public monument in stone will be set, up somewhere in honour of a great worker for New Zealand, Sir Francis Bell. But a bet lor. memorial will he in the planting of trees, which were over dear to Ids heart. The enduring love, of Sir Francis 801 l for ills country won him firm friendship among political opponents. Whatever differences they could have had with him in mntf'-rs of incidence of taxation and other questions of the political hurly-burly, they were with him all the way in his active zeal for saving of necessary forests. Words worthy of that national fervour have been written by another distinguished nature-lover, James Cowan. -‘The late Sir Francis Dillon Bell.’’ he states --deserves to ho held in honour 'd remembrance lor his long and p?rsisiant advocacy ol the peumaneni preservation oi New Zoal'ind’s indigenous forest. All lias life ho was a lover o’ the hush and a keen observer of its life, and lie acutely realised everything that the forests meant to the country. He was tlie first- and only Commissioner of State Forests to make an earnest effort to preserve from destruction large areas oi native bush. When he began the administration of the Department there was an eirea or about a million a cues reserved as State forests; when bo relinquished the position he had increased the area to eight million acres. He also framed a policy for iho reduction of the export timber, realising that the coiihtry could not afford to deplete its resources in such a traffic. In this policy he was supported by Sir •Joseph Ward; both wove then members of t.he National Government..’' Well, New Zealanders, should not. Sir F J ‘ancis Bell be honoured everywhere in the Dominion during this year’s Tree Day:’

AUCKLAXD AWAK EX IXG

It is not. surprising that Aucklanders arc supporting with real enthusiasm a proposal for placing the title “national park’’ on the beautiful native woodlands o' the Waitak«re Ranges, from which the city draws its water. The surprise is that tliis movement did not begin long ago. Repents and editorials in the Auckland newspapers indicate that the ideal will bo achieved, 4or the citizens recognise that in the matter they have a duty to the whole or New Zealand as well as to themselves. Any district which has natural beauty has a natural duty in preserving it. When the Auckland campaign reaches definite su.os.vs, somebody should go to One Tice Hill and plant, a '.monument, in honour of the. vi.tory over procrastination—a native tree to take the place,in time, of the' two bedraggled gnarled old fallen pines, which stand gloomin.gly and druekeuly on Hie nrblo oo.v-i that- commands inspiring views of both coasts.

BRACE-BACKED 0 E i L - GENTLEMAN!

I do not like the b!a?k-l-uked gull .-is much as 1 like a lantail or a groywarbler. Yet 1 do like him in a "'ay. despite his cold pallid eve—“an oar- r e.ve and greedy.” I had ahvnys thought. that the gull was a selfish Aohhcr, keen to snatch a morsel f oin .-v pal. Yet 11. CuthricsSmilli lias seen the- ‘‘black-back” iu another role—U saint or self-denial. Here is one of his observations of these gulls near Stewart Island:—

“Upon a convenient rock the birds, •stood, and af long intervals pounc'd upon stuff brought in by the waves. Once tho supply appeared to he something in the nature o‘‘ a jelly-fish, at anoMi.'r it looked like a dead bird. Each of the gulls thus in turn secured a scanty m al, and each in turn absolutely respected his mate’s pmpr'etary rights. A share was never n kr-di for, no, nor even n. hint of hunger overtly expressed—ni resIrn.int, and self-control: the. more remarkable from the evident desire ot one of the pair ifor further lood. 1 saw this bird standing Avithin a font or two of its gorging guzzling companion and simulating the actions of the latter to the life, rending, dabbing, and shakmg.” BOYS AND BIRDS

The article—“ Boys Are Killing Our Rinks"—from the p n of a thirteeuvear old hoy (mentioned in a previous column of “Nature—and Man”) was supported by an editorial comment in “Nature .Vlagazin v” “This is undoubtedly true,” the Avritoc remarked. “Often it is the city hoys who come to the country, but those who hfavo always lived Avherc birds arcs more or loss plentiful arc sometimes guilty. The destruction of birds is something that parents and teachers together must work to overcome. That attitude of. young persons toAvai'd wild life can be changed at- school hut the schools could do much more a/Uli conservation if the

borne had given the right Attitude toward it. In schools, science clubs that devote time to the study and promotion of birds should hp encouraged. Annual exhibitions of bird houses, feeding devices, notebooks made in tb.fi field, have been found helpful in promoting interest in bird study if the exhibition of these articles by the pupils is pur entirely on a voluntary bus’s. Having occasional talks by someone interested in birds of the community, showing lantern slides or motion pictures, having talks by pupils and going on field trips are standard ways of conducting bird clubs. Since pupils are more responsive to the ideas ofi other pupils than to those of grownups, this club idea is a good way to break up- the 'had habit of testing marksmanship on birds.”