PARK BOARD INQUIRY

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 19 September 1934, Page 11

PARK BOARD INQUIRY

SOUTH MEMBERS SUPPORTED APPROVAL OF ACTION TAKEN PHOTOGRAPHS EXAMINED. Members of the,South Committee of the Egmont National Park Board met at Dawson Falls yesterday afternoon and passed a motion fully endorsing the action taken by the chairman (Mr W. G. Walkley), Mr G. J. Bayley and the secretary (Mr L. 0. Hooker) in connection with the recent disclosures of the extent of timber cutting operations on the eastern slopes of Mount Egmont. In moving the .motion, Mr A. V. Tait said he understood an inquiry was being held, and in that event he would like the chairman and Messrs Bayley and Hooker to know that they had the support of every member of the committee in the action they had taken. “I was pleased to hear of the strong stand of Messrs Walkley and Bayley at the last meeting of the board in an endeavour to put a stop to this destruction in the bush,” said Mr Tait. “We have never countenanced it on the south side of the mountain and while it has been in progress on the east side it seems to have been nobody’s business until the board was forced into taking full stock of the position. I have visited 1 the east side and could hardly believe my eyes at what I saw there.”

The motion was seconded by Mr E. L. Abbott who, too, said that the occasion should not be allowed to pass without confirmation of the action taken by the committee’s representatives on the board and also the work of Mr Hooker in procuring photographic evidence. Enlargements of the photographs taken were examined by the members. Each one depicted some phase of the timber-cutting operations on York Road and included views of the stumps of huge live trees cut by bushmen and covered with moss, ferns and other vegetation.

“Apart from the photographs there can be no more convincing proof of the extent of the timber cutting operations than this newspaper reporter's story published a few days ago,” said Mr Hooker. Reading from a newspaper cuttings’ file, Mr Hooker said that no less than 20(H) fencing posts and 100 cords of firewood had been taken from the top of York Road during the past four months. Some of this had been supplied by at least twelve standing trees and the whole of the work had been done by four men at the instructions of the East Committee on contract but without the semblance of a written document. One of the trees which had been felled had been a forest giant in. every sense of the word. It was a beautiful totara, without a vestige of decay or rot. Before the blade of the bushman’s axe was put into it, it measured over 15 feet round the bole and stood fully 50 feet high. The diameter of the stump was just over five feet. The actual "felling of that one tree was beyond comprehension, but an equal amount of damage was wrought to theundergrowth. Beautiful and delicate ferns, for which the reserve was renowned, and many young native trees had been smashed.

‘ ‘.SLAUGHTERED MERCILESSLY. ’ ’

That totara was the largest tree which had been felled and it provided 130 fencing posts, but for a mile up the track which had been transformed into a quagmire by the comings and goings of heavily burdened lorries, stacks of posts and firewood gave abundant evidence of .disregard for the beauty of standing native bush. Within the mile might be seen- no fewer than 32 stacks of posts and firewood and not one contained less than a cord of fuel or 100 posts while •some contained as much as five cords. The trees- which had been slaughtered so mercilessly and wantonly included totara, rimu, broadleaf, rata and maire. And all this had been done without any contract and without any supervision. The part of the reserve at the end of York Road was not widely known, but those who knew of the locality frequently used it as a picnic place, "for which it was ideally suited, with a clear rippling stream and occasional patches of grass. There were several such places in the various sections of the reserve and in order that they might be kept suitable fo-r picnickers the Egmont National Park Board some years ago gave its committees power to remove fallen timber. It had not been possible to learn the amount received from the various committees from this source but there was no doubt that the powers had been exceeded by some party or parties in the York Road area. One of the four men Who had been engaged on the work, Mr C. Volzke,

of the East Committee for a quote for splitting and placing on the side of the track “fallen trees -within a chain of the track on both sides and any standing trees which I thought necessary. ” The price was quoted at a certain amount per cord of firewood and a certain amount per fencing post. The work was to be done under contract and the officer arranged for another man to act the role of salesman in the disposal of the -wood, but there was absolutely no written agreement and Mr Volzke was definite that he appended his signature to no document in connection with the work. It was purely a verbal agreement and there was nothing binding on either party. The work commenced in May. OPERATIONS EXTENDED. Three other bushmen were engaged by Mr Volzke to assist him and the party camped at the radius line and commenced their assault on the native timber of the reserve. A short while later, says Mr Volzke, he found the limit of one chain on either side of the track too restricting .and he applied to the person with whom he made the agreement for permission to extend his operations to the streams, one of which ran about 150 yards from the track on each side, and this permission was ganted. Work proceeded steadily, the men keeping within their instructions, according to Mr Volzke, until about 2000 posts and 100 cords of firewood were split. As weather permitted the timber was taken out to satisfy the orders received by the salesman, about 24 cords of firewood and an undetermined number of posts being removed.

The men worked for four months absolutely free of supervision. They made out their own tallies, and payment was made when the figures were sent to the committee’s office each month.

When the outcry about the wanton destruction of native bush commenced on Friday last the four men were immediately discharged, but Mr Volzke was making a final tally and finishing the splitting of a dead broadleaf. “I suppose I ’ll get the blame for all this now,” he said, “but I followed my instructions. It seems to me like everybody trying to push the blame on to someone else.”

Whoever was to blame and whether instructions were followed or disregarded the fact remained that 2000 posts and. 100 cords of firewood had been split from a national forest reserve, and in the felling of the trees innumerable shrubs and delicate units of the beautiful undergrowth had been destroyed.

FALLEN LIVE TREES. Operations had ceased, but that would not repair the damage already done. It had been claimed, and would, no doubt, be claimed again that the . fallen trees were '"dead. They were not, and the evidence lies in the 32 stacks of beautiful timber standing at the side of tne track —memorials to someone’s blunder. Further evidence lay in the vast amount of -sapfilled slabbing which it was necessary to remove to reach the best wood for posts. “The committee may maintain that the instructions of its officer were disregarded and the bushmen may hold that they carried out instructions faithfully,” the report, concluded. “The blunder lies in the absence of a written document, with the aid of which the blame for the destruction might have keen directed against the responsible party.” “If that report is true I think the East Committee ought to be asked to resign,” declared Mr Ira J. Bridger at the conclusion of Mr Hooker’s remarks. “I think it is scandalous. The board ought to confiscate the posts.” Mr Walkley: That is what we wanted the board to Jo, but no one would support us. The motion was carried unanimously.