ARBOR DAY REMINDER.

Kaikoura Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 60, 3 August 1944, Page 2

ARBOR DAY REMINDER.

TREES FOB LIFE. “Although the war again interferes with a proper national celebration of Arbor Day the war itself emphasises the of preparations for big schemes of tree-planting to replace losses due to the war,” states the Hon. W. E. Parry (Alinister of Internal Affairs). “All the nations involved have been forced into a hugely increased use of timber for various purposes of war, aud on top of that expanded consumption in the old world, has come the destruction. from incendiary bombs and from “earth scorching” in a great area of Europe. Alan has waged war on Nature as well as on mankind, and Nature will take her revenge unless man makes haste to repair the broken balance. Not tree days, but tree years, nijust be the vital concern of mankind in many countries for decades to some. The human race, to maintain its place on the earth, must form a perpetual alliance with trees which help to form and save the life-giving soil. “Arbor Day this year comes at a time when the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council is well on the way with its campaign for soil-saving, which links up with that saving of for cats on steep watersheds and treeplanting in certain areas. The co-opera-tion of the Education Department which has given great service in the promotion of tree-planting will enable the soil-savers to give some very impressive lessons to pupils with films and illustrated publications. Similar lessons will be given to farmers aud others. Farmers, in the mass, must learn for their own advantage, that they must have an enduring friendship with trees.

“It is heartily hoped that this year’s planting of ceremonial trees will include many Jiving memorials of soldiers who have given their lives for their country. Far better than a slab of stone is a living tree as a monument. At a favourable time a conference will be arranged of men and women interested in the planning of plantations which will commemorate New Zealand’s part in the war—trees in memory of the Navy, the Army, and the Air Force and Nurses, frees in memory of campaigns in which New Zealanders have won world fame. One can have a vision of those trees in all parts of the Dominion, trees of inspiration. A start was made with such planting during the last war. The Borough of Eastbourne, on the shore of Wellington Harbour, is credited with the first Anzac Alen|orial, a pohutakawa, planted on Anzac Day, 1916. Tree memorials figured notably during the Centennial period. All of those trees of remembrance will help to create that national tree-mindedness necessary for the maintenance of national welfare. This will be a worthy honouring of the dead helping the living.”