The People’s Scenery

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 163, 11 July 1941, Page 7

The People’s Scenery

LOCAL AND NATIONAL VIEWS A reminder that kauri trees are riot yet properly' appreciated as national scenic assets is given by a report from Tauranga, received by the Forest and Bird Protection Society. A timber company asked for the Tauranga County Council’s support in acquiring a stand of kauri trees on the hills of Katikati. The chairman stated that “the view of the local residents was that the trees should be cut.” “Why do the residents have that view? ’' asks Captain E. V. Sanderson. “Is it because they expect to share in the profit of the cutting? Any gain of that kind could quickly pass away, and the district would be the poorer for the loss of a scenic asset. There is constant pressure for the slaughter of the remaining noble kauris. Even in the state forests the axe and saw are busyon the excuse that it is advisable to cut out the biggest trees and thus leave more fepace for the younger ones to thrive. In a natural kauri forest big nud little trees thrive together. Nature can maintain a forest in majesty', but meddling man thinks he can give helpful lessons to nature. Unless the people of New Zealand take a keener interest in the preservation of noble kauri giants they will be sacrificed on the altar of short-sighted materialism, which is the modern name of mammon. ”