Save the Trees

Northern Advocate, 13 March 1913, Page 2

Save the Trees

SIR RIDKIt H.U-KUKD'S ADVICE.

DANGERS OF EROSION

"You have some trees left; for heaven's sake save them," is the advice Sir Rider Haggard offers to the people of New Zealand. He has made a special study of the evils of rash destruction of forests, and the possibilities of conserving and restoring forests in many countries, and his advice should be that of one knowingsomething of the subject. He was a member of a Royal Commission on Afforestation in Great Britain in 1910, which presented a report which was then, and is now, esteemed most valuable. Xow he is in New Zealand a member of another commission which is investigating the industries and the productivity of the component parts of the Empire, with a view to making recommendations for the improvement of trade relations. He gave a short interview to a "Dominion" representative oil the subject of afforestation. "Everywhere," he said, "I have seen examples of the evil wrought by ruthless destruction of forests. I have seen rivers, small streams, running shallow in a wide shingle bed, where, I am informed, the river was formerly confined within a much narrower bed. In some cases I believe rivers which were once navigable are not so now, owing to this erosion of the banks and the spreading of the bed. I have seen hillsides scarred, where the soil, denuded of the protecting trees, has not held.. Already (and he has seen scarcely any of the worst examples in the North Island) I have seen rough pat dies of ground which apparently cannot be cultivated stripped of trees, or left with the fired trees rotting on the ground. I appreciate the necessity for getting rid of trees in order to get land into production, but why not save the rough patches? I have been told that small pieces of bush will not withstand your winds, but they will if you leave the patches big enough.

r "If you do not save your trees now, I you will rue it in fifty years or less. For it is not only in the loss of timber tiiat the country will suffer, but in fertility of the soil. Trees do not attract rain, as is commonly supposed, but they hold moisture in suspense until it finds a natural outlet slowly. Forests also act as a shade to prevent too rapid evaporation of moisture required by the soil. On the other hand, rain falling on treeless hillsides courses down the slopes as off a roof, and there is erosion. The water reaches the river valleys too rapidly for the stream to carry off the flow within its banks, and the banks are torn away, and the stream bed filled up. "Yes, I have seen a little of your attempts at reafforestation. They are all right, I believe, so far as they go. But look at the trees you are planting! You are planting sappy conifers, to take the place of the splendid trees you are destroying. Some of those

magnificent trees (and he pointed to a stout telegraph pole, which looked like totara) must be a thousand years, old. I am given to understand that a totara tree lives for two thousand years. It is out. of the question to attempt to grow such trees again, but try to save those you have. A fire in a few hours will undo the work of hundreds of years, but it should be possible to reserve areas, and to restrict the chances of iires within them. Why not make it an offence to drop lighted matches or to light fires within the reserved spaces. The/ are doing it elsewhere, usually protecting the reserves with belts. They are doing it in India to-day, and in other countries, too. ''"They are feeling the effects of denudation in Cyprus very sorely. The Turk wrought irreparable damage in Cyprus; every available tree was cut down, and now they are working la boriously to repair the damage and restore the spoiled forests. They have protected certain districts, and I believe that the young trees are now .growing. In Borneo, too, they awoke some forty years ago to the fact that the teak forests were disappearing, and they have been so successful in preserving and renewing them that I understand now the supply of teak will never vary. With the example of other countries to follow, you can still do a great deal here."

Sir Rider Haggard added as his last word that he did not wish even to seem to be preaching to New Zealand as to their business, but he did claim ti have had some experience in this particular subject, and to know something about it.