Readers Write

Northern Advocate, 25 May 1939, Page 6

Readers Write

[Readers are invited to send letters for publication in this Column. A Leuer should be written in ink on one side of the paper, and ■must bear the name of the writer, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith .J

It seems a bit thick to impose a tax | on disabled soldiers, but when the i Government puts imposts on women |

'and children, I? t think it time toj object. We went I overseas to keep)

TAXING 'THE DISABLED SOLDIER.

New Zealand free, but where is the | « freedom? (

The Prime Minister was telling us ; the other night that all fit men should I join up, and at the same time the’ Government is taking money from the \ men who came back disabled. 1 5 hope our Member for Marsden is

pleased with what has been done in the last four years.—“A DISABLED SOLDIER.”

I was surprised to read in the “Ad-1 vocate” of May 22, that the giant? kauri trees in the forest reserves are i to be cut for timber. |

A PLEA FOR THE KAURIS.

The whole of the? “Advocate” could bef filled with reasonsi

why these trees should not be cut. | I intend giving just one reason 'and! hope readers will follow. f Q Most of our settlers say that when i they first arrived they missed the old | buildings, trees, etc., of England. New] Zealand is too new; it has no back- j ground; no history. We want to keepj and remember as much of our coun-| try’s short past as possible. Most ofj the early buildings were of wood and j have fallen into decay. We have lit-] tie enough to keep that will remind] us of early New Zealand. The giant \ kauri trees were giants when our I grandparents arrived in this coujn-‘ try, and are links between the past' and the present. I can imagine what they will mean to those that come after us and to the many sightseers who come from overseas. The money that will be lost now will be gained a hundred fold in years to come. It is the big kauri trees that people want to see, the magnificent specimens that belong to the North alone. This particular variety, “Agathis Austhalis” occurs nowhere else in the world. Just imagine how few trees we have left. Accidents will happen and with every care taken a whole forest may still be burnt out. When we consider this fact we have far too few forest reserves, far too few kauri trees. The forests will be replanted, but we cannot bring back the original giant trees. We should do all in our power to protect these for 'all to see. I am sure the people of the North are too proud of the beauty of their country and the future of their country to allow the giant kauri trees to be cut down on the eve of the New Zealand’s Centennial, or in the future, —H. GIVEN.

(When the above letter w&s published yesterday a transposition of type lines may have obscured the meaning, and for this reason it is being republished.—Ed “N.A.”)