NATURE—AND MAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 13 August 1932, Page 10

NATURE—AND MAN

NEED OF AGREEMENT WORK FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE (Edited by Leo Fanning) Ho who plants a tree He plants peace. Under the ’green curtains jargons cease, Leaf and zephur murmur soothingly; Shadows soft with sleep Down tired eyelids croep, Balm of slumbor deep. Never hast thou dreamed, thou blessed tree, Of the benediction thou slinlfc be. —Lucy Larcom. Fragrance of ferny earth iu New Zealand’s forests amid the murmur of rills and the wild melody of tho tui! It makes tho tired mind forget telephones, wireless, motors, speeches, lectures, and other oppressions of civilisation. In the verdant woods things sort themselves into their proper perspective. If councils, leagues, federations, and other bodies would only bold their councils in tveedoin, bow thankful the public would be! Suppose the Ottawa Conference had been staged in the peaceful woods of tho Rockies! Would not the delegates have had clearer heads and more open hearts? In tune with Nature, the envoys would have been in tune with humanity, and the good of it might have reached as far as frozen meat and tallow. Cities are not- the best places for the plain living which is the parent of high thinking. IN A KAURI TEMPLE The writer was n. unit in the Parliamentary Party which toured tho romantic Northland in 1017. Or to Sunday morning the travellers—politicians, journalists. business men and sundries—strolled into the Trounsbn Kauri ’Reserve. For a while they were laughin' l ' chatting, joking and solving problems of the Dominion and the world at large. As they went deeper into the noble forest the conversation lulled and suddenly ceased. Hard-shelled men of the world fell that they were in a majestic temple of nature, and that ordinary speech

would be a sacrilege. Hugo columns, which Nature had takon more than twenty centuries to build, supported a vast canopy of living verdure. No mau-mado cathedral in the wide world could have offered bettor inspiration. Ever sinco that day any report of tho slaughter of a kauri tree has been sad reading for some members of that party. Hero are some lines front Shelley. What would tho immortal poet have written if his source of inspiration had been in a kauri forest? They spread themselves into the loveliness Of fan-like leaves; and over pallid flowers Hang like moist clouds; or, where high branches kiss, Make a green space among the silent bowers Like a vast fane in a metropolis, Surrounded by tho columns and the lowers All overwrought with hranch-liko traceries Tn which there is religion, and tho mu t o Persuasion of nnkindled molodies, Odours and gleams, and murmurs, which the lute Of the blind pilot-spirit of tho blast Stirs as it sails, now 'grave and now acute. WORK FOR ARBOR AND BIRD DAY Matty years ago New Zealand, following the example of the United States of America, decided to have an annual Arbor Day. The movement wont well for several years, but soon slackened, and ceased. It has been fitfully revived here and there, intermittently and more or less casually, but it lias never been anything to compare with the wonderful Arbor and Bird Days of America, and Australia. lit many of the American j States school children have songs and j little musical plays for it; .the host j writers give their jinst words from ihc j heart lor it. Beautiful books uro spec;- , ally prepared for these inspiring days, i All tho lessons, simply and brightly ■ written, arc phrased to help children to bccomo good citizens, eager to conserve the nation’s natural resources. Next year will see a worthy Arbor and Bird Day in New Zealand. The Native Bird Protection Society, in co-operation ( with the State Forest Service, the For- 1

ostry League and other organisations, will make a strong drive for success—permanent success, MONOLOGUE OF A TUI “Last week’s weather! What a stopmother’s kiss it was !” said.the tui. “I tried to tuck in my bib .to keep my chest warm. Dear me,- Old Man Winter —or Spring-Winter, ■ or Winter-Spring, whatever ho calls himself—is not a birdlover. I wish the Bird Protection Society would get that horrible old chap gazetted as an undesirable immigrant. Still, things might be worse. Some friends have been planting the right kinds of trees and shrubs' to give us nectar and berries in these hard times, and others have been putting out sweetened porridge and other Scotch, English and Irish delight. But we’d like to see more of those kind helpers of ourselves and our cousins. Whon you aro having a nice hot supper by a cosy fire, give a little thought—just a littlo please—to Mr and Mrs Tui. Mr and Mrs Bell-bird, Air and and Mrs White-eye, and others. Wo’ll give yob some good notes in exchange.” AX OWL NUISANCE Lovers of native birds are complaining from various districts that'the imported butcher, known as. the “little owl,’* alias “German owl,” is murdering fantails, grey warblers, -white-eyes and other innocents. An apologetic defender of the. owl has put in a plea that because this cruel assassin does not go into the forest, but merely hunts on the fringe, its crimes are not so serious as they might have been. Oil ! That excuse implies that native birds have no right to fiit from the heart of the forest, and that New Zealanders should not be so stupid as to expect to hear a. tui or a bell-bird or a warbler) singing safely in their gardens. It is just because (ho marauding owl is interfering with the encouragement of nativebirds on tiro outskirts of the forests, or far .lVoni them, that their friends are fooling so wrathful against the now enemy. That is why so many folk in Otago, Southland and elsewhere aro shouting: “Out the owl.” “LET US THEN HE UP AND DOING” If the German owl spreads unchecked to such a place as Akaron, say, what havoc will it work? An indication of

, the kind of disaster that would happen - may he seen in an extract'from an article by Mr James Cowan, a very ardent nature-lover and gifted writer, in the “New Zealand Railways Magazine”:— “The littlo trilling riroriro (grey war- . bier) nests in the trees where the Eng- [ ! lish thrush sings, and the makoinako,' r I the bell-bird is everywhere in the shady •! copses and orchard-groves. Lying imbed ( | in the early morning, in the, principal . i hotel of the place, I have hoard the . tui’s notes in the eucalyptus trees. i Chuckles andfl deep gurgles of melody came from its throat as it dropped from > bough to bough for the nectar in the , gum flowers.” i i Other districts also have these Enchanting visitors in their gardens and . plantations, and plenty more can have . them if they wish—and work for the , wish. Is that foreign owl to be allowed 1 to prevent New Zealanders from enjoying the songs of tlieir own birds?