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Northland Age, Volume 5, Issue 24, 13 March 1936, Page 8

Ja. a. ;:. w. i'w :ifu!future ~t tin' 3&jjffiSßriß9*ljFip&v.-;i quantity. \. lumbeen milled ami the of tea-tree and other have been allowed to remain, *one can see the kauri rikas soaring' upwards. As yet, no commercial attempt has been made at reforestation with the kauri on any scale, but it is to be hoped that something will be done before it is too late. The accusation is frequently made that the kauri, as well as other natives, is too slow growing, but it may be possible that given suitable conditions, the growth of the young trees may be adequate when one considers the high

the s*'"-tSjrjand its P ai 't with was d uc i n two facts, the presmade its existence a MPluable commercial entity oyer a J hundred years ago. These factors were the two giants—the one of the land, the other of the sea—the kauri and the whale. It was almost entirely 1 due to the visits of the sailing ships for spars, and of the whalers, that : any attention at all was paid to New Zealand. The kauri (Agathis Australis) is one of a species entirely resident in 1 New Zealand, but which has cousins in Queensland, Fiji, and Amboyana. The early use of the kauri for spars is recorded in numerous journals, reports, and ships’ logs. Subsequently, it became one of the most important commercial products of New Zealand, and until comparatively recent years gave employment for large numbers of men for timber-milling purposes, and also for the exploitation of one of Nature’s reserves in the digging of kauri gum. “New Zealand is divided biologi--1 cally into three provinces, northern, central, and southern, the northern being most clearly defined, containing 120 important species which do not pass beyond latitude 38 degrees south, or if they overstep it, only for a short distance and in limited numbers. The best-known trees in the northern province are the kauri, towai, taraire, and the pohutukawa.” Mr. Thomas states that it is unusual for large numbers of kauris to occur together, though in certain forests now destroyed this was more or less the case. “We have left to us now the Waipoua kauri forest and | Trounson kauri park, its near neighbour. Fortunately both of these have j been kept intact, and there is prob-

about nine primeval kauri for--1 owing to the value of its timber, and still.m ore to the loss in the past through fires, now occupies an extremely limited area, daily becoming smaller, and has with it a plant formation, one of the most rare, beautiful, and at the same time scientifically interesting to be met with, not only in New Zealand but in the world at large. “In any forest community the kauri stands supreme, mainly because of the majestic character of the mature tree. According to the botanist, the tree may be a thousand years old or more. It is one of the most perfect columnal trunks known—so to more than 80 feet without a branch, covered with a shiny grey bark, the outer part of which is more or less loose, and in large scales which flake off showing many wavy lines and c’ose reddish warts. . . Though the mature kauri is the king of the forest and has a splendour all of its own, the young kauri or rika is probably as beautiful a tree as any for its tapering form and rich yellow colour.”