NEW ZEALAND FLORA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19871, 15 February 1928, Page 12

NEW ZEALAND FLORA.

ENTHUSIASM OF DR. HILL. BOTANICAL EXPERT NEEDED. CONCERN FOR RANGITOTO. [BY telegraph.—own correspondent. ] WELLINGTON, Tuesday. After a rapid tour of New Zealand, Dr. A. W. Hill, Director of Kew Gardens, left Wellington to-day for Sydney on his return to England. Dr. Hill had nothing but praise for the beauties of New Zealand. He said he had been greatly impressed with the number of reserves in the Dominion. "The setting aside of areas as reserves is a very laudable policy," said Dr. Hill, "but what I would like to know is what exactly is your object in establishing these reserves? Are they merely beauty spots set aside for picnic parties, or are they reserves for the preservation of native plants 1 "If, as I hope is the case, they are the latter, it is nothing short of a scanda! that in the Tongariro National Park, for instance, heather should have been introduced, and that goat 9 should be allowed to wax fat on the growth on Mount Egmonfc. "In Switzerland reserves are reserves, and the greatest precautions are adopted to prevent the introduction of alien plants. In New Zealand, in some instances at any rate, your policy seems to ito create a reserve and then to till it with foreign plants or animals, much to the detriment of the native growth. Your native flora is such that it needs no outside assistance to make it attractive. What is needed seems to me to be a botanical expert to advise upon tffe policy in respect to your reserves. "While in Auckland I was proudly shown Rangitoto Island and more proudly Btill was I shown the motor road constructed to its summit. When I mildly suggested that, in view of the unique character of the island and its flora, such a road was unwarranted, I was hauled over the coiStls, and told that I should not have the temerity to criticise" after an hour's visit to the island. "It would not require a botanist to see, even after a visit of 10 minutes, that such a road will inevitably mean the introduction to the island of a miscellaneous collection of weeds, and then gone will be the uniqueness of the island. I still stick to my guns on this point. There are many other hills around Auckland much, more suitable for a motor road. Rangitoto should be left to the pedestrian and nature." Dr. Hill will furnish a report upon his tour of the Dominion, and in it he will touch upon the economic aspect of New Zealand plant life. * '