BEAUTIES OF NATURE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21868, 2 August 1934, Page 10

BEAUTIES OF NATURE

PLEA FOR "TREE SENSE" GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S ADDRESS [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] WELLINGTON, Wednesday The advisability of observing Arbor Day in a fitting manner was stressed by the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, 'during an Arbor Day address delivered at Wellington College to-day. "Those towns of New Zealand which have an outstanding reputation for their beauty generally owe it to tho physical features of the landscape, with which Nature has generously endowed them," said His Excellency. "Wellington, for instance, but for man's past unaesthetic vagaries, would be one of the world's most lovely cities. In some towns, however, where Nature has been less bountiful, local authorities and public-spirited private citizens have planted trees and shrubs in abundance, to the optical, mental and spiritual refreshment of residents and visitors alike. But, making full allowance for these patriots and the arboreal outcome of their practical enthusiasm, the 'tree sense' —the genuine love of trees and the consciousness of the gap in life's happiness and profit which the lack of trees involves—is far from being fully developed in this Dominion.

"We are assembled here on Arbor Day to evoke this 'tree sense,' to arouse the dormant enthusiasm for trees in tho general community of all classes and occupations in this Dominion and its capital city, and particularly to awaken in the youth of thf» nation a love of trees, a pride in them as a valued national possession and a feeling of responsibility in regard to their planting, their preservation and their protection against vandalism and senseless waste."