THREAT TO BUSH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22584, 24 November 1936, Page 10

THREAT TO BUSH

THE WAITAKEEE AEEA MILLING RIGHTS GRANTED GOVERNMENT CRITICISED A stroller protest was expressed in a resolution passed b.v tlie Auckland district council of the. New Zealand Institute of Horticulture, at a meeting last night, against the Government's diffident attitude toward the proposed acquisition of "certain areas in the Waitakerc Ranges to ho constituted as a national scenic reserve. The resolution urged that the attention of tho Government again bo drawn to tlie absolute necessity for immediate action to prevent the telling of bush adjacent to the Waitakero scenic highways, and that a strong protest be entered against the continued failure of the Minister of Lands, tho Hon. F. Langstone, to acknowledge letters and telegrams from the council, especially in view of the fact that while the Minister had requested the council to delay action pending Cabinet consideration, milling rights in a large area of laud had been disposed of bv tho Public Trust Office to private interests.

The chairman, Mr. J. B. Paterson, said the council had been pressing the matter with the Minister since August 17, but he appeared to have ignored most of the appeals sent forward to protect tho 70,000 acres in question. Unless something were done very soon the bush would bo destroyed. '1 ho council had £I2OO available for tho purchase of land, and tho Automobilo Association (Auckland) had promised £SOO toward picnic and camping facilities, but until tho Government approved of some niovo in tho matter nothing could be done. "It is ludicrous to consider that tho Government has sanctioned tho formation of a scenic highway, but allows the bush we seek to protect to bo destroyed," said Mi\ G. F. Joseph. "The plan seems to bo to havo tho land cleared, so that it might bo bought in a few years timo for about £SO an acre, to bo utilised as a pine plantation." In submitting the motion, which was carried unanimously, Mr. J. W. Kcalv said the reason for tho road seemed to be to provide a means for tho Government "to write tho unemployed off its books."