THE SLOPES OF FLAGSTAFF

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23161, 10 April 1937, Page 22

THE SLOPES OF FLAGSTAFF

TO THE EDITOR Sir,—ln one of the letters to the editor in to-day’s Otago Daily Times I read an account of the prevalence of forse round Palmerston and waiouaiti, and am reminded of the thickets of gorse and broom combined now growing near Dunedin on the slopes of Flagstaff Hill. A few years ago the approach to Flagstaff from the Taieri road was up a wide grass track, gay in springtime with the yellow Maori onion; the grass is now completely overgrown with towering trees of broom and the actual path so well concealed that a friend who recently went along it with me inquired: However can you And the way? The grassy track once led to a charming stretch of manuka scrub carpeted with native orchids, heath speargrass, and other hill plants. Most of the manuka was burnt some years ago and is now trying to re-estaolish itself; there are hundreds of little trees trying to grow. But, alas! the gorse has taken charge and has grown so strong that it is with the greatest difficulty that one can force a way through, and unless the gorse is checked soon, there will be no native plants left. Higher up on Flagstaff, the same state of things prevails —broom and gorse smothering the tracks so that on a misty day one cannot even see the usual landmarks, and on a rainy day one is soaked to the skin. Can nothing be done to save one of Dunedin’s most attractive beauty spots from being ruined by noxious weeds? The mere onlooker would suppose that out of 800 men on unemployment relief in this city a few might be found capable of wielding an axe.— I am, etc.. Dunedin Citizen. April 8.