OTAGO INSTITUTE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2528, 27 August 1902, Page 14

OTAGO INSTITUTE.

The Otago Institute met at the University on the 12th, when Dr Benham, president, occupied the chair. Their was a fairly good attendance of members.

Dr Truby King delivered the lecture of the evening, speaking on the protection and reclamation of seaside areas. The lecturer's remarks v/ere chiefly based on his own experiences at Karitane, and proved of extieme interest. By wsy of introductory he stated that all would recognise the great importance and value of seaside resorts in the colony, not simp'.y on account of what one might call the natural tendency of the people to go to the seaside as a place of recreation, but because there was no question that of late years it was becoming more and more gciicrallj' recognised" how necessary it was for people if they were to remain in health to get away from the routine of their daily work for certain periods during the year, and he supposed that the seaside would always be the moet favoured region, e\eu by peop'e already living near the sea. He intended to deal presently with regard lo the question cf the erosion of the seaside by the wind and waves, but in the meantime would point out how extremely important this area was, both as b'jiug the fite of a largp number of sea-side resorts and a.l o in being the principal region for the e&tabiis'imeut of towiie. It was not merely from these points of view that the protection of the coast was of importance, but ie w.i.s the only mcars of protecting the interior from the inroack of the sea. What was the interior now mit;lit at no distant date become the exterior by the invasion of tho sea Dr King went on, by means of lantern shuos, to show the incursions of the sect at Karitane Permsula, and the means he and others had adopted not only to prevnt further encroachments, but to regain son:e of the !and \vhich hid been lost. The annual loss by s /% a encroachment*, m England was estimated at 2000 acres. Of course where the coast wps precipitous no doubt great difficulties would have to be overcome to keep back the sea, but where the land was low, if the proper means were uaed, imasion by the sea could net only be checked, but the land ran-ed. In the slides thrown on the c-creen Dr Kj'ig showed how by the erection of barriers formed of posts and brushwood natural sand dunes had ari?en, and these planted with marram grass became permanently fixed. In the latter portion of his address he dealt with sandloving plants anrl ehnib=, stating particular kinds that he found of service. Tne best book he could find on tho subject was a work on forestry by A. V. Webster, but it did not deal w:tli New Zealand plants. There cou'd be no quoption, continued Dr King, that the lupiu was the beet plant for forming a sh-elter on exposed situations. The mallow, although quicker growing, impoverished the soil. Undoubtedly the pioneer of all the plants was the marram gras^ in its power to bind lorgc- nuantities of sand. Iho roots of the marram gTass permeated the soil to an exhaordinary extent, ?nd or'ce when lie bad occa.siou to dig 6ft below the surface, through sand into rlay, he found hardly a cubic inch that v/ns not penetrated by prarram grass roots Dr King exhibited specimens of diffprent shrubs giown by him at Karitane, all of which had been fleered for tlieir ability to thrive in the locality mentioned.

Mr A K^thgate, after expressing his pVajure at the way Dr King had handled the subject, remarked that ho thought Kari-tuu-o presented more favourable conditions for thp growth of a number of pluiits than Ocoau Beach did. Tamarisk, whicli thrived wonderfully well r.t Karitane, v. ouid not grow so well at Tahuna Park, where it luid b^en trietl by the Amenities Society. As to Henecio rotundiflonus. which had also been mentioned, he would like to know if it would gTow in sand. Mr F. R. Chapman remarked tlift he had seen it prowirrp: in sand at Stewart Island, but if it failed there -was, no doubt that O)r»arra roler"'i would grow almont nnywlipip. There iva^ no moic exposed place in the world than the Snares, j-et they were covered v ith foliage, and he bad notirpd (he same abr ut the Auckland Islands. One had only to go rouud those i«lands to s>ee that by 'o'zrtincr .the proper plant-, ulmo=t anytlung could be made to crow on our coasts. He was familiar with Koritane when it was absolutely bare, and tliu. was where Dr ICn:g b.ad placed his garden The whole cor-inuinity was indebted to him for the object lesson be had givpn there during the la^t three or four yenr3.

The Prenidptit pypre«icd the thanks of memb-T^ to Dr King for In-, lecture, and adjourned the meeting till the following month.

Mr A Fieldwn-k worked the lime'iiqht vipws. and mo^t of them came out very well