DEFORESTATION IN NEW ZEALAND

Otago Witness, Issue 2862, 20 January 1909, Page 11

DEFORESTATION IN NEW ZEALAND

(Bt I/. S. Grißßa, in the Gardeners' Chronicle.) Darwin, in the " Voyage of the Beagle," mentioned that he landed on the coast north of Auckland, and noted at that time how the Maoris burned out large areas of forest, which became replaced by fern-clad ■wastes. It is no doubt due to their activity that such a large area of soil contains the kauri gum. That this forest .would re-establish, iteelf in come localities if given a chance is shown by the clump of young kauri and Phyllocladus trichomanoides to be seen springing up in the gulches of the Nihotupu foothills. In one enclosure I saw quite a plantation of selfsown young totara and maitai coming up very well, but they were rigorously protected against fire by the enlightened owner. Wretched clumps of hundreds of Nikau palms (Rhopalostylis sapid a)' ere hero to be seen, left exposed by the burning of the protecting trees. Like some .speeds of tree fern 6, these palms can resist fire. , This is no doubt due to- the storage of water in their tissues; but when once they are exposed to light and wind the lamina of the leaves does not expand, and the rachis remain vertical as in bud,, never assuming the horizontal position." Thus they persist, forming piteous caricatures of the unspoilt 'trees as seen in the depth of their native habitat, with their graceful spreading habit, rivalling Polynesian forms in size and beauty. The same story of regrettable devastation is repeated in the Thames Valley, a huge alluvial plain south of Auckland, row cleared, from end to end, but formerly clothed with beautiful trees. It was at this spot, on a magnificent tree— a rimu, I believe — that Captain Cook wrote his name, and that tree was religiously preserved by the Maoris. However, what the savage respected the settler disdained, and the tree was burnt with it 3 compeers. From Thames mangroves (Avicennia officianalis) run in for some distance, as the river forms a huge estuarial swamp. Flax (Phormium terax) and cabbage-trees (Cordyline australis), associated with j manuka, succeed ; then clumps of fire-run kahikatsas reveal the natural inhabitants of the soil. Why clearing has token place is not apparent. There is no attempt to plant the phormium systematically ; and kafrikatea, though a valuable wood, which is perfectly tasteless, and therefore much used at Home for making butter boxes ! and exported to. Australia for the same : purpose, is apparently' only fit to be burnt ' or cut out. It seems fo occur to nobody i that the supply of this tree is limited : for ! the river-beds, its natural habitat, have ! all been cleared, andVit ouly grows singly ! in the mixed forest. _ '■ As the land rises towards the foothills ' the usual manuka waste occurs, varied by ' good meadow land where the forest soil ' was saved by immediate sowing and sy6te- j matio clearing. Wh'cse the land is neglected bramble, >gOFfee, and broom speedily take possession. These hills, ' which ' culminate in Te Aroha Mountain, j over 3000 ft, are fortunately reserved ; they are rocky and steep, and are still clothed with forest from about 1000 ft up- • wards. Tl.e Nikau palms can be observed ', mi thoir full beatrtyy wifch the splendid ! Corctyline insignia as undergrowth, while the beautiful Saxifragaceous ixerba brexioides, covered with corymbs of white blossoms, an inch or more in size, is one of the dominant trees. The exquisite crimson rata (Metrosideros diffusa) forms flaming epiphytic splashes against the ; evergreen background. | Cutting for firewood, resulting in an impenetrable upgrowth of fern, is steadily •acroaching on the mountain slopes. j There are many gold mines in these hills, working and otherwise, with tracks running up to and connecting them with each other. This makes it easier to penetrate the hills than is usually the case in this trackless country. -Here immigrar ' tion again merely results in wholesale burning out, as the bare slopes of what must have been the exquisite Warongamai Valley testify. After Morrinsville on the way to Rotorua, the monotonous manuka plains which extend to Lake ' Taupo begin. A gratifying break occurs round Mamukau, where the railway crosses a low range still clothed with some splendid forest, including the lovely ' kawaka (Libocedrus doniana), but it is ' being rapidly stripped of the sound trees by the colony of sawmills established there. | The world-renowned~ -'Rqtorua is a manuka waste. That the country was j previously a forest dip is shown by the ' remnants persisting on the ifop of a hill '• beyond Ohinemutu, untidy patches of ,' bush on the far side of Roiotua Lake and ' kahikateas on the swampy, near :.;de, and on some of the promontories and in gorges. Here, of course, volcanic activity lias much ' to answer for. Curiously enough, the hot springs, which merely hetray themselves in various localities by the steam continuously arising from them, do not affect the growth around. Both Lepfcospermum soorparium and the really charminslygraceful L. ericoides fringe the boiling water or muddy area, as the case maybe. Nothing short of an. actual deposit of salt by the evaporation of constantlystreaming water seems to kill,, it. The sreat Weirakel Geyser was the onJy exception which, came under roy observation. There a macs of L. ericoides. which clothed the bank just behind the> recurrent column of boilincc water, was clipped to an a^ost moss-like thickness. Round the Blue and Green Lakes en the wav to Lake Tarawera there is some* grateful shade, but clearines by the roadside show a wild growth of hawthorn and bramble, which luxuriate everywhere. The latter is sunposad to be proscribed by legislation. There is some pttemnt made at planting by the Government r>t Rotorua, but only of Jarch and other foreign trees. At Waitapu there is another area on which planting is being tried by prison labour.

I I believe it was only on the earnest rej presentations of Mr Cheeseman, whose j splendid handbook of the New Zealand ' ffora has earned him a world-wide reputa- ; tion in systematic circles, and the lasting ' gratitude of every botanist visiting the ! country, that planting of Podocarpus totara, the glory of New Zealand forest, the chosen tree of the Maori for his war i canoe, and a splendid wood for all industrial purposes, was attempted on anything like an adequate scale, j A weary day's coaching in blazing sun, . loos© sand, and drying dust takes one to j Lake Taupo, through nothing but manuka . and bracken, varied sometimes by Dracophyllum subulatum, the formation being composed of loose scoria from successive eruptions. By the lake broom is encroaching rapidly on the manuka, and formed a blaze of colour in November. , After crossing the lake to Tokaanu the coach drive passes over high, wind-swept tussock plains (Poa caespitosa) and sand ridges. Here again in the gullies the handsome tree Nothqfagus menziesii is to be seen, and road cuttings show the blackened trunks of trees sticking out of I the sand. Ancient forest crowns the hills on «cch side, but scorched inroads are shaSgSg in it. The ridge culminates in the s»lcano Tongariro, 7000 ft high, the single cones of the active Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu, Avith spreading outliers, standing alone. ; The forest of the North Island, especially of the northern portion, and on the north-western side, is strikingly Polynesian in appearance, as is shown by its varied character, typical undergrowth, and epiphytic luxuriance. Appearances are borne out by pronounced generic affinity, many species even being in common. A greater number of plants, however, are endemic, not occuring elsewhere, and many of the most interesting are purely local in incidence, being restricted to small areas. With the destruction of their environment they also disappear and are lost to science. That this strange outlier of _ the great Indo-Malayan vegetation region, whose varied types have been a focus of interest to the botanical world, is to be shorn not only of its natural : £race, but also of its phytogeographical interest, is an offence to, not a necessity of, civilisation. ! One or two generations cannot dissipate a storehouse of natural treasures, fostered by climatic and geographical conditions, without causing irreparable ]oss, and this fact will soon be proved to the national cost in the altered topographical and climatic conditions which the wholesale -razing of forest land invariably entails.