SOIL EROSION IN NEW ZEALAND

Southland Times, Issue 24153, 15 June 1940, Page 14

SOIL EROSION IN NEW ZEALAND

Disastrous Effects

PROPOSED LEGISLATION A RAY OF HOPE The disastrous effects of soil erosion through the action of mankind chiefly in the United States and New Zealand formed the subject of an extremely interesting address, illustrated with lantern slides, which Mr L. W. McCaskill, of file staff of the Christchurch Training College, delivered to members of the Otago branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Mr McCaskill said that the only immediate ray of hope concerning the problem in New Zealand was the Erosion Bill which the Ministerof Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple) proposed to introduce during the coming session of Parliament. Tracing the means by which erosion was brought about including deforestation, the burning-off of grasses, overgrazing, wrong methods of cultivation, and many others, Mr McCaskill pointed out that in some of tire younger countries of which New Zealand and the United States were typical, it had been necessary to plunder their natural resources to provide food for the older lands. Thus, while the older countries were able to retain their productivity after centuries of cultivation, the younger countries were now in a position which would require the utmost care if it was not to mean a permanent and increasing drop in fertility. No doubt many people would point to the rise in New Zealand’s production in recent years as refuting that statement, but the increase must come to an end shortly as a result of the erosion that was going on all the time. MAKING SAME MISTAKES “It has been said that we do not learn from history,” Mr McCaskill added, “and this is true of nothing more than of erosion, for we are still making the same mistakes in this direction as we were making 4000 years ago. Nature covers the land with a type of vegetation which is most suitable to it, so that it is not surprising that when jnaii takes it into his own hands to burn the grasses or put the fire through the forests there should be disastrous results through the agency of erosion. New Zealand, with its short history of 100 years’ settlement, presents as shocking examples of erosion as can be found anywhere in the world, and there is a fruitful field of work here for a large staff of experts who could be kept busy examining all the aspects of the problem and devising a remedy for it.”

The question would have to be considered in both its engineering and its biological aspects, Mr McCaskill added, and it would have to be regarded in its proper perspective as part of the much larger problem of conservation generally. The Bill promised by Mr Semple was a ray of hope. It would evidently be concerned mainly with river erosion and flooding, but control of the floods could only be brought about in the forests and fields where they originated. Excellent research work was being done in the United States.

“I feel that if we are going to learn from history,” Mr McCaskill said, “we must have some organization charged with the duty of finding out as much as possible about this subject. The Department of Agriculture, I understand, has not one expert in this type of work, and has to delegate practically the whole of its research to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. While excellent work is being done by the latter department on the various problems it is attacking, I think that, even in war time, we might establish a small bureau inside the Department of Agriculture collecting information so that when the time comes we can go ahead in dealing with soil erosion so that the fertile lands of New Zealand may be preserved for future generations.”