MOUNT EGMONT BUSH CUT

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1934, Page 9

MOUNT EGMONT BUSH CUT

ACTION ABOVE YORK ROAD WORKMEN EXCEED INSTRUCTIONS. IGNORANCE OF THE COMMITTEE. SOUTHERN CRITICISM ANSWERED. A definite refutation that the east committee of the Egmont National Park Board had in any way countenanced or even been aware of the fact that men engaged to cut out dead timber from the mountain reserve above the end of York Road, Waipuku, had exceeded their instructions by cutting live timber and by going farther into the bush for fallen timber than was authorised, was made to a Daily News reporter at Stratford yesterday by the chairman of the committee, Mr. J. C. Robins. Until the night before the board met at Stratford on Friday and he was called on to furnish an explanation of the destruction of live trees, Mr. Robins said, he and his committee were ignorant of what had occurred. Ml Robins also replied to a statement made in yesterday’s Daily News by Mr. L. Ch Hooker, who alleged that “wholesale devastation” of the bush on the eastern slopes of the reserve had taken place.. Referred to the statement that the taking of even dead timber from the reserve was illegal, Mr. Robins remarked that it was strange the point had not been raised before in view of the fact that similar work had been done in other areas than thgt controlled by the east committee and that for some years there was a controversy between the committee and the board over the amount of royalty the committee should pay to the board on the sale of firewood and posts split from fallen timber in the reserve. INSTRUCTIONS DEFINITE. The men who. were engaged tdi cut the fallen dead timber contracted to do the work at a price, Mr. Robins ’stated, and began work at the end of May. Their instructions, were definite that They were on no account to touch standing timber either dead or alive, nor., do anything that would damage the reserve. That part of the reserve had often been used by picnic parties and the airh of the committee was solely to clear; out the dead, fallen timber and close the reserve as soon as the work was completed, as the dead trees were a definite danger while picnic parties were lighting fires on the track. The well-formed track to which Mr. Hooker referred was an old Public Works Department metalled road extending for about two miles above the end of York Road, and had been used for many years by picnickers. “We were absolutely ignorant of what was going on in respect of the destruction of standing timber and if there have been complaints of serious inroads into the timber reserve, as Mr. Hooker states, why is it we were not advised of the complaints?” Mr. Robins asked. “Had we known what was going on we would have stopped it immediately.” The man in charge of the gang,’ he continued, took the men. .to task for having cut the standing trees, but did not report the matter to the committee, which was more shocked at what had happened than anyone else. The committee had. spent years in developing and improving the : area ’ under ’ its centred and that being so why should it countenance the destruction of the bush?

It had been the policy of the board and of the committees, except for the west committee, of which he had no knowledge, to clear away fallen logs and dead material. The board itself had cut or sold dead timber or permitted it to be cut or sold on -the understanding that no damage was done to the bush. Proof of this statement could be found in the balance-sheet of the board for 1930-31, which showed returns from the cutting or splitting and sale of posts. A balance-sheet of the south committee for the same year disclosed a small amount received from royalty on posts. INSTRUCTIONS EXCEEDED. It was said that l what the east committee had done was illegal, but it was significant that for a number of years the board and the committee disagreed about the royalty to be paid by the committee to the board in respect of the committee’s timber operations. In View of that alone why had the matter not been raised before if the cutting out of dead timber was illegal? “We admit that the cutting of green trees is wrong and we admit that the men exceeded their instructions by going further into the bush than we intended, but in both cases we had no knowledge of what has been happening within the last few weeks, during which period it seems the damage has been done,” Mr. Robins stated. • The fact that meetings of the board had not been open to the Press had been criticised, but the same charge could not be levelled against the east committee, for its meetings had always been open to the Press.

The committee' had been pursuing a progressive policy of- reafforestation. An area running alongside Pembroke Road for about a mile up to the gate into the reserve had been reafforested, a work that had been highly commended by the late chairman of the board, Mr. T. C. List. Then planting of various native trees had been done around the gates and along the road within the reserve. At the present time several interested people were growing various native trees, particularly those that harboured native birds, for planting in the reserve in the near future. Would the committee deliberately authorise / the destruction of bush in one part of its area and reafforest in another? “I can only say that I, as chairman, the committee and the secretai-y, have had no knowledge of the cutting of the live trees and the fact that the men have exceeded their instructions, but I will see that a full investigation into all the circumstances surrounding the matter is made and a report presented to the committee and the board,” Mr. Robins concluded.