THE NATIVE FORESTS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10669, 16 January 1913, Page 4

THE NATIVE FORESTS.

«, STEPS TO PRESERVE THEM. MR ELL AND THE PRIME MINISTER. Mr H. G. Ell, M.P., has sent a telegram to the Hon W. F. Massey, Priino Minister, strongly urging that tho Waipoua kauri forest, which belongs to tho State, should not be handed over to the sawmillers. Mr Ell states that if tho proposed course, is followed, people of tho present generation and those of future generations will bo robbed of a beautiful and wonderful property. " I most earnestly appeal'to you/' ho says, "not to accede to tho request that the reserve on which the forest stands should bo opened for milling purposes. The destruction of the trees may provide employment for a small number of men for a few years, but tho result -will bo unjust to future generations. Many of the greatest countries in the world are making large natural in order to preserve the forests. Waipoua is tho finest forest reserve New Zealand possesses. Its unique character makes it absolutely priceless. No sum of money could comuensatc the peoplo for its loss. T feel sure that if you stand firm for its nrotection vou will receive the thanks of the public. It is natural for tho saw-millers to wish to destroy the trees, but the people as a community should bo considered. The benefit to tho saw-miller and his men is merely a passing ono; tho loss to tho community will be for all time. I lione that you will resist tho pressure that is being brought to hear upon you." LOCAL PROTESTS. PRESERVATION URGED BY MR SPEIGHT. In an interview yesterday, Mr R. Speight, enratqr of Canterbury Museum, said that tho Canterbury Philosophical Institute had taken up a very strong, in regard to the preservationpprf r the Native forests. The kauri pino was not found in any other part of the world. It had a very limited area. £Veii';'in _Nei\ r Zealand, and it was' highK';desirable that the Waipoua forest 1 , should be protected. At the meetings of the Australasian Association; for the Advancement of Science, which was sitting in Melbourne just now, the desirableness of preserving Native iorosts in Australia was affirmed by clear resolutions. If steps were necessary in that direction in Australia' there, was much greater necessity - for something being done in New Zealand," which had -a smaller area, and Vhiclvhad suffered ■severely already by thoughtless acts of destruction. - . ■ STATEMENT BY DR COCKAYNE. The plea for the retention of the Waipoua kauri forest as a national reserve, contained in a letter by Mr PI. G. Ell, M.P., to the Prime Minister, is strongly supported by a statement of tho position made to a " Lyttelton Times " reporter by Dr L. Cockayne, F.R.S., yesterday. Dr Cockayne declined to express any definite conviction's as to whether the forest should or should not be placed in the hands of sawmillers, but his statement of the relative advantages and disadvantages of its demolition is a clear argument in favour of its retention as a reserve. ■ The' forest is latterly becoming more accessible to the public, owing to the formation of bettor roads, and settlement is gradually creeping in t-owards it. In 1908 Dr Cockayne was commissioned by the Government to make, a botanical survey of the forest, and the observations contained in his report on that occasion were substantially the same as those volunteered to the reporter yesterday. . , The Waipoua Forest is situated in the Hokiaiiga province, about nine miles from Hokianga harbour, and lies between two small rivers, the Wairau and the Waipoua. Its approximate area i 3 23,000 acres. It and one or two other smaller reserves, the doctor said, are the only virgin kauri forests now belonging to the State. Tho kauri forest is the only plantassociation of the kind to be found in the world, and is one of great beauty and of extreme scientific interest. The forest reserve contains examples of 241 species of flowering plants and ferns. It is therefore at present an important forest museum. Before very long, at the rate at which the kauri is being converted, there will l>e no forests of that kind .and very few examples of the trees either—in twenty years' time, or even less. Thus will pass away for ever from the face of the earth one of the noblest of forests and one of the unique attractions of New Zealand. .The fiords, glaciers and hot springs of the country have their like elsewhere: the kauri forests are nowhere else to be seen. What the future of the Waipoua Forest will be it is difficult' to Tiredict. If it is felled it will give employment for a few years to a certain number of men, who in any caso at tlie end of that 'time will have to look-.-for other employment, and in'*itS• place will' be much waste land and a'few; farms. _ iso- , lated from other Settlement. If it is preserved there will be a magnificent heritage for future-generations, and i an attraction, constantly increasing in its interest, for the visitors to the 'shores of,the dominion. As to the forest itself, it certainly j contains a great clear of milling timber,, both kauri and riiiiu, together with some kahikat-ea,'totara, miro and matai. The kauri irfoimd in quantity, only to the west;'df' 'the Toronui Stream, "excepting some in the watershed of the Merowliarara. Of this | kauri belt, which extends from east !to west, much of the kauri in the I southern part of the forest is scattert ed, the finest milling timber being that on the higher land near Kohuroa and | the Huaki. But a large part of the forest contains no milling timber at j all. On tho high table-land and in a ! few other parts there is much rimu. The land on which this grows is of little value for agriculture, and the same is also the case with regard to the continuation of the forest on the table-land. In other words, the present cron is. the best the soil will ever yield, arid it should surely not be felled merely for purposes of settlement while so much better land elsewhere is at present unoccupied. The slopes of tho Waipoua Forest on the south, to the Waipoua River in many parts contain no milling timber at all bevond some scattered kauris, and yet, though they give not a perfect example by any means of what a kauri forest is, their covering would suffice were no better available, and would make a very fair national kauri park. That such a park should be created seems incontrovertible. The only difference of opinion that can arise is as to its size. The Waipoua Forest as a whole would make, of course, the ideal park. It would be one of the great sights of the world, and as the years crept on it would be more and more prized by posterity. To preserve the forest in its entirety would mean hastening the end of the kauri industry by a very few years; to cut it down would extend that industry for the same number. A MESSAGE FROM THE PRIME MINISTER. Last night Mr Ell received the following message from -Mr Massey:— " Your wire has been received in respect to the Waipoua State Forest. The whole question will be fully gone into by the Forestry Commission shortly to be appointed." /