The Wanganui Chronicle MONDAY, JUNE 20, 1927. PRESERVATION OF NATIVE FLORA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19871, 20 June 1927, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle MONDAY, JUNE 20, 1927. PRESERVATION OF NATIVE FLORA

A brief cable item from Sydney records a step taken by the New South Wales Government which will be of special interest to those concerned with scenery preservation. In order to cheek the work of vandals and to prevent the absolute extermination of many of the best native flora, the State Government has issued a proclamation protecting certain native plants and flowers for the space of a year. Quite possibly a year may be found all too short a period for the purpose of rehabilitation, in which ease its extension may be looked for. Apropos vandalism, it may be remarked that the application of a term depends very largely upon the circumstances. So far as native, or, for that matter, exotic plants are concerned, their destruction sometimes arises, not out of a wish to destroy, but from a desire to enjoy their beauty.. A rare fem, for instance, is often removed from its natural habitat to an artificial environment in the hope that it, will give pleasure to its possessor, instead of continuing to blush unseen in the recesses of the bush. Similarly with native or other foliage used, say, for decoration at social or public functions 1 Here the desire is the same. When ferns and foliage are in abundance, there is little harm done, and one might then hesitate to describe their transplanting and cutting as vandalism. At all events, under such circumstances there is little complaint made on'that head. But when they are scarce and when such practices hasten the time of their ultimate extinction, the term undoubtedly does apply. POSITION IN NEW ZEALAND Many people consider that we have reached the stage in New Zealand when the removal or cutting of native plants for the purposes mentioned does amount to .vandalism. That may, perhaps, appear a rather sweeping assertion, and it will doubtless be contended that there are still some districts left where the abundance of native foliage makes the taking of plants of little moment. On the other hand, there are undoubtedly areas so denuded of their former natural covering that the removal or destruction of the few surviving plants is something that might well be forbidden. No account is here, taken of circumstances where utilitarian needs render such destruction unavoidable. But it can hardly be denied that there are sometimes occasions of destruction where no such needs exist. Fortunately, we have in New Zealand an effective Scenery Preservation Act which has operated with considerable success in saving many patches of native bush from axe and fire. The benefits of that measure will probably be more appreciated by future generations than by this one. But, while that measure has resulted in the preservation of numerous scenic “bits,” it may be doubted whether it is wide enough to do all that is desirable. It protects areas of bush, taken en masse. But does it protect individual species from extinction? We have hardly as yet reached the state involved in that question, but the time is certainly not far off when it may be asked in earnest. DESTRUCTION OF THE NIKAU One of our native plants that unquestionably stands m need of some protection is the nikau palm. There was a time, and that not so long ago, when this thing of beauty flourished so exceedingly that no decorative scheme was considered complete without it. Single branches were not thought of. Whole trees were cut down to provide the setting for a single evening s pleasure. And as this went on from end to end of the Dominion, the slaughter reached enormous dimensions. So comparatively scarce has the nikau, in consequence, become that, in the settled districts at all events, even single branches are now rarities in decoration. When the slow development of the nikau is considered, and when it is remembered that a ten-feet trunk represents anything from a hundred to a hundred and fifty years’ growth, it can hardly be denied that such wholesale slaughter of these beautiful trees amounts to an aesthetic crime. And as there is nothing beyond a sense of the fitness of things to protect the surviving nikaus, it may not be long before the only ones left will be those in officially preserved pieces of bush and even these will be liable to be raided. Those who are versed in the botany of the Dominion will doubtless be able to adduce other instances of native plants in need of protection. The golden blossoms of the kowhai, for instance, are now seen far less frequently than they used to be. The growing popularity of mountaineering, too, is certain to have some effect upon the range of our alpine flora unless it is officially protected. If it be proper to protect the pukeko and the pigeon from the gun of the sportsman, it is equally right to take a similar step in regard to those of our native plants which, if in no immediate danger of extinction, are perhaps nearer that state than is generally realised.

The matter, of course, is not one having to do with material needs, so that, from that point of view, there is little to be alarmed about. But beauty plays a large part in life and the appreciation of beauty ought to form some part of national character. From that standpoint, therefore, the matter may be worth thinking about by those interested in seeing that distinctive natural features are preserved.