NATURE-AND MAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 110, 11 May 1936, Page 10

NATURE-AND MAN

THIS YEAR’S TREE DAY MEMORIAL TO SIR FRANCIS BELL, .1 I (Edited by Leo Fanning). AV hen the hands of the clock sprang back the other night, the face of winter peered over the sky line at fall of next day. ‘ ‘ Nearly dark at 5 o ’clock, •’ ’ people said in many parts of New Zealand. So plently of folk began to think of the kinds of coal and wood which, in their belief, would help to fill the 1 long nights with cosiness. March of the seasons! Decline and fall of the sun’s empire! A sinking of sap for a rising in the spring, and then a glow of daffodils, and then summer, roses, Christmas, and next Easter—and an- ■ other year ticked off for all of us. Now that the young of the plant world are beginning to drowse through the winter in many nurseries, naturelovers should turn their thoughts to Tree Day, which promises to have the best celebration since it was projected long ago. “Come one, come all” is practically the call of the Hon. W. E. Parry, Minister of Internal Affairs, in an exhortation to the public to have Tree Years instead of Tree Days. This means that the Minister has" invited the people to set the pace for him. Will they not respond? Will they not encourage him to step out? Yes. No doubt a public monument in stone will be set up somewhere in honour of a great worker for New Zealand, Sir Francis Bell. But a better memorial; will be in the planting of trees, which were ever dear to his heart. The enduring love of Sir Francis for his conn- ' try won him firm .friendships among political opponents, who knew that his ; main platform in statesmanship was New Zealand. Whatever differences | they could have had with him in matters of incidence of taxation a«l other questions of the political hurly-burly, they were with him all the way in his active zeal for the saving of necessary forests. Words worthy of that national fervour have been written by another distinguished nature-lover, •Tames Cowan. “The late Sir Francis Dillon Bell,” lie states, “deserves to be held in honoured remembrance for his long and persistent advocacy of the permanent preservation of New Zealand’s indigenous forest. All his life he was a lover of the bush and a keen observer of its life, and he acutely realised all that the forests meant to the country. He was the first and only Commissioner of State Forests to make an earnest effort to reserve from destruction large areas of native bush. When he began the administration of the department there was an area of about a million acres reserved as State | forests; when he relinquished the posiI tion he had increased the area to eight I million acres. He also framed a policy | for the reduction of the export of native timber, realising that the country could not afford to deplete its resources in such a traffic. His wise view was that the mills should only be allowed to cut what was necessary for the {people of New Zealand. Tn this policy I he was supported by Sir Joseph Ward; both were then members of the Na- * tional Government.” • Well, New Zealanders, should not Sir j Francis Bell be honoured everywhere in j j the Dominion during this year ’s Tree I Day? Auckland Awakening. It is not surprising that Aucklanders , are supporting with real enthusiasm a I proposal for placing the title “National Park” on the beautiful native

woodlands of the Waitakere Ranges, from which the city draws its water. Tho surprise is that this movement did not begin long ago. Reports and editorials in tho Auckland newspapers indicate that the ideal will be achieved, for the citizens recognise that in this matter they have a duty to the whole, public of New Zealand as well as to themselves. Any district which has natural beauty has a national duty in r preserving it. AVhen the Auckland campaign : reaches definite success, somebody , should go to One Tree Hill and plant a monument in honour of the victory . over procrastination—a native tree to take the place, in time, of the two be- ’ draggled gnarled old alien pi lies which • stand gloomily and drunkenly c-n the } noble crest that commands inspiring ' views of both coasts. Black-backed Gull—Gentleman! I do not like the black-backed gull as much as I like a fantail or a grey- - warbler. Yet I do like him in a way, despite his cold, pallid eye—“an eager • eye, and greedy.” I had always 1 thought that this gull -was a selfish rob--1 ber, keen to snatch a morsel from a pal. Yet H. Guthrie-Smith has seen the 1 .“black-back” in another role—a saint of self-denial. Here is one of his cb- ' servations of these gulls near Stewart ! Island:— “Upon a convenient rock the birds stood, and at long intervals pounced upon stuff brought in by tho waves. Once the supply appeared to be something in the nature of a jelly fish, at another it looked like a dead bird. Each of the gulls thus in turn secured a scanty .meal, and each in turn absolutely respected his mate’s proprietary rights. A share was never asked for, no, nor even a hint, of hunger overtly expressed—a restraint and self-control the more remarkable from the evident desire of one of the pair for further food. T saw this bird standing within 1 a foot or two of its gorging, guzzling companion, and simulating the actions of the latter to the life, rending, dab--1 bing and shaking.” Boys and Birds. The article —“Boys Are Killing Our Birds”—from the pen of a thirteen-year-old boy (mentioned in a previous column of “Nature—and Man”) was supported by an editorial comment in “Nature Magazine.” “This is undoubtedly true,” the writer remarked. “Often it is the city boys who come to the country, but those who have always lived where birds are more or less plentiful are sometimes guilty. The de- : struction of birds is something that parents and teachers together must work to overcome. That attitude of young persons toward wild life can be changed at school but the schools could do much more with conservation if the ' home had given the right attitude to- 1 ward it. In schools, science clubs that ! devote time to the study and protection 5 of birds should be encouraged. Annual exhibitions of bird houses, feeding devices, notebooks made in the field, have * been found helpful in promoting inter- J est in bird study if the exhibition of these articles by the pupils is put entirely on a voluntary basis. Having occasional talks by someone interested in birds of the community, showing lantern slides or motion pictures, having talks by pupils and going on field trips are standard ways of conducting .bird clubs. Since pupils are more re■sponsive to the ideas of other pupils ■ than they are to those of grown-ups, : this club idea is a good way to break up the bad habit of testing markmanship on birds.”