AFFORESTATION WORK

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 180, 31 July 1936, Page 5

AFFORESTATION WORK

THE CAMP AT KAITOKE TWELVE BOYS ENGAGED VISIT Of JKSrtX TJON YESTERDAY A visit, of inspection was paid lo Lhe Youths’ Afforestation Camp al. Kaitoke yesterday, by ofiicials of tne controlling authority, the Wanganui Tourist and Development League. The party included Mr. W, J. GibsonHughes, president of the league, Mr. A. E. Halligan, chairman of the Afforestation Camp Committee, and also Mr. W. J. Guildford, Government Placement Officer at Wanganui. In all, the area under control of the league for planting purposes totals 876 acres. .It is waste, sand dune country, lying between good land and the foreshore. Planting activity, beginning with the establishment of marram grass to hold the sand drift and provide shelter for the young trees, was commenced some three years ago. The project was financed under a bond system, which gave those who donated material and provisions for the establishment of a camp an interest in any future profit the plantations might be responsible for. For a Jong time the undertaking battled on with the backing of that section of the public who took a keen interest in the welfare of young lads and endeavoured to tide them over a crucial period in their lives, the object being to provide them with work, keep and pocket money, until such time as permanent employment could be found for them. Recently the State art. union funds contributed a grant of £lOO and the good work is being continued. The league is still desirous of obtaining all the help it can from those kindly citizens who are able to afford donations in the form of provisions or cash. In all, 12 boys are employed at present and are under the supervision of Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, two who have fathered and mothered the various lads passing through the camp these last two years. Pinus insignus trees, reared in the city nursery from seed grown in well established plantations, are taken out to the camp nursery and there accustomed to the sandy soil. The planting grounds proper are roughly a mile away from camp and nursery and the lads work in gangs under the supervision of Mr. Cameron and Mr. Blinkhorn. Some 35,000 trees have been planted this year. In the winter of 1934, 12,000 trees were planted and last year 40,000, The secret of successful sand dune planting is to provide shelter until the tree becomes established. Marram grass has been relied upon very largely and extensive planting of this form of shelter and sand check has been undertaken. About 40 acres have been planted in marram grass and some 70 acres in trees. When a selection was made of a suitable area for tree planting the committee chose a low lying level which presented sufficient dampness for the purpose. Sufficient attention was not paid to that fact that the summer before last was an exceptionally dry one, however, and when a season very much the reverse in habits followed, several trees were lost through flooding. Floods in February last, for instance, did a great deal of damage which was totally unexpected. It is intended to drain the damp section referred to this summer and there are prospects of, it being converted into a really first-class planting area. Boys working at the camp range in years from 15 to 19. Yesterday, owing to the bitterly cold wind, they were engaged on domestic duties about the camp—chopping wood and so on. They looked a happy lot, amenable to camp discipline and willing workers. “They are the real ‘trees’ the league seeks to look after.” Mr. Halligan stated. “Caring for them is the most important thing of all. That they are able to carry out useful work and, at the same time are freed from the evils of idleness about the streets, is worthwhile in itself. The league would welcome all the assistance the citizens can give it in what is really a desirable object.”