NATURE—AND MAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 247, 18 October 1937, Page 3

NATURE—AND MAN

MESSERS OF THE EARTH Wasters of Assets (Edited by Leo Fanning.) A well-known writer, with a thorough knowledge of New Zealand, hab been telling the Auckland Star about destructive timber-milling and other forest-clearing high up on mountains and in rugged valleys, which need protective covering on the watersheds. ‘‘During the next two or three years we shall hear and read much in praise of the hardy pioneers who swept away the forests and made a blaoe or two of grass grow where once there had been nothing but a tree,” the critic writes. “The settler and timber feller of the past were vigorous and unsparing in their efforts to rid the country of the cumbering bush. But many of our noble pioneers, I feel, deserve a vigorous and unsparing course of debunking. They made a sad and wasteful mess of the country they found in its unspoiled state. In their ignorance they made a wholesale clearance of the national covering of the soil in valleys and on steep ranges alike, with the melancholy results we see all over the Dominion to-day, but more especially in this North Island. This process of ruin, morever, is still going on. The mountain spoiler and the hill spoiler are at work everywhere.

“The present Government is undoubtedly in earnest in its proclamation of forest preservation intentions. The policy enunciated by Mr. Langstone and Mr. Parry is very welcome news to all those who have any regard for the country’s future. But does the Government know exactly what is going on in this island? Does it realise that the sawmillers, with 01 without official sanction, are rapidly destroying everywhere forests on steep, high country, river protection forests, climatic forests, forests that are Nature's protection against land waste and river ruin? It is not merely the work of the past. There is a maa rush to get the last tree down for the sake of a little temporary gain.” Fortunately many strong New Zealanders in various, districts are moving against the ruinous waste of natural assets. The Press, too, is striving valiantly to rouse the public against toleration of short-sighted forest exploitation which lessens the country’s productive capacity and is therefore a crime of treason against posterity. “Let us Spray” It is a good few years since the phrase “Let us spray” began to have vogue in New Zealand. Spraying of fruit trees and vegetables has increased here and elsewhere. Indeed, this precaution against, pests has gone so far in the United States of America that some observers have called for better control of the practice, which is being blamed for deaths of birds in some localities. “People who care not a fig how many birds are poisoned are beginning to realise that the sprays so widely used may be seriously injuring, if not killing, men, women and children,” states “BirdLore.” “The joker in this grim pack is the fact that the very agency that is making inadequate efforts to keep arsenic out of your broccoli and mine is the very agency that recommends deadly poisons as means of insect control—the United States Department

of Agriculture. What has been done by its Bureau of Entomology to develop harmless sprays, we do not know. If this Bureau's attitude toi ward poisons is similar to its attitude . toward mosquito control before pub- ■ lie hue and cry forced it to change its tactics, no serious efforts have been made to find sprays harmless to birds and man alike. “There is considerable hope that the consumer—which means all of us—will stand up on his hind legs and insist that poison be kept off the dinner table, either by adequate control of poisons or by finding harmless larvacides. Organisations such as Consumers’ Research Union are leading the way, and people are beginning to wonder whether the increasing number of cancer and gastric disorders may not be associated, at least in part, with spray residues, these spearheads of public opinion will become more effective. Concern for human welfare will unquestionably be the prime motivation, but it seemthat the birds may benefit.” Recently I noticed that celery bought in Wellington had the green stain or a poisonous spray. Although the stalks were well scoured, a member of my household blamed the celery for a feeling of illness after a 1 meal. What is a Nature Sanctuary? This question, asked in “American Forests,” is answered by H. P. H. Agersborg thus:—“The term nature connotes a natural, pristine, primitive state undisturbed by artificial means. The term sanctuary denotes something set apart for a special purpose and use. It is a place wherein every living thing is immune to the forces or agencies working or operating on the outside. It is a refuge, an asylum, a place of safety, a natural holy place undisturbed by all living things that cannot live within and by it without destroying its sanctity and natural state and without using anything from the outside as an assistance for life within it. A nature sanctuary is a place set aside or allowed to remain unspoiled by man.” Well, how many real “nature sanctuaries” has New Zealand? How many places are there where man is not allowed to do some spoiling? Finders Keepers This is my world this morning, These are my fields to roam, Though I may tramp for many a mile I’m never away from home. I’ve none of the things you cherish, And few of the joys you share, But little I find to worry me now. For the morning's young and fair. For the snow is gone from the hills I love, All the world is green again, And a thousand wonders wait for me In a meadowland and glen. Others will pass this way to-day. But I am the first to see; And who's to say that I may not thins God made this day for me. —Maurice J. Ronayne, in “Nature Magazine.’’