NATURE--AND MAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 306, 27 December 1937, Page 2

NATURE--AND MAN

This New Zealand LET US SAVE ITS BEAUTY (Edited by Leo Fanning) A dozen years ago I wrote some jingles for an illustrated book (designed mainly for young folk). Here arc some of the impressions of this ’beautiful territory, which well deserves its popular title, “The Wonderland of the Pacific”:— Say “Sonny” or Sunny New Zealand: It matters not which you use, New Zealand's a free land, ’ An evergreen tree-land, The country the tourist should choose. Great Britain is loved as the mother, Whom “Sonny” will never desert. He loves, too, each brother; They're true to each other; Their kinship is never inert. Peace of the Forest The fairies of the forest dells Have palaces of ferns and moss; No wicked witches cast their spells To cause tire pixies pain or loss. The woods are ever gay and green, No snake lurks there for careless feet; No terror spoils the sylvan scene Of Nature’s joy and peace complete. Fairy Palace of Waitoino The glow-worms wbrk for fairies in Waitomo’s marble halls; The lights gleam there in myriads upon the roof and walls; A river, gliding underground, reflects that starry sheen; Now isn’t that a proper place for any Fairy Queen? A River Canyon The Wanganui River winds through miles of verdant banks Where tree-ferns stand like sentinels in splendid serried ranks; And through the leafy aisles you see the crests of noble hills, And hear the roar of waterfalls and songs of birds and rills. Bird Chat

Eaid the Tui to the Kiwi: “You’re the biggest joke I've seen. You’re no more like a birdie Than a cow is like a queen.” Said the kiwi to the tui: “You're called the parson-bird; But you’re the rudest clergyman That ever I have heard.” This unchristian conversation woke the Huffy grey morepork. “How you talk!” he scolded sharply; “How you talk! More talk! The “Hard-Case” U’eka The natives called me weka But I’m as tough as nails. They say that. I’m a shrieker, That tills the night, with wails. 1 have a friendly feeling For campers and their goods, Which I’m accused of stealing And hiding in the woods. Nature’s Kitchens at Rotorua Rotorua’s natives havc an easy way to work—No need to fuss with firing in a stuffy kitchen cook, Dame Nature very kindly provides a boiling pool, And there they sit and gossip till the children come from school. The World’s Wonder Walk The Parliaments of many lands may have world's wonder talk, But Southland, in New Zealand, has the great “World's Wonder Walk.” Here Nature sets her scenery in marvellous array; “Ink sadly fails to show it,” is what describers say. Charm of Franz. Josef Franz Josef Glacier’s crystal face (How nice for you and me!) Is framed within a treeful place Not far above the sea.

No other glacier is so near; No other has such charm. Its grandeur is not fraught with fear You climb without alarm. The Mitre and the Lion, Milford Sound A million years or so ago, A giant wandered to and fro About the Southland Sounds. His height was fourteen miles or more And heavy were the shoes he wore He made tremendous bounds. He couldn't get enough to cat; So when he'd finished all the meal, Except a lion friend, He slowly starved to death, 'tis said He sank into the Milford bed, And more than filled one end. And when he lay there all alone His cap and lion turned to stone, And there they are to-day. The lion seems to guard the cap- - very faithful kind of chap, Who never runs away. A Maori Lake-Maker The Maoris say that long ago A giant’s spade (which they call Ko) Dug out a southern lake. We wish he’d come again and lift The gold from rivers’ rocky drift, And all our fortunes make.