NATURE-AND MAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 67, 21 March 1938, Page 6

NATURE-AND MAN

VARIOUS VANDALISM ! TN NEW ZEALAND AND ABROAD. I (Edited by Leo Fannmg). A correspondent has reminded me. tht although muddle-minded patriots I in the United States of America may ; be “licking creation” in the conversion . of cliffs and hilltops into shapes of; human heads, they cannot claim; credit for starting these desecrations, of Nature. My friend mentioned the ' huge lion carved out of rock above I Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, by the| famous Dutch sculptor, Thorvaldsen, a ' century ago, in memory of the faithful Swiss guards who gave their lives i for King Louis XVI of France. The great Carlyle had words of praise for I that monument. No doubt, as a piece i of clever sculpture, it could command I admiration, but it was a misuse of the ; sculptor’s skill. It is astonishing that the penetrating, clarifying mind of Carlyle missed that aspect. One would . expect him to smite that lion with a Jovian thunderbolt. It must have j been one of his “off days” when he . was strolling by the lake. Mrs. H. H. Sykes, who has a beautiful garden in Dunedin, told me about a new kind of vandal, a woman who invaded her garden and snatched a armful of noble flowers in broad daylight. The thief was seen and was asked why she had stolen the flowers. “Because I like them,” she replied. In her resentment of objection to the light-handed appropriation, she hurled the spoils to the ground and stalked off in dudgeon. It is easy to imagine that such a person would cheerfully wheel a barrow into anybody’s vegetable patch and lift the best of the produce because she liked it.

Centennial Trees. Walking along Fitzgerald Avenue, Christchurch (which has rightly honoured distinguished pioneers by giving their names to the avenues on the old boundaries of the city) I saw the wellgrown Albert Edward Oak, which was planted on July 9, 1863, in honour of the marriage of King Edward VII (who was then Prince of Wales). This incident was a * eminder of the movement for centennial trees. Good progress is being made in some districts with tree-planting plans worthy of New Zealand’s hundredth birthday as a member of the big British family of nations. New Zealand has need of a tree era. Some folk seem to believe that they confer a favour on a tree by agreeing to grow it. The truth is the other way round. The trees are the benefactors. Unless they agree to grow on certain places which man has made desolate, this country will suffer terrible penalties. Wiles of the Pied Stilt. In several of his books, H. GuthrieSmith has very interesting notes on the wiles of birds to lure men or dogs away from their nests. Here is a passage from “Bird Life on Island and Shore.”: “Amongst species cunning to beguile intruders, there are none whose methods of stimulated injury and death are more strange and bizarre than those of the Pied Stilt. Dancing, prancing, galumphing over one spot of ground, the stricken bird seems simultaneously to jerk both legs and wings, as strange toy beasts can be agitated by elastic wires, the extreme length of the bird’s legs producing extraordinary effects. It gradually becomes less and less able to maintain an upright attitude. Lassitude, fatigue, weariness, faintings, and lackadaisical and fine ladyish—superven. The end comes slowly, surely, a mireable flurry and scraping, the dying Stilt, however, even in articulo mortis, contriving to avoid inconvenient stones and to select a pleasant sandy spot upon which decently to expire. When on some shingle bank well removed from eggs and nests half a dozen Stitlts—for they often die in companies—go through these performances, agonising and fainting, the sight is quaint indeed.

"hieer Fashions.

During a recent tramp through pleasant suburbs of Christchurch I was much amused by long boxes of geraniums and other plants on or below window-sills, facing beautiful - lawns and gardens. Talk about painting the lily and gilding refined gold! | It had not occurred to the J fuse-■ holders that the box notion belonged' to flats or other habitations which lacked gardens. They merely fol-; lowed a fashion blindly, just as many j persons do in treatment or maltreat- i ment of the face, hair, and clothing l (or the lack of it). Another comicality was the “gad- i get” craze (a porcelain poodle, golli- • wog or other absurdity) which was j placed at a front window. It was in- i deed a startling change from the i sublime to the ridiculous when the I gaze lifted from a glowing array of' zinnias and alters to the stony start -; ling eyes of a cheap gimcrack. This i fashion is just as silly as the strew- • ing of effigies of rabbts and other anl-4 mals on lawns or the mascots in | motor-cars. Christchurch has one charming —the growing of rowan trees,. which are now flashing their brilliant j cluster' of rubies. The city could do , well with another .ashion—the raising I of Kowhias, for which the soil and cli-j mate are suitable there. One sees. some good specimens in the city and 1 suburbs but they seem to be few and !ar Between.

Charm of a Mountain Stream. An average New Zealander could ' well believe that the following verses | were written about a scene in their I Dominion. The lines (by Kendall) i were inspired by an Australian land- ! scape: j There is a river in the range I love to think about: Perhaps the searching feet of change Have never found it out. i Ah. oftentimes I used to look | Upon its bank , and long 1 To steal the beauty of that brook And put it in a song. ■ But in the night and when the rain The troubled torrent fills, ‘ I often think I see again The river in the hills. [ And when the day is very near i And birds are on the wing, My spirit fancies it can hear The song I cannot sing.

WEATHER FORECAST Meteorological Office, Wellington, Sunday, March 20, 3 p.m. General Situation.—Pressure remains high over northern New Zealand but depression of slight intensity is passing in the South. Forecast. —Winds: Northerly to westerly prevailing but backing in places to south-westerly over the southern half of the South Island, force moderate to strong and reaching gale force at times about Cook Strait and in the far South, elsewhere mainly light to moderate. Seas (N.Z. waters): Rough in Cook and Foveaux Straits and moderate to rather rough on the west coast south of Cape Egmont, elsewhere slight to moderate. Eastern Tasman Sea: Light to moderate northerly winds and slight seas over the northern portion, moderate to fresh north-westerly to south-westerly winds with moderate to rather rough seas in the southern portion. Weather: Fair to cloudy in the northern and eastern portions of the North Island, elsewhere mainly cloudy to overcast with further rain and possibly thunder in the western and far southern areas and some scattered "ain also in eastern districts. Temperatures mild to warm but becoming cooler in the South. The New Zealand Friends’ School, St. John's Hill, report for 24 hours ending 6 p.m. yesterday: Bright sunshine, 5 hours. Rainfall, nil. Temperatures: Maximum, 82deg. Fahr.; minimum, 71deg. Fahr. Time of sunset to-day, 6.23 p.m. Time of sunrise to-morrow, 6.24 a.m. Phases of the Moon for March.—New Moon, March 2; First Quarter, March 9; Full Moon, March 16; Last Quarter, March 24.