APPEAL FOR AFFORESTATION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 96, 24 April 1944, Page 4

APPEAL FOR AFFORESTATION

“A TREE FOR A TREE,” URGES W.D.F.U. PRESIDENT. “An appeal to both sections of the Farmers’ Union to intensify production of much-needed foodstuffs for home and for overseas consumption would be incomplete if the subject of afforestation were left out of the scheme, for conservation of the soil is a necessary objective when planning for further pasturage is contemplated,” said Mrs. A. McPhail, in her presidential address at the annual meeting of the Women’s Division of the Farmers’ Union in Wanganui. “The country, particularly one of such a hilly formation as ours, can long withstand the loss of millions of tons of earth annually, without being depleted of essential plant-food, and, until we return to our land the natural protection provided by the On e who formed it, this loss will continue until our lovely islands will become barren wastes, fit homes for only such sea birds as require no shelter. but that of barren rocks. “Let us try to remedy the tragic mistakes of the pas't by reclothing the hills and valleys with those guardians of the health and the wealth of our people—our unique and beautiful native trees, whose beneficient duty it has been to temper the downpour of storm-waters, to bind the precipitous hill-sides, to conserve the fertility of the soil, to add beauty to the landscape. to provide food and shelter for our feathered friends and to be a source of unending * enrichment to thos-e who come after us. “Let us plant for the future, that our descendants may literally keep the home-fires burning, for without our forests there will be neither homes nor firesides. For every tree cut down there should be another planted.”