CHANGES EFFECTED BY CIVILISED MAN ON TEE NATURAL FEATURES OF NEW ZEALAND.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3042, 6 September 1870, Page 4

CHANGES EFFECTED BY CIVILISED MAN ON TEE NATURAL FEATURES OF NEW ZEALAND.

On Saturday evening, August 27, Mr Tbavers delivered a thivd lecture on this subject. He commenced by a short re- capitulation on the points noticed in the two former lectures, and then proceeded as follows : — When loft to themselves the natural forces which regulate organic life fcond to counterbalance) each other, and nil lifo is by degrees brought to a condition of nice equilibrium, check and countercheck being most admirably applied. But the | direct ion of these forces is changed, and the equilibrium arrived at disturbed, with more or less violence, when man appears as an actor in the scene, the amount of disturbance being, as I have already shown, affected chiefly by the charter in which he appears, and usually being greater in proportion to his own advance in civilization, j Tbese islands, indeed, afford lisa most pregnant j instance of my views on this point, as 1 now propose to show, by reference to ■what has already occurred and what is constantly taking place j under our own oves, in the direction of modifying and displacing the lifo natirn to the soil. Let it j bo remembered, in this connection, that when civilised man transplants himself to a new country ho carries with him a special knowledge of the valno of a certain number of organisms which have been gradually brought into subservience to his wants in that which he formerly inhabited, whilst, in all probability, ho is absolutely or at least greatly ignorant of the uses or value of the natural productions of his newly adopted home. Moreover, his own necessities demand that ho should, without any delay, introduce such of the productions of his former home as are most suited to his wants aud offer the best; prospects of succeeding in his now country, liaviug regard to its climate and soil. Ho has then no time to Btuciy the value- or character of the organic life which he finds there, and accordingly ho proceeds at once to bring laud under cultivation, to sow it with the seeds of plants previously foreign to the soil, and to introduce such domestic animals as are most useful to him cither in the way of food or for purposes of labor. In the struggle which he 13 thenceforth destined to carry on as a colonist ho becomes, as a rule, more and more careless of the native productions, unless they present eomo prospect of being immediately and directly profitable. The native timber is used for building and fencing, and in gome few instances becomes an article of commerco j but, as a rule, the forest stands in the way and is recklessly and improvidently burnt or otherwise destroyed, without regard either to the immediate effects which such destruction may produce upon climate, or to the certain injury which must be inflicted upon posterity. The native grasses are temporarily utilised for feeding sheep and cattle, but little attention is paid to their feeding values or to the probability of bringing them, either alone or mixed with exotic grasses, into that condition of cultivation in which they may become permanently valuable or be made to yield the largest return. In these islands wo have already seen this course taken, and those who look boyond the present cannot but bo struck with the immense direct injury which has already resulted from the indiscriminate and reckless destruction of the forests end of many other of their natural productions. As a pregnant example, bearing upon this point, 1 may tnke the instance of the phorminm tenax, which for nearly thirty years has been destroyed to a greater or lees extent in every part lof the country. I have seen thousands of acres of this plant, of a growth which would yield nearly a- ton nnd a hulf to pure fibre per aero under any fair system of manufacture burnt recklessly i'ov the purpose of substituting grass , and I have seen the land upon which the flax plant hart stood in its greatest luxuriance so injured by the fire which was used for clearing it, as to bo unfit for the production of any other crop except at an outlay for which no adequate compensation could be obtained. Our large rivers, which most colonists remember as inflicting in former days but little injury to the rallies and plains through which they flow, have now in most instances become raging torrents, against whose injurious effecf a we are called upon to guard by expensive and difficult engineering works. We may trace the course- of this change to precisely the same violation of natural law 3 which has brought about similar results in other countries. There, as hore, when the forest has beeu destroyed, the moisture long etorod up id its mould is evaporated, and returns in deluges of rain which wash away the dried soil into which the accumulated mass of mould has been converted. The water courses become choked and encumbered with the debris, and the country which had previously presented an appearance of rich vegetation is converted into bald hills and dessicated plains, liable to bo still further damaged by tho ravages of the intersecting streams. There eun be no doubt that this process is now going on in many parts of these islands, and we have seen during the last two or threo sessions of the Legislature measures introduced for tho purpose of checking the growing mischief. We are told by a distinguished author " that there arc parts of Asia Minor, of Northern Africa, of Greece, and even of Alpine Europe, where the operation of causes set in action by man (causes precisely similar in character to those which have been recklessly set in action in this colony) has brought the face of the earth to a desolation almost as comploto as that of tho moon j and though within that brief spaco of time which we cnll the historical epoch," they are known to have been covered with luxuriant woods, verdant pastures, und fertile meadows, they are now too far deteriorated to be rcclaimablo by man or to become again fitted for human use, except through great geological changes or other influences or agencies of which we have no 2>resont knowledge, and over which wo have no prospective control." Tho same author without hesitation affirms, and a careful study of tho question as it affects many parts of tho world leads to a perfect acceptance of his views, that " the earth is fast becoming an unfit home for its noblest inhabitant, and thut another era of equal human crime- and human improvidence- and of like duration with that through which traces of that crime and that improvidence extend, would reduce it to such a condition of impoverished productiveness, of shattered surface, and of climatic excess, as to threaten the degradation,- barbarism, and, perhaps, even extinction of the species." This is strong language, but I may confidently appeal to any of those who have visited the plains of Babylon and Ninovoh, and those parts of Judea onco described, und truly described, as flowing with milk and honey, and now converted into a howling desolation, in confirmation of their absolute truth. 1 may be told that these are evidences of God's wrath against tho people who inhabited those countries, but setting aside all questions of controversy as to whether tho Great Author of Nature ever so deals with man as intentionally and mischievously to interfere with tho conditions of life, it is clear that it is to man's action, as a primary cause, that ive may attribute tho misery and desolation to which they are now reduced—and as a proof of tin's let me cite an instance in very modern times of tho clas* of mischief to which I have alluded, and one which bears very directly upon the lino of action pursued in various parts of these Islands. What a picture of evils have we hero ! And yet in this country, with similar results staring us in tho face, wo still persist in tho course which ha 3 led to them. Tho author from I have quoted, however, guards himself from any charge of rash and unplulosophical attempts either to set limits to the ultimate power of man over inorganic nature, or to speculate as to what may bo accomplished by tho discovery of now unknown and uniumgincd force?, or even by the invention of new arts and new processes. Ho properly cites the comparatively modern dißcovi-ry of the motivo powers of elastic vapors, the wonders of telegraphy, the destructive explosiveness of various compounds (even when as innocent looking aa gun cotton), as instancc-B which Borvo to show that wo have by no means reached tho limits within which man may bring his own powers to the aid of physical conquest, and, therefore, he calls upon his roaders to understand, that when he speaks of the apparent impossibility of repairing tho injuries which have been inflicted upon immense tracts of country by the improper action of man, he refers only to the agencies now known to and directed by man.

And, indeed, even with the aid of theso agencies, j however inadequate to the complete restoration of wasted hill-sides and desolated plains to their ' former fertility aiu\ healthiness, we find there is a p.nrlinl reverse to tho ugly picture which I have presented to you. We have seen in the case of Holland (for example) immense tvact9 of couutry recovered from the' sen, and groat lakes drained of their waters, and the land thus laid bare converted into valuable pastures ; we see rivers compelled to aid, by the doposit of tho sliino and silt with which they are charged, in filling up low lying tracts and swampy morasses ; we see fertile oases created even amidst tho barren sands of Sahara, by means of artesian fountains ; but nil theso achievements are on too small a scale to give hope that we shall ever mako full at onement for former spendthrift waste, and it becomes our post- j tive duty, imposed upon us as a sacred trust, not merely to abstain from wanton destruction of the natural resources of this country, and from undue interference with those operations which in tho past have tended co much to fit it for the abode of manhood, but also, in all cases in which, through recklessness, or carelessness, or accident, anything lias beeu done tending to injure them, that wo should endeavor to effect nil the reparation in our power. It hns well been pointed out that if "the old world which man has overthrown were rebuilded, could human cunning rescue its wastes and dcaert places from solitude and nomadic occupation, from barronnes, from nakedness, and from insalubrity, and restore tho ancient fertility and healthfulness of thcEbuscan sea coast, the Oumpugna and the Pontine marshes of Calabria, of Sicily, of the Pelopennesus and Insular and Continental Greece, of Asia Minor, of the slopes of Lobanon and Hermon, of Palestine, of tho Syrian Desert, of Mesopotamia, and tho delta of the Euphrates, of tho Cyreniata, of Africa proper, Numidia, and Mauritania, tho thronging millions of Europe might still find room on the Eastern continent, and the main current of emigration be turned towards the rising instead of the setting sun." Whilst, therefore, wo are devising great political plans for the extended peopling of these Island?, lot us not forget how much it in our duty to preserve them from those destructive processes which even civilized man, in ignorance or wa»tonnesss, unhesitatingly applies in his attempts to bring now countries under tho dominion of his wants. He then proceeded to point out that where natural arrangements ara disturbed by man, they aro not usually restored uutil long after he has retired from tho Deld, and free reign has been allowed to the spontaneous recuperative energies of the natural forces, and ho instanced the many examples of tho evils inflicted by man in the older countries of tho world as resulting from such interference. He showed that tho same course which had induced some of thoso evils, was being followed in this colony, and had already produced mischievous results. He then went on as follows : — And nowletmeturnto the consideration of some of the more important changes which have already been effected in the physical character and organic life of theso Islands. In my former lecture I pointed out how little, if anything, was to bo found amongst tho indigenous animal or vegetable productions which was useful for tho permanent, susteuance of civilized man, aivt it is only necessary to recall the dreadful extremities to which tho first European settlers wero reduced in the early days of American discovery, and that too, in a country whose useful natural productions were enormously in excess of those of these islands, to understand how little could have been dono hero by even the most civilized settlers, without the aid of the animals and plants which have been introduced. Take tho case of the province of Canterbury for example. Consisting of several thousand square miles of valuable plain and undulating land and mountain, its lower grounds, near tho sea, containing many rich tracts covered with swamp-loving growth, whilst its upper grounds were dry, and clothed either with forest or with waving tussock grasses, well fitted to support pastoral animals, it was yet, in its natural condition, utterly unfit for tho abode of civilized man. Not a plant did it produce which could have been turned to account for purposes of constant food ; and with tho exception of a few birds which would have yielded an occasional but scanty meal, it was devoid of all animal life. But now how changed i» all this! The city of Christchurch, destined, in my opinion, to occupy a foremost position among3t the cities of tho colony, built upi>n a spot of which a large portion was originally a swamp, now presents to us substantial and elegant public and private buildings which might fairly vie with those of many large provincial towns in England ; — markets supplied with meats and vegetables and fruits in no degree inferior, and in many respects superior, to thojo which are produced in the best gardens of Europe; — well kept streets, in which a busy population is carrying on trade and commerco and intercourse j foundries and factories producing machinery and implements of trade necessary for tho agriculturist and the artizan ; collegiate and other schools for tho instruction of youth, and institutions of various kinds for the dilFusion of knowledge amongst those of more advanced years, and which in their operations are guided and governed by men whose intelligence and perseverance are not only making their fellow citizens better acquainted with the natural resources of their adopted country, but are also greatly instrumental in relieving life from the weariness and tedium inseparable from the struggle for fortuno — whilst thoso lighter distractions are not wanting which are essential, at all events, to youth. Outside of tho city wo sco extensive tracts of country redeemed from tho character of a wilderness ; handsome villas with well kept grounds, in which aro flourishing tho flowers and plants, the trees and shrubs, of many foreign countries ; smooth macadamized roads, along which a great and increasing traffic is carried between tho chief city and many outlying towns and hamluts, and upon which are to be seen ovary kind of vehicle from tho elegant carriage built in England or America, to the humble spring cart of tho market gardener, and from tho huge five-horse coieh of tho enterprising Yankee proprietor, to the inconvenient cruelty-van drawn by a single jaded horse. On every side as wo travel along these highways we see evidences of energy and civilisation ; farms and cornfields 6tretcbing for miles m\ either hand enclosed by well-kept hedges und fences ; sleek looking cattlo and sheep, and happy horses snorting, as with tail and main erect; they canter over their pasture ; steam threshing engines puffing their circles of smoke into tho clear air, whilst the rumble of tho machine as tho sheaves pass through the rollers mingles pleasantly with the various other sounds of country life j all tonding to carry the traveller back to those home scenes which aro usually associated with his happiest hours, Hero too wo see tho mighty iron horse drawing his load along a lino of railway, constructed under circumstances, and in a manner which, but a few years ago, would have been looked upon with wondor even amongst tho greatest countries of Europe. Indeed, it is almost impossible for those who had not soon tho country I refer to in its original condition to realise tho amount of chungo aud improvement which have been effected by tho energy and iudustry of our race in the short spaco of twenty years, and it is difficult, oven for thoso who have witnessed this gradual change, to comprehend or grasp its wonderful results. Take again tho province of Auckland. Hero wo find a chief city also distinguished by tho possession of handsome and substantial public and private buildings ; its merchants, men of enterprise, carrying on exfensivo commercial operations with various parts of tho world ; its harbor not only filled with ships and vessels tho property of Europeans and foreigners, but also teeming with small craft, belonging to native proprietors, engaged in exchanging articlos of food and export, for othors either of local or foreign manufacture. Outside of tho city too we sco numbers of handsome country residences and farms in a high state of keeping and cultivation, and occupying ground which was not long ago the battle fiold of some of the fiercest native tribes, and the scenes of barbarities at which humanity recoils. Tho province of Otago presents equal evidences of change. Hero too wo have a largo and picturesquo capital city, vying successfully, if not in many respects Burpassing, tho other cities of the colony in the elogance and substantial nature of its public and private buildings j its people distinguished not merely by their commercial onterpriao and sagacity bufc also by tho higher characteristic of devotion to the cause of educational progress. Here also, outside of the chief town, we find civilisation spreading its arms over millions of acres, aud

gradually converting ft wilderness into a smiling coutitrv, whilst thousands of busy and hardy men are daily engaged in exploring the recesses of its hills and valleys, and tho ancient deposits of its river systems, in search of mineral wealth. Indeed, in the crises of Auckland and Otago, not less than in that of Canterbury, it is almost impossible to realise the extent of change which has taken place since thfty first Ivcime the scenes of systematic colonisation. But let us take another and even more extraordinary instance. I mean that of Weslland, and the country to the North of it, forming part of tho province of Nelson, and lying to tho westward of (lie Mount Arlliur range and the Spencer mountain*. Tho whole of this extensive tract consist of broken mountain ranges, attaining on a base of thirty to thirty-five miles from the West Coast, a general deration approaching 7000 feet, -whilst in Mount Cook we find it rising to upwards of 13,000, nnd in the Spencer mountains to upwards of 9000. From these ranges n large number of rivers flow to the coast, tho principal one being the Bullor, with its great tributaries, tho Maruin, the Mangahau, and tho Matakitaki ; tho Grey, with its tributary the Aliauru ,- tho Teremakau, the Hokitika, tho Waihau, (lowing from the Mount Cook gluciera ; the Hnnst, and the Arawhatu; whilst a host of smaller ones hcip to carry off tho abundant rain full by which this district, in common with the western slopes of those Islands generally, is characterised. The country in question is, moreover, densely clothed with forest, consisting chieily of Fagus, nflor reachiig an elevation of seven to eight, hundred feet, whilst the alluvial deposits near the mouths of the rivers support various species of the Con i fora of New Zealand, with tho usual dense undergrowth. At a few places along this coast, in and previously to the yeuv 18()4<, smnll settlements of natives existed, the people- of which lived in great seclusion and poverty, subsisting chiefly on fish nnd small degenerate potatoes, whilst the wholo district remained in tho condition of an almost virgin country, shewing but liltlo sign of interference on the part, of man In the year 1817, shortly after the establishment of the Nelson settlement, Mr Thomas Brtinner, lately Chief Surveyor for tho Province of Nelson, undertook to explore the West Coast of tho settlement, and, accompanied by a small party of natives, he succeeded, after undergoing great fatigue and hardship, in reaching a point somewhere to the south of tho Grey. Ho was actually absent for upwards of twenty months, during which timo ho had no opportunity of communicating with any other European, and in the journal which he published ho described tho country as being rugged, worthless, and unprofitable to a degree, and the rain fall as utterly excessive. His description of its character, the length of time spent in his explorations, the extreme difficulties and hardships he encountered, wore quite sufficient to deter any attempt to utilise it for pjrposos of settlement, and it remained an almost unknown land until visited many years after by Mr James Mackay in connection with its purchase from the natives. In 18G1, in consequence of suggestions made by persons in Nelson, who wore desirous of having further information in regard to its topography, geology, and natural productions, Dr Hanst was appointed by tho Nelson Government to make a further exploration, and to report upon it. Tho result of his examination was embodied in a report presented to the Nolaon Government, at the end o( that year, in which, however, Dr Haast made no suggestion of the rich auriferous deposits which have been since found upon the Grey and to tho north and south o( that river. On the contrary, ho cays in his report, that, "North of tho Bulletin tho Manila as well as in tho whole course of tho Grey and its tributaries, scarcely leaving untried any spot which seemed likely, we soarehod in vain, unuble- to detect the least sign of tho precious metal." Iv 1864, reports which had for somo time been current as to the existence of gold in payablo quantities in tho country to tho south of the Grey River wore proved to be correct, and shortly afterwards tho district in question was " rushed" by an immense body of miners from all parts of New Zealand and Australia. In the course of a very short time, towns sprung up, and a great trade was carried on at various points of tho coast, but chiefly at Hokitika, Greymouth, Weatporfc, Charleston, and other places, which but a few years ngo had onl^y boon trodden by occasional bands of savages, engaged in a search for groonstono, or upon a mission of slaughter and cannibalism. Tho miserable remnants of pas, with their wretched half starved native inhabitants, speedily gave way to tho busy hnunts of the digging population. The rivers, rarely visited oven by tho canoe of the savage, aro now used as ports by large steam and sailing vessels. Tho forest, in tho vicinity of the town is disappearing, to bo replaced by gra93 paddocks. Good roads and railways aro being substituted for the miserable bush track; millions of pounds' worth of the precious metals are extracted from the river courses and their ancient deposit?, and exchanged for? food ami all tho other various articles required for the use and tho luxury of man, and the hardy diggers, who have sot all this in motion, ai*o gradually altering tho wholo face of the country under the influence oi " the sacred thirst for gold." It is indeed wonderful that there is scarcely a nook or cranny in tho Middlo Island, a country as largo as England, though inhabited by a population not oxcecding that of a second rate provincial town, in which, after thirty years occupation somo evidence of the existence of civilized man is not to bo found ; a fragment of a glass bottle, — an ompfcy match-box, — a pioco of woven cloth, — or of manufactured leather, — being often discovered in localities affording no othor indication whatsoever that man had ever bcon there; whilst familiar European plants, weeds or flowers as tho case may be, occurring in the most sequestered valleys or upon the most rugged mountain slopes, shew tho presence of the invader and the effect of the ncw t furce3 which have boon brought into operation, and aro engaged in altering and modifying fcho original physical features of this country. There are few subjects of greater interest to the biologist than the " replacement of species" (as it has been termed) which occurs when foreign organisms are brought into contact with previously undisturbed and purely native races. Now there can bo no doubt that whenever man transplants a vegetable organisation for example from its native hobilat to a foreign soil, ho introduces a now forco to act upon tho indigenous flora, a force which experience has shown to bo usually so exerted as to lead to tho more or loss rapid, but in the long run, certain displacement of somo portion of that llora. Dr Hooker, in his admirable paper on " Insular Flora," has shown how effectually this displacement has beon carried out in small oceanic islands, instancing Madoira, St Helena, and others, but ho did not in that essay apply tiro theory to such extensive parts of land as the islands of Now Zealand. Tho lecturor then adverted to the instances of " displacement," colloctod from tho writings of Hooker, Marsh, and other authors, and proceeded as follows: — The most important part, however, to bo noticed in this connection, and ono which mu9t be carefully borne in mind in all investigations into tho observation and oxtonfc of the changes to which I am now referring is, that man hti3 been either intentionally or unintentionally tho chief instilment in bringing them about, and that it is only when ho co-operates, if I may use tho term, with the forco ho sots in motion, that they produce any striking ov rapid results. It must further be borne in mind fhafc such operations, when civilised man eugages in tho work of colonization, are usually conducted on a very largo scab, and this whenever tho result ho intentional and contemplated, or unintentional and unforeseen. And it must still further bo obsorvod, that man is naturally aided in ihisrespocb by the circumstance that vegotablo organisms when naturalised in a new country, either as the result of design or accident, generally exhibit an increased luxuriance of growth. This ia attributable, amongst other things, in tho first place to the fact that they have been removed from the influence of those chocks to undue increase which havo gradually developed themselves in their natural habitat, whether under the operation of the laws governing tho " Btvuggle for life," or in consequence of their interfering with tho cultivavotion of the soil ; iv tho next placo to the existence of that attribute to -whioh Mr Darwin has applied tho term pre-poteuoy j and, moreover, to the circumstance that tho indigenous vegetation ia invaded by a new and unexpected force, against which it had not previously been armed. Until the Ngapubi tribes had become possessed of fire*

arms, the wars of the New Zealanders wcvo conducted upon n general scale of equality ; but the possession of this force gave to that tribe an increase of power tvhich led to the most frightful results to othor tribes. Bands of these heroes marched from one end of this island to the other, spreading desolation and terror, and ultimately driving the whole native people to the alternative of eiLhor adopting a different system of living and of warfare, or of submitting to extinction. The European cardoon which broke out of some garden on the banks of the river Plate acquired a gigantic structure, and rapidly spread, in impenetrable thickets, over thousands of square miles o( the Pampas. The Aninharia alsinastruvn, a water plant not much inclined to spread in its native American habitat, has found its way into English rivers, and in some instances has not only greatly retarded their currents, but has formed a serious impediment to navigation. The water cress introduced into the river Avon in Christchurch has spread to such an extent, as to obstruct the ttovr of the river and greatly to raise its natural level, evils only counteracted by the annual expenditure of large sums of money. The Scotch thistle is spreading all over both islands and has already entailed upon the farmer and the squatter a serious addition to his expenses. So far as New Zealand is concerned, there can be no doubt that ■what 13 taking place must bo at the expense of the native flora, and must, even alone, have sooner or Inter led to the extirpation of many of the native plants. But when, in aid of these operations, we find the whole country roamed over by man himsolf and by countless herds of animals which he has inh'odueed, we may feel assured that the native life h:\s but little chance against the invaders. Wherever wo firo the forest or cut a track, we make room for the invader, and where the hardy European vegetable once begins to grow it visually retains its hold. I noticed recently, at subtil pine elevations in the Middle Island, (hat trifo'.ium pratense was gradually displacing native herbaceous vegetation, a process the more certain in proportion to the treading which (he soil receives from cattle and sheep. Bnt perhaps one of tho most noticeable facts is, that along our lines of highway, especially in tho Canterbury province, you scarcely see, for miles together, a pingle native plant in tho hedge rows or fences, whilst the familiar wayside weeds of Europe are found as abundantly as they are in the mother country. Mr Travers concluded his lecture by observing " that (he mysterious but undeniable movements which ho had attempted to elucidate were over going on, progressing on a grand and imposing scale, and altering the vegetable character of the whole country, shewing in indeliblo signs the silent but irresistible force with which humblo plants may prescribe a path to man, and that strange relation between them which makes plants of equal importance to his existence and to his ] welfare." j Mr Travers then apologised for not having ex- i tended it to the cose of the fauna as "well as that of the flora, but pleaded his pressing engagements as his excuse lie, however, expressed a hope that on somo future occasion he should bo able to deal with the subject.