PLANTING WEEK

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21185, 7 August 1940, Page 6

PLANTING WEEK

THOUSANDS OF TREES CHILDREN MARK ARBOR DAY NEW ZEALAND’S BOUNTY To-day is Arbor Day. To thousands of school children in the Hamilton district the observance has a new significance this year, for at some time during the coming week they will have the honour of planting in Hamilton a tree to mark the Centennial year Arbor Day. Several thousands of trees were planted today, and within the week some 6000 are expected to be planted by the children. In all schools in the district the Arbor Day planting was commenced to-day. In no case, however, will all the plantings be completed in one day, and it will be a week before the full programme is completed. Today trees were planted by pupils of the Hamilton High School and Hamilton Technical College at the Lake, and children at the Hamilton West, Whitiora, Fairfield, Hillcrest, Frankton, Forest Lake, Hamilton East, Te Rapa schools and Marist Brothers High School, the Hamilton East Convent, and the Frankton Convent made Arbor Day plantings at the respective schools. Although pupils of the Hamilton West School have temporarily been deprived of their new grounds as a result of the acquisition of the school for soldier patients with influenza, the children returned to the new school grounds to-day to plant trees Great interest was revealed by all pupils of the various schools in the Arbor Day observance. Important Day in Calendar In fostering interest in the right variety af New Zealand’s flora, understanding of the importance of forest conservation as a means of ensuring the timber supply and checking erosion, and appreciation of the cultural contribution made by tree-filled parks and reserves, Arbor Day fills a place of importance in the calendar. New Zealand is justly famed for its trees. The kauri, among the finest timbers in the world, the redoubtable totara, the wide-utility rimu hewn from a tree of surpassing beauty—these and their kind are the mighty ones. Others of lesser growth clothe the hills in all-the-year-round verdure. Few lands are so favoured in the trees they bear and the birds that make their homes in them. Of thus special significance to New Zealanders, Arbor Day was first observed in the State of Nebraska, United States of America, in 1872. Three years later the day was declared a legal holiday in the State. The movement spread rapidly, until to-day nearly every State of the Union has an Arbor Day. From America the practice spread to Britain and the Dominions.