An Internal Enemy

Forest and Bird, Issue 54, 1 November 1939, Page 1

An Internal Enemy

SERIOUS CAUSE FOR ALARM

(Z fj ULLETIN No. 77, issued by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, entitled (j “Maintenance of Vegetative Cover in New Zealand with Special Reference to Land Erosion,” is certainly a worth-while document. The subject has been treated in an able manner. The whole tenor of the report is, however, perhaps too mild and unlikely to encourage the necessary drastic and costly steps required to replace the fertility of this country’s soil in anything like the condition the white man found it when he first set foot upon its shores. The committee which made the report deprecates an alarmist attitude. An alarmist attitude, however, appears just what is necessary to awaken the public to the gravity of the present situation, which is unquestionably alarming. First of all, New Zealanders must realise where they are to-day and how they stand in respect to the future well-being of their country, remembering always that soil fertility must be maintained if national prosperity is to be continued. Unfortunately the well-meant but hurried efforts to relieve unemployment in the past led to the placing of large numbers of men on such works as the formation or improvement of roads. Roads are, however, always a source of expenditure in that they need constant maintenance, and moreover provide access for the fire fiend, the poacher, and other unnatural enemies besides many forms of noxious weeds such as gorse and blackberry. The Forest and Bird Protection Society has frequently stressed the need for diverting labour into channels conducive to the restoration of manageable natural resources such as forest conservation and extension. Such activities, in the course of time, if ably carried out, would at least repay the expenditure incurred as against new road formation, which is a constant drain unless the cost of the access given is likely to warrant the construction. In many cases this is not evident or is merely of a form likely to afford temporary facilities for the “mining” of some particular natural resources. Now New Zealand is faced with the expenditure of probably vast sums for national defence against human enemies at a time when the more serious enemy “erosion” should be fought with no uncertain hand. The Dominion’s monetary resources have already been much depleted, largely by expenditure on roads. Surely the need is for an alarmist attitude, not merely a sitting-down attitude. New Zealand is now attacked from within and without. It might be asked: “What is the use of defending a country from without if the enemy within is to be allowed to destroy the life-sustaining soil and thus in time render the country worthless for human occupation?” This internal enemy must be fought in the same determined manner as the foreign foes. The situation is certainly serious, but, as the departmental report states, it is not irremediable. The necessary force of public opinion is, however, essential. It is safe to say that, if the people of New Zealand had a full knowledge of the havoc already wrought by the “demon of erosion” and could foresee the further damage which will be due to blunders already made in the destruction of protective forests on steep watersheds, they would insist on effective action to safeguard the fertile soil.. Already it is easy to see on a tour of New Zealand huge areas where productive soil has been lost by the lack of an intelligent policy in regard to “ bush-burns ” for settlement, timber milling, and sluicing and dredging for gold. Very important natural assets, which would have helped to strengthen New Zealand, have been sacrificed for the passing profits of comparatively a few persons. The soil is nature’s Reserve Bank for the maintenance of the human race, but man has a tendency to wage a suicidal war against nature. The people must be told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about erosion. The truth will certainly alarm them and make them eagerly willing to agree to the making and working of a strong policy for their own salvation.