DESTRUCTION OF BUSH, &c.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 679, 16 January 1883, Page 2

DESTRUCTION OF BUSH, &c.

To the Editor. Sin,—Before it is too late, and our beau-

tifill bush quite disfigured by the removal and destruction of fern and other trees and shrubs, I would call the attention of the public to sections 20 and 21 of " The Malicious Injuries to Property Act." Section 20—" Whosoever shall unlaw fully and maliciously cut, break, bark, root up, or otherwise destroy or damage the whole or any part of anj tree, sapling, or shrub, or any underwood, growing in any park, pleasure ground, garden, orchard, or avenue, or in any ground adjoining or belonging to any dwelling-house (in case the amount of the injury done shall exceed the sum of one pound), shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at tho discretion of the Court, to be kept in penal servitude for the term of three years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labor, and with or without solitary confinement, and if a male under the age of 16 years, with or without whipping." Section 11 —" Whosoever shall unlawfully and maliciously cut, break, bark, root up, or otherwise destroy or damage the whole or any part of any tree, sapling, or shrub, or any underwood, growing elsewhere than in any park, pleasure ground, garden, orchard, or avenue, or in any ground adjoining to or belonging to any dwelling-house (in case the amount of injury done shall exceed five pounds),sball be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the Court, to be kept in penal servitude for the term of three years, or to be imprisoned lor any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labor, and with or without solitary confinement, and if a male under tbe age of 16 years, with or without whipping." There is no ambiguity about this Act; it is explicit, and the punishment which can be inflicted under it is very severe. My object in giving publicity to it is the hope that by doing so I may in some measure prevent the further destruction of those beautiful forest trees, shrubs, and ferns, the ornaments of our valleys and mountains, which make the latter so different from the barren, desolate hills of Lyttelton.—Yours, etc., GEORGI. WM. NALDER.