AN INTERNAL ENEMY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 96, 4 December 1939, Page 6

AN INTERNAL ENEMY

SERIOUS CAUSE FOR ALARM; "DEMON OF EROSION" Bulletin No. 77, issued by the Department and Scientific and Industrial Research, entitled "Maintenance of Vegetative Cover in New Zealand with Special Reference to Land Erosion," is certainly a Avorthwhile 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 111 anything like the condition the white man found it when he first set foot upon its shores. The committee which made thereport 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 Zcalanders 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 main taincd if national prosperity is to be continued. Uufortunately 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 cr improvement of roads. Pnads arc, however, always a source of expenditure in that they need constant maintenance and moreover provide access for the Ore fiend, the poacher, and other unnatural enemies besides many forms of noxious weeds such as gorse and blackberry. Di\ 7 erting Labour. 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. Tn many cases this is not evident or is merelj' 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 Avith 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 n sitting-down attitude. New Zealnnd is "oav attacked from within and without. It might be asked: "What is the use of 'Wending a country from without if the enemy within is to be alloAvpd to destroy the life-susta ; ning soil and thus in time render the countrv worthless for human occupation?" This internal enemy must be fought in the same determiner] manner as the foreign fons. The situation is eeri-ainlv serious, but, as the department reoort states, it is not irrcTuediable. The necessary force of publicopinion 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. Productive Soil Lost. 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 int'dligent policy in regard to ''bush burns" for settlement, timber milling, and sluicing and .dredging for gold. Very important natural assets, Avhich 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 Avar against nat u re. The people must be told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about erosion. The truth will ■ certainly a'am 1 Uvm and inhlv '<■■■ I:;; : „■ making and Avurking of a strong po- < liey for their own salvation. 1