TO SAVE THE KAURI.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 292, 3 September 1908, Page 11

TO SAVE THE KAURI.

OR. COOKAifNE'S appeal. "ONE OF. THE GREATEST SIGHTS IN t THE WOULD." , •'-Although nDt.' Cookayne's report on the W&ipoilA 'kauri forest is mainly of scientist valiifej iii; '.concludes . with , some • remarks of mucli 1 wider interest. • AVaipoua Forest and one or two.other smaller-. reserves are' the only virgin kauri fotesti now belonging to the State," writes Df.;;ttckf»yhe. "The kauri forest, as I haVe alMdy. stated, is" the only plant-association. ;.'of|tHejkiiid';to Se foilhd in thb World. I have al|q'f" attempted to show that.it is one of and of bxiij;timb scientific interest?:.: 'fho';..forest, reserve contains examples " of ]24l:ispecies of flowering-plants ajid ferns. . It; isj.thereforo .at present an important forest iiniisbtim. Before^, very long, at the rate atlwHloh'itlib kauri is l being converted, thero willfljo'no "forests of that kind, and very fe\y . eSattplos' jbf the '.troes either —in twenty yeitsfetuiie'j on even less. Thus win pass '• frqfll tHB fflcp'pf the. barth oiieibf the ..noblest of. .forests and one of. the 'uiiigub.MHractionS l of...Nbw'_ Zealand:.' Our : fioHlS; gliciers, and'.hot springs- have their like;elSetvhfere; our : kauri. forests are nowhere else ; J 't6.,'.be l .seeii..;'AVhat .the future of the : SViiijjbUa' forest will be I cannot pretend to prMibtVi," .If it is felled ./it iVill give employ: mehi.fbr.,& ; few:years-to a.certain number of trieix,- ivlibj' in any case,''at the end of that tifee''will:have , to :look'; fo'r ( <;:.otlier employ-, its''plaCo- will• be, much waste lanHi aiid -d' few •farms, isolated , from other settlonieut.j.; If Jt IS .preserved there, will' be ; a \jjiagtiificent heritago '4 for. future generaaUd in incraasf. jngiaftHts^intonstji-for:tlib visitors 'to otir oliore's.'. ' tt)' the .forest itself... It cer:bech; shown, containd a gifbat . -botiivkattri. and rimu, • tbgeih'e'riwith. some 'lsjvhikatea, totara, miro, arid'flfiaiiii;£'" The. kauri l's found in quantity the Toronui • Streami oxr, ceOTin'g .some in''.the.:Watershed of the Mero; whafiraV' >.of. this kaiiri .belt,--ivhich extends frVm ; e4s|: .to .west, . riiucK of tho kauri in the gdUihern Saft .of.:tlie forest; is scattered, the snyiiiig- tiniber,' par excellettcb' being that .qp • I^&°Higltcr the Huaki. Bdt}it>ihUitbe .borhe : in mind that * a^large pirtSfstheiforest-contains'ho. millinct timber at: ill.?;. Oiii ..the\high tableland and;-in .a' few is - jnuch. rimu^. The lane] is here of forf agriculture,and.thb same remark applies to'thb cbhtinuation of the forest on !tableland-..,: r In"-other words, {Kb'prbsent crop is .ithe:'best':the soirwiil ever yield, (liid it should ; sdrely ; Mbt be felled, merely for purposes .of ■ so' much better, land elscwhere;is*~at:present unoccupied. • . v i; 1 /' ; Bldpes of- the; 'Waiijoua Forest on thb.i'sbUtK|to;:the ;Waipoua: Eiver. in many parts contain no milling timtfir it 311 'beyoiia sdiric-scattoted kauris, and yet, though they example by any oj wnat'.a kluri 'forest is, their covering frould n'olhlptfef available, and would ' fair" national' kauri park'.' .That sUchfa.park should bo created seems to me iriMAtroyertibla;; ■.'■ The /only difference of ■ ; bpjiiibii'vtH'flt can: arise is as to its size. The as a whole would make, of .•l^^§ey ; It. would be one of ' ; ,the .world,- and- as -the yearb creii.ji; p4 WWjd .fre flinrp. and more ptizfed by our descendants'. ,To preserve tub ' lowest - : in| its .entirety would mean, hastening . thejericU ofc the kauri ■•industry by a", very, few ; yearsto ciiit it down would extend that iridifatry fof! the,'same .number." ,