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FIRE PROTECTION OF THE CITY FORESTS

Sir,—After a delay of exactly threo mouths ill© City Council has formulated a reply (your issue of September 3) •to the deputation that asked for the extension, the better management, and tho fire protection of tho Khandallah bush., All requests have been refused; but the : reply of the council parades a certain acquiescence in fire-protection—a caretaker in charge, a. telephone to his house. Unfortunately it has placed tho caretaker where everyone is agreed tnero is no danger from fire, and the telephone to his house is an old one that has been there for many years! If there were a bush fire the caretaker, under present arrangements, would be one of +h(> last men in Khandallah to see it! The deputation asked that a hut with a telephono be built on the top of the moun-. tain, whore hitherto all the fires have come from.. Such a hut, with plenty of old timber in the bush, would. cost little to build and nothing to maintain. It would only need to be occupied for short periods during certain dangerous seasons-a picnic at midsummer for tho caretaker and his family!

Indeed, the whole expenditure required to put the Khandallah bush in order would be a matter of a few hundred pounds. Much of this expenditure and more precious time lias gone into the children's playground at tho foot of tho forest.. Most of the forest expenditure would be of a remunerative character, some of it, indeed, repaid at once, and all within a few years, for the Khandallali bush is so well placed and on such good soil ithat it could easily lie macio not only a very beautiful, but a highly tcmunerativo forest. These facts were urged by the deputation, and are not denied in tho council's evasive reply. In forest fire-work, fire-paths arc like lbather in boots. You may have boots without leather, but they are scarcely to bo dopended upon. In its ■happy-go-lucky reply the council ignores fircpnths altogether. As it was feared thero might b»\ local feeling in the matter, the deputation asked that independent technical advice be sought. That request has also been ignored. The city of Wellington lias not far off 1000 acres of native forest in Wilton's bush, the Khnndallali bush, and Day's Bay bush. Wilton'* busli seems to be in the least dangerous condition from fire, the Khandallah bush tho most. A liigh price was paid for the Day's Bay bush, the Khandallah bush, which in its possibilities is the most valuable of the three, was . acquired by the city for nothing at the recent amalgamation. Tflo saving of all three forests from destruction by fire is a civic matter of tho fir?t importance.

If tho work of the late Onslow Borough Council had been continued, tho Khandallah bush would by now havo been in a fair way of being safo from fire. As it is, it was only saved from being burnt last summer by a fortunate change of weather, and all tho precious time sincc has been absolutely wasted. Here wo have what was onco the finest nativo bush lienr Wellington. Ifc has been burnt three times, and a fourth burn will about finish it. Further, in and on its borders arc some fivo or six houses worth some ,£I2OO to *£1500 apiece. If these houses or their bush bo burnt, the ratepayers will be cast in serious damages. Of all tho big cities in New Zealand, cot ons has so much nativo bush close _to it as lias Wellington. It is of direct interest to the. whole city that theso three areas should be put into protection against fire. Is it too much to ask that tho new councillor to bo elected in place of the late Mr. Frost should bo required to give a pledge that if elected ho will see that tho fire-protection of the suburban forests of Wellington is seriouslj considered. and that if ho finds there aro too many of tho old members of tho council against him, he will communicate to the Press his reason for being unable to effect a reform at present?— I am, etc,, D. E. HUTCHINS. Khandallah, September G, 1920.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19200908.2.65.4

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 296, 8 September 1920, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
704

FIRE PROTECTION OF THE CITY FORESTS Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 296, 8 September 1920, Page 7

FIRE PROTECTION OF THE CITY FORESTS Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 296, 8 September 1920, Page 7

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