CONSTRUCTIVE ACTION

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 75, 30 March 1933, Page 10

CONSTRUCTIVE ACTION

.(To the Editor.)

Sir,—Your excellent editorial on' the wild life complex has clarified the position and has be6n deeply appreciated by all interested in the vital subject of wild life control. The difficulty as usual is io make a start, and constructive action ■is required at this stage more' than at any other time. . ■ -

Ihe Internal Affairs Department has set a magnificent lead by the removal of protection, and the inestimable value of this step towards the preservation, for posterity, of New Zealand forests and birds, will-bo evident in years to come. As regards the Wellington district, people who have studied the depredations of deer in the mountainous back country (away from the settled grazing areas, inhere most

of the culling has taken, place) know that extensive damage has taken place, ami that drastic extermination is required in places such as the Tararua lianas, in order that the native bush may avoid the late oi: the ruined Ilauiangi forest. Writiug in the New Zealand Journal ot Science and Technology, with reference to the Wairarapa floods of August last year, Dr. E. Kidson, Director of Meteorological Services, stated that it was mote than a possibility that such floods might vecur, and concluded with the following words: "Though the rainfall in the Wairarapa was exceptionally heavy, it would seem that the increased amount and rate of the run-off, due to the destruction of the native forest, contribute to tbe severity of present-day floods." This indicates that all is not well with the Tararua torests, which control the. flow of the Wairarapa rivers, and as my contribution towards constructive action^ I would suggest the following scheme, wbich would protect the valuable Wairarapa farm lands from worse floods in future years, and would therefore be of immense value to the landownerß.

' (1) The Internal Agairs Department, which has already proved its capability to control wild life, should organise extensive extermination "ot deer, in the headwaters of the Tauherenikau, Waiohine, Waingawa, and- Ruamah'unga rivers on the'eastern flank of the Tararua Range.

' (2),' Native-tree planting should bs <arried out on the outer'foothills where .the above rivers reach the plains. .(3) The scheme should be financed by subsidies from landowners and from pro■fit from ihe sale of skins and-venison, and should ibe a productive unemployment re-lief-undertaking. ■ . ./<..:'•■ ■' The. above remedies: would reduce the present destruction 61'-the undergrowth and would retard'the run-off and reduce the shingle-carrying capacity, of the rivers. In conclusion, I would emphasise that the prevalence and .depredations ,'of deer in the Wellington district has .been terribly under-estimated and that every effort should be made to secure their immediate extermination before it is too late. —I am, etc., • G. B. WILSON.