CHANGES EFFECTED BY CIVILIZED MAN ON THE NATURAL FEATURES OF NEW ZEALAND.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 720, 20 September 1870, Page 3

CHANGES EFFECTED BY CIVILIZED MAN ON THE NATURAL FEATURES OF NEW ZEALAND.

A highly interesting lecture on the above subject was delivered in Wellington, by Mr Travers, on the 27th ultimo. Mr Travers showed, in a remarkably clear manner, tho physical changes which had taken place io New Zealand since it was first colonized, now only about thirty years ago. The introduction of new plants had in a great measure changed the flora of the country ; the destruction of its forests had induced deluges of rain, which filled np the beds of rivers with soil, and flooded and wasted the country. Mr Travers quoted from various writers to show that portions of the Old World which once had been iamous for their fertility were now wastes through the agency of man, and the same processes were operating to produce the same effects here. It would occupy too much space to give the lecture, even as abridged by tho Independent, but the following has a special interest for our readers : — And now let me turn to the consideration of some of the more important changes which have already been effected in the physical character and organic life of these islands. In my former lecture I pointed out how little, if anything, was to be found amongst the indigenous animal or vegetable productions which was useful for the permanent sustenance of civilized man ; and it is only necessary to recall the dreadful extremities to which the first European settlers were reduced in the early days of American discovery — and that, too, in a country whose useful natural productions were enormously in excess of those of these islauds — to understand how little could have been done here by even the most civilized settlers, without the aid of the animals and plants which have been introduced. Indeed, in the cases of Auckland and Otago, not less than in that of Canterbury, it is almost impossible to realise the extent of change which has taken place since they first became the scenes of systematic colonisation. But let us take another and even more extraordinary instance.. 1 mean that of Westland, and the country to the north of it, forming part of the province of Nelson, and lying to tho westward of the Mount Arthur range and the Spencer mountains. The whole of this extensive tract consist of broken mountain ranges, attaining on a base of thirty to thirty -five miles from the West Coast, a general elevation approaching 7000 feet, whilst in Mount Cook we find it rising to npwaTds of 13,000, and in the Spencer mountains to upwards of 9000. From these ranges a large nnmber of rivers flow to the coast, the principal one being the Buller, with its great tributaries, the Marina, the Inangahua, and the Matakitaki ; the Grey, with its tributary the Ahaura ; the Teremakau, the flokitika, the Waihau, flowing from the Mount Cook glaciers ; Haast, and the Arawhata ; whilst a host of smaller ones help to carry off tho abundant rainfall by which this district, in common with the western slopes of these Islands generally, is characterised. The country in question is, moreover, densely clothed with forest, consisting chiefly of Fagus, after reaching an elevation of seven to eight hundred feet, whilst the allvtial deposits near the months of the rivers' support various species of the Conifera of New Zealand, with, the usual dense . undergrowth. At a few places along this coast, in .and previously to tho 'year 1864, .small settlements of natives existed, the people of which lived .in great secinßion and poverty, subsisting chiefly on fish and small degenerated potatoes, whilst the whole district remained in the condition of an almost virgin country, showing but little sign of interference on the part of man. In the year 1847, shortly after the establishment of the Nelson settlement, Mr Thomas Brunner, lately Chief Surveyor for the Province of Nelson, undertook to explore the West Coast of the settlement, and, accompanied by a small party of natives, he succeeded, after undergoing great fatigue and hardship, in reaching a point somewhere to the south of the Grey. He wns actually absent for upwards of twenty months, during which time he had no opportunity of communicating with any other European, and in the journal which he published he described the country as being nigged, worthless, and unprofitable to a degree, and the rainfall as utterly excessive. His description of its character, the length of time spent in his explorations, the extreme difficulties and hardships he encountered, were quite sufficient to deter any attempt to utilise it for purposes of settlement, and it remained an almost unknown land until visited many years after by Mr James Mackay, in connection with its purchase from the natives. In 1861, in consequence of suggestions made by persons -in Nelson, who were desirous of having further information in regard to its topography, geology, and natural productions, Dr. Haast was appointed by the Nelson Government to make a further exploration, and to report upon it. The result of his examination was embodied in a Tepott presented ix\ tha Nelson Government, at the end of that year, in which, however, Dr Haast made no suggestion of the rich anriferons deposits which have been since found upon the Grey and to the north and south of that river. On the contrary, he says in his report, that, " North of the Buller, in the Maroia as well as in the whole course of the Grey and its tributaries, scarcely leaving untried any spot which seemed likely, we searched in vain, unable to detect the least sign of the precious metal."

In 1864, reports which had for some ' time been current as to the existence of gold in payable quantities in the country to the south of the Grey River were proved to be correct, and shortly afterwards the district in question was rushed by an immense body of miners from all parts of New Zealand and Australia. In the course of a very short time, towns sprung up, and a great trade was carried on at various points of the coast, but ohiefly at Hokitika, Greymouth, Westport, Charleston, and other places, which but a tew years ago had only been trodden \>Y occasional bands of savages engaged in a search for greenstone, or upon a mission of slaughter and cannibalism. The miserable remnants of pahs, with their wretched half-starved native inhabitants, speedily gave way to the busy haunts of the digging population. The rivers, scarcely visited even by the canoe of the savage, are now used as ports by large steam and sailing vessels. The forest in the vicinity of the town is disappearing, to be replaced by grass paddocks. Good roads and

railways are being substituted for the miserable bush track ; millions of pounds' worth of the precious metals are extracted from the river courses and their ancient deposits, and exchanged for food and all I tho other various articles required for the luxury of man ; and tho hardy diggers, who have set all this in motion, are gradually altering the whole face of the country under the influence of "the sacred thirst for the golcV It is indeed wouderful that there is scarcely a nook or cranny in the Middle Island— a country as large as England — though inhabited by a population not exceeding that of a second-rate provincial town, in which, after thirty years occupation, some evidence of the existence of civilized man is not to be found — a glass bottle, an empty match box, a piece of woven cloth, or of manufactured leather, being often discovered in localities affording no other indication whatsoever that man had ever been there ; whilst familiar European plants, weeds, or flowers, as the case may be, occurring in the most sequestered valleys or upon the most rugged mountain slopes, shew the presence of the invader and the effect of the new forces which have been brought into operation, and are engaged in altering and modifying the original physical features of the country.

Mr Travers concluded his lecture by observing, " that the mysterious but undeniable movements which he had attempted to elucidate were ever going on, progressing on a grand and imposing scale, and altering the vegetable character of the whole country, showing in indelible signs the silent but irresistible force with which humble plants may prescribe a path to man, and that strange relation between them which makes plants of equal importance to his existence and to his welfare."