THE FARTHEREST NORTH

Grey River Argus, 20 September 1948, Page 4

THE FARTHEREST NORTH

Two visits to Cape Reinga this summer revealed continued fire (damage. The practice of carrying boxes of matches, riding through the scrub and dropping them alight, apparently continues to a certain extent. ~ Large areas of burnt-over country were to be seen. What birdlife existed on these areas was either destroyed or driven off, states “Forest and Bird.”

The fern bird, now rapidly diminishing through such a practice, suffers the most as its flight is too weak to carry it out of the approaching flames. ‘ The native lark can get away, but very often its nest of fledglings is consumed by the holocaust.

Evidences of wind erosion were apparent as one approached the steep country near the Cape. Floods also tear down the valleys denuded of their original vegetative covering, causing thousands of tons of the best bour, tending to silt it up where the tide is sluggish. Fifty years of firing have produced vast changes, and unless the practice is stopped, the end of the present century will see tens of thousands of acres of- abandoned land in what is the best climate in the Dominion.

The coat of arms for the upper Northland should be two slash hooks crossed, over a box of matches.