Protection of Trees

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 171, 6 August 1937, Page 6

Protection of Trees

Sir, — May I appeal to my fellow-citi-zens, countrymen; all those who support and are supported by the town 'of Hastings; who pay taxes and rates' and spend their money here; who eell their goods and get their living h§r,e; who park their cars and cycles (or try to) and shop here; who enjoy the parks, bask there in the sun. in winter, well sheltered from chilly breezes; who go there for the pleasant shhdeTTn summer; ■ those who find rest a,nd* tised to find shelter in Civie Square an6 the reserves in Russell street; yotmg and old; rich and poor. Do these people want their, treea- and | hedges cut down in this busy springcleaning that our charwomen — no, I | mean our Eeserves Committee — is now S carry ing on? { Did we want (here goes)^j 1. The white-fiowering acacias la j Eailway road cnt downf 2. The young pines in "Windsor Park cnt downf 3. The olearia hedge in Russell street cnt downf 4. The lace-barks in Civie Squara cut downf Did we want: — 1. Exotic palms planted in Eailway roadf 1 2. Hydrangeas and nandina shrnba j in Karamu roadf l Do we want:— ! 1. Silver .birches that. Will have te>I be topped planted there f j 2. Do we want Cornwall Park hedge ! done away with, and if so Why ha« l some weeks been spent in clipping itf 1 3. "Would we be wise to say in. England: "We hate Oaks,,f j 4. Is it suitable to have a Eeserves | Committee who say of onr national ; fiower, t{ We hate Kowhais"! | I am' just asking. Eike "Eose j Dartle," I want to know. If so, carry } on. j But I think we are not satisfied. We | have not with the Maoris that intimate one-ness with with living things that forbade them to cut down a tree without first offering prayer and sacrifice to Tane, God of the Trees. We also have the knowledge Ijjhat trees- and hedges don't grow in a day, and though we may have lost grip . of things spiritual and may think chiefly of things material, we still have, I suppose, a little sense of living beauty and the fitness of things. No, Sir, I think that we ratepayers, and heavily-burdened taxpayer's should at least see that onr reserves and rest-ing-places are preserved anff beantified as we wish. ' - Otherwise I can only propose that those splendid gates at Cornwall Park, so soon appar-ently to be made ridiculous, be remQ.ved en bloc to the entrance to the town- — say to Murdock road, and ereeted 4 there with, say, s statue of, say, Hitler and Mussolini on either side, and the words: "Abandon hope, all ye tree-lovers who enter here." No. Mr Editor; let us not do this, Let . us gather together, men and women of town and country, of clubs, in* stitutes, guilds, lodges, farmers' unions; peoples of Maraetotara, Puketitiri, Maraekakaho, Waimarama, Puketapu, T« Awanga, Kaharanaki, Waitangi, Haumoana (shades of the past — what beautiful names) as well as the people of Hastings; let us get together and, with something of the spirit of our adopted country, let us gather round our Eeserves Committee and shout quite loudly: "Ake! Ake! Kia Kaha! Komati, Komati! Kia Kahal We wdnt our trees, and we want them nativc." Yours etCi GABEIELLE PEESTON-THOMAS. Hastings, Aug. 6, 1937.