NEW ZEALAND TREES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4368, 20 January 1922, Page 1

NEW ZEALAND TREES.

SOME INTERESTING OBSERVA 1 - TIONS. It is interesting to hear that the kauri is being, successfully grown in the Hawaiian~Tslands, where several fine specimens are to be seen. An experimental. plot of several acres is being set out with, kauri seedlings, and great hopes are entertained that this may prove to be a future source of timber supply, Regeneration of this valuable tree is going on all along the northern shores of the Waitemata Harbour from Birkenhead. The young pines, according to a visi-i tor, are raising, their stately heads above the manukp, scrub in many of the sheltered gullies, and as long as the destructive fires, which are constantly occurring in this scrub country, are checked, there is considered to'be a good-chance of attaining a respectable size. Like the kauri, the pohutukawa, whose gorgeous, red blossoms make such a fine show all along the northern coast of the North Island, is mainly a native pit that portion of the Dominion. A few pohutukawa trees were discovered on the banks of the Mokau Rivei» during the early days of settlement in Taranaki, and according to Maori tradition these were planted by the natives themselves during one of the early migrations of the northern tribes. Since those days the pohutukawa has been successfully acclimatised in various parts of the North Island. The karaka tree,, whose glossy green foliage and .luscious looking golden berries form such a feature a” our coastal forests l , was greatly priz-, ed by the Maoris as a source of food supply, and it was a common thing for the various tribes to plant groves of these trees in the vicinity of their pas. Tn one of the old fighting pas on the Taranaki coast two splendid specimens of the karaka tree stand ,on either side o' the narrow entrance to the third tier of fortifications Their trunks are scored with o'-J tomahawk cuts, and an attempt at rude carving is still to be seen half h’dder. by the enfolding bark that has grown over it. The pa in question, after successfully resisting the repeated assaults of invading Waikato hordes, was carried by storm by the warriors of Rauparaha, who, armed with muskets, made short work of the defenders, who had to rely on the weapons of their forefathers.