SANCTUARY OF KAPITI.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2394, 18 February 1922, Page 4

SANCTUARY OF KAPITI.

AN ISLAND OF DREAMS. AND THE REAL FACTS. Kapiti! What visions of loveliness does this island’s name conjure in our minds as we journey .past it, travelling by train 30 miles north of Wellington. Its historic memories as the mighty Te Rauaparaha’s stronghold will always live. From that island arose the warrior waxcry, faintly wafted on the breeze, to the quaking mainland natives, preluding death and destruction near and far. But now it is devoted, we think, at last to peace, to birds and bush, as it has for many years been a declared bii-d 'and forest sanctuary, where the bushman’s razor-edged axe, once so deftly swung, lies rusty and haftless by the shore, and the forest monarch no longer comes crashing to the ground, to raise discordant, protesting calls from the bush-birds; where the sturdy whaler once held high carousal, and where the destroying lii-e no longer raises its sinister cloud to the sky. No, all surely lies at peace in the recuperative and lap of Natui-e. We bless a benign Government for a work well and carefully done. In imagination -we almost hear the wonderful song of the bell birds, floating a mile out to sea across the placid waters —probably the most wonderful bird song known. The gentle whu! wlm! of the lazy, wellcontented pigeons as they leisurely and in security fly from limb to limb in quest of their easily earned daily sustenance. We can almost hear the deafening chorus of thousands of tuis who whistle in joyous tones emphasising their gladness in finding a resting place at last from the while man’s gun. The kalcas, too, and numerous small fry make the bush as though alive with life. But alas! let us raise the curtain and see the island, as it l-eally stands.

The writer, says Capt. E. V. Sanderson, in the Forest Magazine, has paid many visits to this island, the last in 1914, when the Internal Affairs Department in response to a strong agitation, undertook to have all goats and cats destroyed, also the rabbits which had got a hold on a small adjoining island under, four acres in extent, and might possibly reach the island. The Department undertook then to erect a fence between the native sheep farmers who occupy 600 acres at the North end, and-the remaining 4,000 acres of sanctuary, in order to keep the sheep out of the preservee Within the last few days another visit was made in conjunction with a gentleman well versed in forest and bird matters, and a press representative in order to see how the sanctuary work had progressed. What a shock we got! No effort whatever had been made to carry out the promised improvements. Some 3,000 odd sheep and innumerable goats had destroyed all young fores! growth. The wind was thus enabled to help in the destruction, and many acres of matured bush, mostly l-ata, had died owing to the loss of the warm, nourishing fox-est humus of fei-ns, leaves, etc., and where once it was a hard battle to force a way through the undergrowth, it was now like walking underneath a canopy with no obstruction underneath. Goats are browsers, not grass feeders, and one can get a good object lesson by putting one of these animals in a garden for a couple of hours. The forest is, with small exception, denuded of undergrowth; and when the present trees reach old age and die, the forest dies, as nothing is there to replace any mortalities. This decay is, moreover, being accentuated, as I have said, by the winds. All this has happened because the Crown has failed to incur a maximum expenditure of £3OO on the dividing fence. The residents claim they have done their half, and are apparently in accord with the sanctuary idea, judging by the large number of ducks close handy to their homestead, and by reports from other sources. No energy appears to have been devoted to the extermination of the goal#, which are quite tame.

Opossums, which were unfortunately let loose on the island, have destroyed all konini trees, old and young, through keeping the leaves stripped off, and are devouring much bird berry food. Very few birds remain on the island, only three pigeons, about three dozen tuis, one kaka, a few green parrots, and some bell birds were seen in two days, owing to the destruction of: food. The residents say the birds at times could be caught by hand owing to weakness from hunger. Wekas, however, which are ground feeders, have increased wonderfully, but they are the only exception. We have robbed (lie birds of tremendous areas of bush on the mainland. Are we not patriotic enough to give them a last secure resting place on this small island seven, miles by one mile in area, in order that our children and children's children may see and learn what New Zealand was really like when their daring fore-fathers first set foot in this land of ours ?