FOREST CONSERVATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 105, 31 March 1884, Page 2

FOREST CONSERVATION.

M A.vn % pf%{s'Jf^e upon' tiel Legislature the importance^ forest :<^nsejiVgtk4., > In oar ; Js.WA3>f ; js£turf day, we reprinted the series, of r.egula.tions, approved by Order m Council sqroe tin^jbacjCi (relative: <to. the prp^ \isions made for tjhe< encouragemept of the planting of forest trees under the Abta'bV'l ß7l-^72. - Those Regulations are well worth ea refill -Jitndy. glad to find the Wellington Posh taking up tbip most important question and bringing its influence to bear to check the. destruction of our magnificent native forests. Oue contemporary observes with much iorce and entire truthiiihafc Ahe splendid native forests which once covered a large portirtn of tliese tslAiids^hre rapidly jsHririkiug, find income i "part? disappearing before the destructive attack's of axe and saw, and the still more widely destructive inroadsjof fire. At the present rate of demolition, a few years will

I<>i3 Now Zealand \vithin in<;a*ut'u!>lc tlistunce of being fcimbeHos*, so far as the imligenous woods aiv conceriii'd UnfoitiiiKitelv, too, ih<? evil results of "wholes ilm denudation ai'e not coufineil to the mere absence of timber ior building and manufacturing purposes. This would be a very grave misfortune m itself, but there are still more serious consequencjjß JffipMved. A fertile himl may lie reduced to a sterile desert by the destruction of its trees. The world abounds m instances of this _ operation of natural Jaws. Aniohg. other formidable' .cflfecti of tree-denudation m its injurious inlluciice on thn rivers and .stream*. The.se steadily waste as to their normal Volume, but become subject, to vast, sudden, and devastating iloqtls at^ each rainfall. No" cnV travel ling' across the" treeless plains of Canterbury 'can hav^i failed to l>e struck with the amazing, powor ot mischief of the numerous rivers and sti'eams by which these plains are intersected. Enormous areas of grazing country may be iseen converted into barren wastes of sand and shingle by the overwhelming force and' wide spread of those streams when m flood. Even Wellington has; already began to experience 'the bad: effect of bush-destruction. Tjie stream which furnishes its present water supply has appreciiJbly diminished m volume since the \ waterworks were first projected, and Wellington is iiiqw .visited at interval's by 'ilbotls sucH 'as were unknown m foi'tnet days. All over, thd country the sMcme results iire sttrejy, if slowly and m ftoino cases imperceptibly, .fpV lowing ; thc disappearance of the natural bush.,-,, The, evil is one of magnitude,; and n u.eeds to ,be , earnestly grappled with. .More stringent rriefcS'jires ate undoubtedly needed to .check the wilful { or reckless sweeping away of our fiesta by axe and fire. But ho much damage j has already been done, and so; much j will inevitably continue to be, done, that mere conservation, while peremptorily necessary iri itself, will ;i}ofc alone be sufficient. Planting must be.enr couraged, m every possible W*y. New Zealand bash is of very slow growth, , but fchere arc many European* trees which are remarkable for fl .iheir i*qpid growth.' Wirth tlhese we' must replace our fast- vanishing indigenous forests, and this work ought to be promoted with the utmost vigour. j .■;. ;