DOMINION’S PARKS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 874, 18 January 1930, Page 6

DOMINION’S PARKS

LARGE AREAS RESERVED FOR PEOPLE TOURIST LEAGUE’S POLICY More than a twentieth part of the Dominion's total area has been set. aside by the Crown as domains, scenic reserves and national parks. New Zealand’s efforts to preserve permanently areas of national interest have been frequently and appreciatively referred to by the Rt. Hon. Stanley Baldwin, according to a letter received by the New Zealand Tourist League from the Hon. G. W. Forbes, Minister of Lands. The Minister submitted some figures showing aggregate areas that have been set apart by the Crown for domain purposes, scenic reserves and national parks. National parks number seven, comprising 2,765,575 acres: there are 702 domains with an area of 71,000 acres and, in addition, 827 areas have been reserved under the Scenery Preservation Act, with a total area of 505,008 acres: a total area of 3.311,583 acres out of a Dominion area of 66,000,000 acres. The Tourist League has long urged a policy of conservation of forests and other attractive features of the landscape by officers of the Lands and Survey Department when lands are offered for subdivision or when roads and highways are being laid out or rebuilt; the league drew the attention of the Minister to the cabled pronouncement, by the British Minister of Transport, the Hon. R. C. Morrison, to his departmental road engineers: “Schemes of road construction are not to be ragarded solely in the light of engineering tasks, but also in relation to their effect upon the landscape and the countryside. The unspoilt roadside scenery of our country is of such inestimable value as a national asset that no degree of care can be deemed excessive, in studying the details of projects affecting the highways.” Mr. Forbes says that he and the officers of the Land Department fully realise the importance of the protecting of the scenic beauty of the Dominion and roadway features, especially the generous preservation of native bush along roads. In opening up new country as little damage as possible is done to the native bush.