The Daily News WEDNESDAY, JULY 20. ARBOR DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 86, 20 July 1910, Page 4

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, JULY 20. ARBOR DAY.

To-day is Arbor Day, one of the New Zealand holidays that is not taken very seriously. It generally means merely a cessation of work for some sections of the people, and in the past has not been used to the extent that is desirable for the purposes of tree-planting. We have on many occasions mentioned the matter of deforestation and the general destructiveness that has characterised settle- 1 ment in hash areas. It is, of course, apparent that agriculture in New Zealand is dependent for area on bushfalling, and nobody is likely to quarrel with denudation of forest where it is necessary. But the contention holds good that even where timber could have been carted or milled, it has been wilfully burned. The fact that much denuded land'lias never been good- for anything ever since cannot be disputed, and extensive and unnecessary deforestation on high lands has made the problem of river erosion and floods a very serious one; Rough timber for firing being so very dear, and building timber being sold at exorbitant rates, is the best evidence that timber conservation and reafforestation are as essential as any of our activities. The wiping out of huge tracts of native timber without conservation of any proportion is the particular sin that 'should be punished, and if in the past millions of feet had not been sent skywards in smoke, the problem would not be so acute. Happily —but quite apart from Arbor Day—the Government has recognised the seriousness of a treeless New Zealand, and an immense deal of reafforestation is taking place. Happily, too, growth is rapid in this country, and what man himself plants is looked upon as more -valuable than what Nature has provided. Apart from the utilities, the planting of trees in urban areas is a question that might well interest municipal bodies. It is noticed that Palmerston (North will use Arbor Day for the planting of trees in the streets of the town. Advanced towns in New Zealand, which understand the necessity of beauty as well as of utility, have glorified thenstreets with trees, and as an example to New Plymouth, where trees will grow as well as in any town on earth, we mention Wanganui, which has many beautiful avenues. It cannot be claimed of any New Zealand towns that they are beautiful architecturally, and in this respect one town is practically a replica of the others. Wherever a town is beautiful in the Dominion, it is so because of its natural situation or thg use made of Nature by man. New Plymouth lends itself admirably to beautification by street tree-planting, and Arbor Day is a seasonable time to mention the subject.