SELF BEFORE SERVICE

Forest and Bird, Issue 33, 1 June 1934, Page 1

SELF BEFORE SERVICE

C OTARY CLUBS in all countries have the same motto — |\ “ Service Before Self." When humanity, in the mass, acts on that principle, which is embodied in Christ's “ Sermon. on the Mount," the millennium will be here. The big obstacle to-day is “Self Before Service”— the seeking of individual gains, whatever may be the resultant losses to the community.

For example, to the sawmiller a stand of native forest is not a beautiful home for birds or a natural regulator of the flow of water from rain or thaws of snow or ice. He sees in the trees a means to get something for himself. To him the trees of the forest are only so

much board timber. He prefers the moan and sigh of the saw to the song of the birds. To the stalker, the forest is a natural park for deer. He turns a blind eye to their destructiveness and a deaf ear to arguments against the animals. He is eager for his own sport, and national Welfare must come second in his view. To the furrier, the forest is simply a providential place for alien opossums which will give him some profit from his dealing in skins. He does not bother about the damage done by the —particularly their interference with native-bird life. He sees a chance of gain for himself, and goes for it. To the collector ( citing “ science " as his excuse ) a bird is usually a “ specimen" for a museum or even for a private hoard. T o the eager, who may regard himself as an aviculturist, a bird is a creature to be

studied behind bars. He hopes for personal pleasure in observing the conduct of his prisoner, and cheerfully overlooks the truth that the behaviour of a bird in captivity may be different from its habits in natural liberty. Yet there is hope of a better understanding between nature and mankind. In many countries many earnest, intelligent men and Women are striving for the ideal of “Live—and Lei Live." They can see clearly that the world will be a much happier place for mankind and for those lower creatures, which deserve human sympathy, when mankind has a wholehearted co-operation with nature.