Notable N.Z. Trees

New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 871, 13 April 1956, Page 27

Notable N.Z. Trees

REES ate part of the common furn- | ishings of our world. We climb them | when young, scrawl on them to mark our transitory lives and see them still sprouting new life when we are old. It is three-quarters of a century since Arbor Day was instituted in the U.S.A.-the first social recognition of. mankind’s dependence on the tree; but thirty-five years before that again, Cap-

tain Harris, a settler in Poverty Bay, planted what is now known as the Manutuke oak. Ships were #a bridge to the world the settlers had left, and Harris, aware of the drawbacks of native timbers, saw that oak was a necessity if his .descendants were. to

build ships: So here, near where the Maori migrants of 1350 first planted the kumara, Harris planted his acorn. The story of the Manutuke oak is one of a series of talks on notable New Zealand trees to be broadcast from Station 3YA. The locale of the talks ranges from Ngaruawahia in the North to Peel Forest in the South, from Cheviot Hills to Frimley Park, Hastings, and many trees are represented, both native and exotic. For example, other talks in the series Geal with the giant pohutukawa at Kawhia, where, according to tradition, the Tainui canoe was moored at the end of its voyaging; the Californian Redwoods and Wych elms in the grounds of St. Mary’s Church, Blenheim; the Puriri in Bell Street, New Plymouth; and other trees and plantations of horticultural and historic interest. The first talk in this series will be broadcast from 3YA at 5.45 p.m. on Monday, April 16, and the series will be "heard later from other National stations.