Walsh. — Effects of Disappearance of the New Zealand Bush. 439 



(3.) Blizzards. 



In certain parts, chiefly on the level lands along the west coast, and 

 notably on the long stretch between Cape Egmont and Wellington, a new 

 trouble has arrived in the shape of the " blizzard," the name signifying 

 in America a snow-blast, but which has in the locality under mention iDeen 

 applied to the salt storms that drive in from Cook Strait. The district 

 has always been a windy one, as may be seen by the growth of the old 

 native trees still standing, the weather side of the karakas, mahoes, &c., 

 being shorn off, while the tall trunks of the rimus and kahikateas lean out 

 of the perpendicular. But with the removal, partly by the axe and partly 

 by decay induced by the rumination of cattle, of the belt of scrub and 

 small bush that stretched along the coast the conditions have altered 

 greatly for the worse. The salt spray that was once stopped by this 

 natural breakwind is now carried for miles inland, and is not only 

 severely felt by stock, but is most injurious to almost every kind of 

 vegetation. An object-lesson might have been watched in the gradual 

 destruction of an extensive plantation of macrocarpa-trees made some 

 thirty-five years ago near Hawera. These for some time did very well. 

 They grew uniformly to a fair height, and promised to make a most useful 

 shelter-belt. But in proportion as the natural bush to seaward disappeared 

 they were no longer able to stand against the salt blasts. Swept by succes- 

 sive blizzards, they gradually perished, until a few years ago a picture in 

 the Auckland Weekly News showed the last survivor, a storm-beaten dying 

 wreck. 



This is, of course, an extreme case ; but the same thing may be seen 

 more or less on any exposed part of the coast from which the natural pro- 

 tection has been removed. 



(4.) Frosts. 



" We never used to have these heavy frosts before the emigrants came 

 in," said the old Taranaki settlers some twenty-five years ago, as they 

 thought of the golden days, when the "garden of New Zealand" was. 

 fenced off from the rest of the world by forty miles of standing bush. The 

 statement was not much exaggerated, as the forest, which was particularly 

 tall and dense, not only sheltered the country from the violence of the 

 south-easterly winds, but had the further effect of modifying the tempera- 

 ture to a great extent. But when the land was tlirown open for settlement 

 the bush disappeared with remarkable rapidity ; the cold winds swept 

 unchecked over the bare land, and for some years past the frosts have come 

 down to the water's edge. 



Hokianga used to claim a subtropical climate, and in a few sheltered 

 spots the banana may still be found ripening in the open. But these spots 

 are daily becoming more rare. Since the general disappearance of the 

 forest a stream of chilled air flows down the long tributary valleys, and not 

 only jeopardizes the growth of the more tender plants, but materially 

 affects the remnant of the native bush. In many cases one sees the out- 

 standing puriris — an interesting survival from the rumination of the cattle 

 — quite seared and blackened, while the ashen hue of the withered taraire- 

 trees shows that the frosts, once in this region confined to the flats, arc 

 now reaching up the hillsides. In fact, it is safe to say that with the dis- 

 appearance of the bush the frost-belt has moved many miles further north . . 



