Walsh. — On the Destruction of the Netv Zealand Busk. 493' 



and covered by an almost unbroken forest for a distance of 

 a hundred and fifty miles. Here, far removed from any 

 homestead, and in places as yet uninvaded by the bushman or 

 the road-surveyor, the presence of the animals is already 

 plainly indicated by the shrinking tops of the rata and the 

 towai, and in the gradual extinction of the tawa and others of 

 the more delicate forms of vegetation. The same thing is 

 going on more or less all over the country, though, of course, 

 it is not so conspicuous in the more newly-settled districts^ 

 and it is hard to say whether any portion of the forest between 

 the North Cape and Stewart Island will be permanently 

 secure. 



The change which has gradually come over the bush in all 

 the older settlements is often noticed by those who have an 

 opportunity of making the comparison. In the early days,, 

 before the cattle had time to make much impression, a great 

 deal more care than is at present required was taken in order 

 to secure a good burn, and the fire, no matter how fierce, did 

 not generally extend far beyond the margin of the clearing.. 

 Nowadays any kind of work is considered sufficient. Instead 

 of the laborious lopping and under-scrubbing, formerly con- 

 sidered indispensable, " crush-and-smother " is the order of 

 the day, and the chief difficulty is to keep the fire from travel- 

 ling beyond all control. 



The effect of the combination of destructive elements may 

 be seen on a wide scale in any of the larger bush-settlements. 

 On the Akaroa Peninsula, for instance, the forest has almost 

 entirely disappeared within a comparatively few years, while 

 the Forty-mile Bush, in Taranaki, and the Seventy-mile Bush,, 

 on the East Coast, will shortly exist only m name and in the 

 recollection of the early settlers. 



As may be inferred from the foregoing, all bush which has 

 been invaded by cattle is liable to be swept by fires, and is 

 sooner or later exterminated. The rate of destruction varies, 

 however, a good deal with the conditions of situation, soil, 

 and character of vegetation. Genei'ally speaking, it is most 

 quickly accomplished on high, airy situations, where the 

 growth is usually more light and open, and especially on stiff' 

 clay lands, where it often takes place with surprising rapidity. 

 All these conditions are united in the case of the kauri forest,, 

 which, in addition, possesses peculiar elements, rendering it 

 liable to rapid extinction. As this class of bush is at once the 

 most beautiful and economically valuable, a detailed account 

 of its destruction will not be out of place. 



The bushmen say that the kauri attracts the fire, and the 

 statement is hardly an exaggeration. Wherever the kauri- 

 trees grow, which they generally do in clumps scattered 

 through the mixed bush, the ground is covered with a thick 



