SELBORXIAXA 
69 
An Australian Reservation. — Every year brings some 
interesting animals or plants nearer to extinction. All lovers of 
Nature, whether members of our Society or not, will be glad to 
hear that the Government of South Australia has, at the request 
of the Royal Society of that colony, set aside 67 square miles 
at the west end of Kangaroo Island as a national reserve. 
It also has under consideration the larger scheme advocated by 
that body, under which 313 square miles would be devoted to 
the sanctuary. If the animals to be introduced from the main- 
land, which are among the most interesting of the curious 
Australian creatures, are to succeed, no smaller reservation 
than that asked for by the local experts must, in our opinion, be 
granted. Rather should an example be set to other authorities 
by the addition of further tracts to those for which a definite 
request has been made. 
Extermination of the Kauri Pine. — Dr. Cockayne, who 
was recently sent by the Minister for Lands on a botanical 
research mission in the North of Auckland, has just returned 
from a lengthened visit to the Waipoua State forest, which is 
situated to the south of Hokianga. Dr. Cockayne speaks in 
enthusiastic terms of the beauty of this Kauri forest, and in 
being interviewed by a Times representative he was most 
emphatic in stating that this scene of wild grandeur should be 
preserved from desecration for all time. Indeed, he goes as far 
as to say that the time is not far distant when the Kauri will 
cease to exist in its natural state, except for a few isolated trees. 
Greedy utilitarianism will kill the Kauri forests, if steps are not 
taken to stop it. 
“ Dr. Cockayne deplores deeply the vandalism that is every- 
where apparent, and instances the clearing of land of timber, 
which is the finest crop it will ever grow. Much of the timber- 
land, not necessarily Kauri (which is singularly unproductive), 
has been cleared and burnt, and the tillers are now only eking 
out a miserable living. The same timber would have kept the 
clearers in comfort. 
“ Dr. Cockayne adds that in his opinion a virgin Kauri forest 
IS quite equal as a spectacle to the geyser regions or the cold 
lakes of the South. ‘ Some portion of the State forest,’ he 
says, ‘ should be set aside as a national domain, where our 
children and our children’s children can look upon a part of the 
glorious forest that once adorned the country, and which is so 
fast disappearing before the axe of the vandal whose aestheticism 
is lacking, and whose utilitarianism is false economy.’ ” — New 
Zealand Times. 
Hemlock. — The recent cabled information from Sydney, 
New South Wales, of the death of three children from eating 
hemlock, gives special interest to the fact that this plant is 
growing on unused pieces of land in the vicinity of Christchurch. 
