fed from the constant and unfailing re- 
servoirs of the forest soil. © The heavy 
Gash of rains washes away the loose 
earth, carrying it into the streams, 
which become turbid torrents. In the 
spring, when the ground is still hard 
from frosts, the rainfall and the rapidly 
melting snow run off the slopes, leaving 
only a small part to sink into the 
ground. This immediately swells the 
brooks and tributaries of a river basin 
beyond their carrying capacity, causing 
freshets, which tear away the banks, 
and obstruct the channels at various 
points with accumulations of stone and 
other debris. The over-full brooks dis- 
charging into the larger tributaries raise 
the waters of the rivers into mighty 
torrents that sweep seaward, often caus- 
ing disastrous floods in the lower valleys. 
Almost as quickly as they rise the rivers 
fall again, and should a prolonged period 
of dry weather follow, they will shrink 
away into their deeper channels, leaving 
the side shoals exposed as mud flats. 
The brooks become dry beds no longer 
fed through springs nursed by the bounti- 
ful supply of a forest region.” I have 
already considered in some detail the 
disastrous effects thus produced, but the 
subject is so important, and in this 
country the dangers indicated are 80 
real and so imminent, that I feel justi- 
fied in emphasising then once more by 
a further quotation. Marsh, in his 
classical work “Man and Nature,” dc- 
scribing the destructive effects of dc- 
forestation upon the land, says: ‘‘The soil 
is bared of its covering of leaves, broken 
and loosened by the plough, deprived of 
the fibrous rootlets that held it together, 
dried and pulverized by sun and wind, 
and at last exhausted by new combina- 
tions. The face of the earth is no longer 
a sponge but a dust heap, and the floods 
Which the waters of the sky pour over 
it hurry swiftly along the slopes, carry- 
ing in suspension vast quantities of 
earthy particles, which increase the 
absorbing power and mechanical force 
of the current, and, augmented by the 
Sand and gravel of falling banks, fill the 
33 
bed of the Streams, divert them into 
new channels, and obstruct their outlets. 
From these causes there is a constant 
degradation of the uplands, and a conse- 
quent elevation of the beds of water 
courses and of lakes by the deposition 
of the mineral and vegetable matter car- 
ried down by the waters. The channels 
of great rivers become unnavigable, their 
estuaries are choked up, and harbours 
which once sheltered great navies are 
shoaled by dangerous sand bars. The 
washing of the soil from the mountains 
leaves bare ridges of sterile rock, and 
the rich organic mould which covered 
them, now swept down into the damp 
low grounds, promotes a luxuriance of 
aquatic vegetation that breeds fever and 
more insidious forms of mortal disease, 
and thus the earth is rendered no longer 
fit for the habitation of man.” 
FLOODS IN NEW ZEALAND. 
This is indeed a depressing picture, 
but I believe that it is not one whit 
exaggerated, either in its details or in 
its general effect. And to apply the 
argument more directly to this country, 
I will remind my readers of the extent 
to which floods have increased in recent 
years throughout these islands in all 
the districts watered by rivers flowing 
down from hills where the bush has 
been partially or wholly cleared away. 
This is a subject on which I have, no 
doubt, a large amount of valuable in- 
formation could be compiled from the 
reports of engineers and other experts 
submitted to county councils and road 
boards from time to time in both North 
and South Islands. Some years ago 
Mr. R. W. Holmes, now engineer in 
chief to the Public Works Department, 
reported to the Feilding Borough 
Council on’ a serious. washout at the 
junction of the Oroua and Kiwitea 
Rivers, involving the loss of over 50 
acres of valuable land, and he attrie 
buted this disastrous flood entirely to 
the destruction of the bush along the 
upper courses of the rivers. Throughout 
the Wellington and Wanganui districts 
the same tale can be told. The Mana- 
