BALL'S CLEARING

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Volume 59, Issue 101, 31 May 1930, Page 8

BALL'S CLEARING

QUESTION OF PRESERVATION. PUBLIC MEETTNG IN HASTINGS. A11 enthusiastic meeting was held in Hastings last night, presided over by the Mayor, Mr G. E. Roach, for the purpose of eonsidering the questioii of the preservation of that well kpown native bush area, Ball's Clearing. The meeting was on similar lines to that recently held in Napier. The Mayor, in opemng the meeting. expressed .the opinion tliat if the bush were preserved it would be a graat boon to the district for all time, but he believed that if the Government gave up the area, they would require some financial compensation. Mr H. M. Campbell, M.P., congtatulated Mrs Lovell-Smith 011 her energy and enterprise m arranging the meeting and said that although he was very sympatlietic to the proposal to preserve' tbe bush. there were c-ertain difficulties in the way. TJie Government for instance he paid £17,000 for this area and natural ly would wanfc to se^ some return for this money. According to the uew Prime Minister's statement, a deficit of £3,000,000 ' was expected in the country's finances. so i" could be t'aken for granted that the Government would not be anxious to give too mucli awav. If the hush were preserved it would cost about £1000 annually and this sum would have to he found by local taxpayers. ANOTHEIt SUGGESTION. Mr Campbell urged the meeting to consider efforts to have the area of bush near Tarawera preserved, either together with Ball's Clearing or as an alternative. This, he said, was a beautiful area. and as there was little prospect of the land being used for settlement purposes, he believed tliat there were reasonable chances of- having it preserved. In regard to Ball's Clearing there were prospective unemployment and sawmilliug rights to bi considered, but all the same he was luartily in favour of the eft'ort to preserve it and would -give all the help he possibly could. Mr Frank Hutcliinson spoke of tlie Ball's Clearing bush from a bonanist's point of view, 011 similar lines to his talk in Napier and said that the variety of trees and feriis and of sub-Alpine plants there -was really marvellous. Miss Spenser said that from a utilitanan point of view, the preservation oi native- .bush was particularly 1mportant as she had fouud in those deforested parts of France which were rocentlv so disastrously flooded. . Mr H. E. Sturge, headmaster of the Hereworth School, contended that the financial or materialistic hurdles were not insurmountable. He looked upon the advocacy for the preservation of the bush as a sort of test case and its success was of the utmost importance to New Zealand. If it failed, the people would know now to meet the Government' s coramercial argument and if it** succeeded it would be a valuable precedent for tlie public to follow in future efforts to have areas of hush preserved. Mr Arcli Lowe referred to the aesthetic value of the bush, especially where children were concerned and scouted the idea that Ball's Clearing was too far from Napier and Hastings. If the public were really enthusiastic and persistent, there was no ' reason wliy they should not succeed. A BOARD OF TRUSTEES. Mr H. Ays#n, of Hastings, said that tlie bush at Ball's Clearing contained £20,000 worth of timber. The value in another 20 j-ears would probably be three times as much. His suggestion was that the Government should vest the bush 111 . a board of trustees and that a b'elt of land around the bush. to an extent of about 200 acres, should bi bought simultaneously and afforestel with pine. At the end of 20 years, that 200 acres of" pine would return about £50,000 and would pay for the bush and enable it to be preserved for a'l time. The scheine could be finauce 1 by debenture bonds and he did not think there would be any rick of fire, particularly after the first Sve' or six years. Mr R. H. Cooskey, of Rissington, suggested that it was oue of the first signs of decadence in a family when th : family jewels wero put on tbe market. Although. things might be i-i a bad way finaneially. they were certainly not so bad that it was necessary to sell tlie beautiful native bush. Tlie meeting ended with a unanimous resolution expressing hearty agreement with the public efforts to have the bush preserved and tlie following committee.was set up to co-operate with the Napier committee : — Mesdames Williams and Lovell-Smith, Misses Speneer and Ford • Messrs H. M. Campbell, M.P., W. C. Mliitlock. W. J Lvon, A. Lowe, E. J. Herriek, M. Greenwood, 4V. Diamond, P. F. Hunter, H. Ayson, and Dr Nairn, with power to add.