The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 12, Issue 1 (April 1, 1937)
The Spoilers of the Forests
The Spoilers of the Forests.
Dr. Cockayne again and again emphasised this point, the preservation of the rapidly disappearing primeval vegetation of New Zealand in its original unsullied condition. In the Otari Open-Air Museum at Wilton's Bush he illustrated his principle of faithfulness to Nature's original scheme by stipulating that no species should be added to the bush which did not originally belong to that class of forest—the semi-coastal forest of Wellington. His intention, as the Director of Kew observed, was to bring back the forest as nearly as might be to its original composition and status. We may imagine from this, if we had not known it already, that Dr. Cockayne's objection to what has well been called “mongrel forest” was as deep and great as his objection to deer and other destroyers.