The Spoilers of the Forests.

Cockayne was a fervent opponent of animals and exotic adulterants in the

(Photo., courtesy “North Auckland Times.”)
View along the road which runs for twelve miles through the famous Waipoua State Forest, North Auckland. This reserve of 30,000 acres contains the finest specimens of the kauri in New Zealand.

native forest. He was of the same opinion on this matter as Lord Bledisloe, who appealed to the people, in an address at New Plymouth, not on any account to mix up native and exotic trees. “If you or your children,” Bledisloe said, “effect this promiscuous intercourse, this magnificent environment of pure native bush will be forever ruined in the eyes not only of expert botanists but of those who love symmetry and arboreal compatibility.”

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.