The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-04-08
THE FORESTS.

From time to time IN years past we have taken
occasion in these columns to direct public atten-
ton to the subject of the preservation of the
forests of these islands, as one of paramount i'm
portance; but while there can scarcely be anyone
found who pretends to deny the correctness of our
position in this respect, yet successive Legisla-
lures and successive Cabinets have failed appar-
emily to appreciate the magnitude or the immi-
hence of the evils which the continued reckless
waste of our forests will surely bring upon us.
1t remains to be seen whether, among the meas
ures the present Ministry will bring before the
Legislature about to convene, this subject of
forest conservation will be forgotten. The de-
struction that is now rapidly going forward must
ere long produce the following effects
The rainfall will be destructive instead of bene-
fetal. The water instead Of being retained as it
falls and only parted with gradually, will rush
down in torrents so as to do more harm than
good. In other words, we shall have alternate
floods and droughts. Hence the sugar and other
crops will become increasingly precarious and
costly.
The islands will be reduced to barrenness.
The grounds upon which we base these deduc-
tions will be found in the following paragraphs
which we copy from an able article on g Forest
Management, - in the Edinburgh ReUielo for Octo-
Der last.
"While the rate at which the forests of the United
States, aud of parts of our own territory. are being
laid waste, is so rapid, and while the inducement to
continue that waste, at least so far as the cutting of
fuel and of lumber is concerned, is so great, it is
certain that no power but that of legislation will be
able to check the progress of destruction. The pros
pect that, at q time to be measured by tens of years,
or even by generations, the woods of any country
will be exhausted, will have but little influence on
the dealer in fuel. 1t is desirable to inquire what
further evils may result from the destruction of
forests, beyond waste in the supply of fuel, and de-
struction of the sources of future supply.
1.-The evidence is conclusive to the effect that the
destruction, or undue removal, of forests has a mark
ed and p~rejudical effect on climate. DR.. Hooker
writes to the Earl of Kimberly, under date May y,
1873 -
1t is principally On climatic considerations that
the cutting down Of forests seems to require Govern
ment supervision. There is good reason to think
that in tropical countries the removal of woods oper-
ates efectually in reducing the rainfall. There can,
at any rate, be no doubt that the presence of forests
plays a most important part in storing the rainfall,
and yielding up gradually to the streams a coniinu-
GUS supply of water a thing, 1 need hardly say,
III u v GUILTY. u AAuia Iii II
Moreover, the rain is retained by forests on the
surface of the ground it gradually permeates to
the sub-soil, and so feeds the underground water
bearing strata, upon which springs and wells must
eventually depend. If the forest is in-discriminately
the rain runs off as fast as 1t falls, and
washes away the superficial and fertile soil with it.
I have lately received an account of the deter
ioration of the climate Of some of the Leeward Islands,
which affords a melancholy confirmation of what l
have urged above.
The contrast between neighbour;ng islands is
most striking. The said change which has befallen
the smaller ones Is, without any doubt, TO be ascrib-
ed to human agency alone. 1t Is recorded of these
that in former times they were clothed with dense
forests, and their oldest inhabitants remembered
the rains were abundant, and the hills and all
uncultivated places were sheltered by dense groves.
The removal of the trees was certainly the cause of
the present evil. The opening of the soil TO the YER
sun rapidly dries up the moisture and prevents
the rain from sinking to the roots Of plants. The
rainy season in these climates are not continuous
cloudy days, but SUGGESTIONS of sudden showers.
with the sun shining hot in the intervals. without
shade upon the surface, the water Is rapidly exhaled.
and springs and streams diminish
" Mr.. Vogel cites a report by Dir. HOugh, PresI-
dent of the United States Association for the Adj
of Science in 1871, which refers to the
painful account which the journals were then giving
Of the distress of India from famine, and of the ex-
ertions of the British Government to prevent the
starvation of thousands of people. Prom q careful
of this subject Mr.. Hough writes, with such
data as are accessible in late reports, we cannot
ioubt that this calamity is largely due to the fact
that the forests have, within recent years, been swept
of by demands for railroad and other uses much
more rapidly than formerly, and that the exposure
to winds and sun, thus occasioned, may have large
" contributed to these painful results
''Some twenty-five years ago the Danish island
IF Santa Cruz was a garden of freshness, beauty,
md fertility. Woods covered the hills, trees were