The Hawaiian gazette., 1877-07-04
Our Forests.

THE question of preserving and increasing
our area OF forests is one so vital to the future
of the country, that it must continue to be
agitated and discussed, until its Importance
becomes so impressed upon the national mind
as to result in the enactment of necessary
laws. The subject is attracting more and
more attention every year in other enlightened
lands, and the idea that large masses of trees
exert salutary climatic influence, is becom-
ing more generally adopted. In the northern
part of the State of Maine the winters are
now more severe than before large areas were
denuded of the forests of pine, hemlock and
spruce which formerly spread themselves all
over the country, and the summers in those
by-gone days were rarely accompanied by the
long prostrating cheated terms," which now
come so frequently.
In the island of Mauritius, where the eli
mate is very similar to ours, the evils result
ing from the destruction of the forests are
marked and lamentable. Droughts are now
frequent, and many streams which formerly
ran all the year round are now dry large
part of the time. The annual loss to the
sugar production of the island from the fall
ure of the cane to reach its maximum develop
ment, amounts to thousands of pounds sterling.
All are aware that in Europe great care is
now given to the preservation of the old and
the creation of new forests. In Germany the
destruction of the forests was so rapid. and
the evils which threatened to follow in its
wake were of such magnitude that the govern
ment became aroused, and new laws were
passed relative to the preservation and growth
of trees. In England vast forests are pre-
served among the ancestral domains of the
nobility, and so much pride is taken in pre-
serving them intact that they are rarely
sacrificed except occasionally in case of an
encountered estate. In France the laws in be-
half of forest preservation are ample and
strict, and well they may be, for in the south
ern districts of that country may be seen
regions which have been reduced to almost
desert sterility through the ignorance and
greed of former generations.
The conservation of forests is a question on
which the future well-being of the country is
so dependent, that no personal interests should
be suffered to interfere. If it can be shown,
as we believe it can, that the good of the ma
jority will be compromised by allowing in
dividuals to lay waste woodlands for their
personal aggrandisement, then the privilege
should be taken from them. The principle is
acknowledged to be just, which
limits mans control over his property to
such acts as do not affect the rights of others.
The State has a right to prevent tie perpetual
tion of anything that may be detrimental to
its interests; and as the cutting down of trees
is most clearly pernicious practice when the
good of the many is concerned, we maintain
that i; should be forbidden under the heaviest
penalties, except under certain Limitations.
Coal is now as cheap as wood for domestic
purposes, and careful experiment has proved
that it is cheaper than wood for plantation
use. There is, therefore, no reason why our
hills and yallies should be further denuded
of the growth provided by Nature for their
production, and left sterile and bare and des-
sicated.