Greytown first in NZ to celebrate Arbor Day | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

T HE NATURAL environment of the Wairarapa region has undergone substantial changes since the arrival of humans. Nearly 90 per cent of the district's wetlands have disappeared since the arrival of man, and huge tracts of forest have been destroyed by a combination of the axe and fire.
Surprisingly, there were calls among the first of the Pakeha settlers for care to be taken when removing trees from the landscape, as they were thought to have a very beneficial effect on the climate.
It was believed that the absence of trees caused a dry and unproductive soil, which was not amenable to agriculture. On the other hand, too many trees were thought to cause excessive rainfall, making the land equally unfit for production, and making the climate unsuitable for human habitation.
Among those believers was the editor of the Wairarapa Daily, Joseph Payton.
Writing in 1889 in support of a call for New Zealand to adopt the American institution of Arbor Day, he quoted the Wanganui Yeoman:
''It is surprising to see the quantity of land, hill and gully, and swamp which, yielding nothing, would soon return a handsome profit if only suitable trees were planted. There is no return more certain than tree planting.''
He went on to say:
''We cordially endorse the sentiments expressed by our Wanganui contemporary, and consider them specially applicable to our district. Year by year the denudation of our bush shelter alters the quality of our climate so that localities which were once sufficiently humid to grow root crops with certainty, and to produce luxuriant grass, are now so arid that their productive capacity is sensibly and seriously diminished.
''It is necessary, nowadays, to travel as far as Eketahuna and Pahiatua to get an adequate rainfall, but in a few years time the fatal axe will have destroyed the climatic advantages in these favoured localities, and they will in their turn cease to exhibit the phenomenal fertility which is now their boast. Tree planting is the only remedy for the climatic evil from which settlers in all parts of the Wairarapa are beginning to suffer, and to do anything like justice to the requirements of our parched soil there ought to be several 'arbor days' in our year.''
As passionate about tree planting as Joseph Payton was _ and he kept promoting the idea for many years _ his effectiveness was surpassed by a southern contemporary, William Charles Nation, of the Wairarapa Standard, published in Greytown.
Nation was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1840, the son of a printer, and when the family shifted to Nelson in 1857, he followed his father, working on his father's Colonist newspaper. He worked in various South Island papers before striking out on his own in 1881, purchasing Richard Wakelin's Wairarapa Standard.
Wakelin earned a degree of notoriety in the mid 1880s when he and his family became heavily involved in spiritualism, his daughter Bertha gaining local fame as a medium. It was to be the start of a long involvement in the occult. When he died in 1930 the spiritualist newspaper Message of Light described him as ''Grandpa Nation, New Zealand's grand old man in the cause of Spiritualism''.
Throughout his spiritualist career Nation was known to have special empathy with children and it may be that this combined with his deep love of nature persuaded him to campaign for the introduction of Arbor Day in New Zealand.
The Arbor Day movement originated in the United States and by 1890 had spread widely across the country. Each year a special day was set aside for school children to plant trees, and impressed with the scheme, Nation wrote to the Greytown Borough Council suggesting that they support a similar scheme. The council were enthusiastic about the idea, but were reluctant to commit funds to it so Nation raised the money himself and the first plantings took place on July 3, 1890.
Payton reported the proceedings as being ''the first regularly organised tree-planting day yet held in New Zealand'' in a report published in the Wairarapa Daily the following day, saying he was sure it would become an annual event.
It was certainly a big day in the town, with a large parade forming behind the Greytown Brass band. At least 250 children lead the human component, each child holding a flag, followed by a brake laden with trees, then the adults, estimated to number 400.
The parade ended at the south end of town, where the children enthusiastically planted their allotted trees, some of which were dedicated to various local dignitaries.
A number of short speeches were given by the mayor and others, including Tamahau Mahupuku from Papawai, and the prominent South Wairarapa chief, H.P. Tunuiarangi, known to Pakeha as Major Brown, who foresaw a time when gatherings such as this would result in native trees being planted rather than the Northern Hemisphere conifers chosen for the first Arbor Day.
Payton was impressed by Nation's effort: ''Mr Nation is ever ready to spend his time and his energy in whatever benefits his township, and the unselfish way in which he does this is an example of true patriotism, if this expression may be used in speaking of one who loves his country. The benefit to Greytown in making it attractive to visitors, with its future Sylvan beauty, is hard to overestimate. It is a pretty retreat now for those who are weary of a city life in Wellington, and what it will be in a few years to come, with continued nourishment, is easy to reflect by those who at all reflect.''
Others were also impressed with Greytown's effort and other towns quickly followed suit, instigating their own Arbor Days. Largely as a result of pressure from the Dunedin conservationist, Alexander Bathgate, a nationwide day was instigated in 1892.
New Zealand's official Arbor Day has coincided with World Environment Day since 1977, being celebrated on June 5 each year. It had previously been marked on August 4.
Other Wairarapa conservationists were also to have a marked effect on the environment, especially a shy and retiring lawyer who legacy to the old Masterton County area has been.
Doctor Montfort Trimble was born in 1863, in England, and came to Taranaki, where his father took up a large forested block to convert to farmland, in 1875.
The family was involved in many politically liberal issues, including scenery preservation, and, on his death, Dr Trimble was remembered as a man of eminent standing in the legal profession, a profound student of all literature, and a noted Maori scholar.
He was also interested in afforestation.
It sounds peculiar to modern ears but many advocates of the extensive planting of Pinus radiata in the 1920s and 1930s had a conservation imperative.
The New Zealand Forestry League was founded in Wellington in 1916, and was interested in the promotion of exotic afforestation, as well as the preservation and re-afforestation of indigenous forests..
In 1938 the League wrote to the Masterton County Council asking for information on all ''scenic areas'' not publicly owned or controlled so that some may be permanently preserved.
A similar organisation was started in Auckland with the aim of ''creating a sentiment in favour of the conservation and regeneration of the last remains of our native forests and for the planting ... of areas with suitable exotic trees of commercial value''.
Perhaps inspired by such thoughts, in his will Dr Trimble left a significant bequest to the Masterton County Council to be used for the purposes of public afforestation.
The Wairarapa Times-Age expressed the hope that his bequest would be would used to not only establish productive and revenue-producing plantations, but would also be used to open the way for ''a great extension of planting for water protection, shelter and other purposes''.
Dr Trimble's bequest was utilised to establish an extensive pine plantation at Mount Bruce in 1940, which has been harvested a number of times.
The bequest is now administered by a trust which has bought land at ''Rewanui'' and is working at preserving and enhancing native forest on the estate, as well as trialing native species for forestry prevention.
Help celebrate Greytown's 120th Arbor Day by joining in with plantings and other free activities on Friday and Saturday. Pick up your programme from Wairarapa I-Sites.