The Office Clerk

Albert was the Office Clerk. A friendly, helpful and open guy who was appointed by default really because he was actual a forest worker who was seconded into the job. His passion was gardening and whenever there was no office work, he was out in the garden, trying to make things grow. And Albert became a good friend of mine.

The office duties were not too taxing at the time, keeping the daily diary, charging out jobs to the correct code, fortnightly wages and filing various documents. Most taxing for Albert was the storekeeping! Every forest has to keep tally of all the tools and equipment and people removing stores had to sign for them; the inference being that if those stores became lost, the item had to be paid for. That actually never happened.

Just the same everyone tried to diddle Albert out of signing for stores. Trouble was though, every now and then a stores officer would come from Dunedin to carry out an audit and poor old Albert would be embarrassed. Nothing much ever disappeared, the workers (and I) were just having fun!

Albert would calculate the wages and send them off to Dunedin and Gerry Kavanah (the Dunedin clerk) would come up with the pays in cash. He would always stop at Palmerston to buy some cakes for afternoon tea. He sit to gossip for an hour before returning to Dunedin. Times were somewhat tougher then and we fad to show him that a pen had really run out before he would replace it! The stores guy was just as thorough; worn out files used for sharpening slashers had to be returned before new ones were issued!

One day we received a gift from District Office. They had acquired an electronic calculator, so we inherited their old Facet. Remarkable this machine was, little levers to select the numbers and a turn of the handle to add things; the other way to subtract. To multiply the counter told how many revolutions the handle had made. Then to divide, the handle was turned backwards until the bell rang! Then wait for it! One turn the other way and you had your answer.

I'm left handed and the bottom copy of the summary sheets (for tallying produce sold) never showed through - there were about 5 copies - so eventually we were sent a typewriter. One fingered each key had to be pressed so the letter would contact the paper with a loud bang! The forms were numbered so it was necessary it was accurate first time!

I had seen Ireland's display of plantings further along Breakneck Road and had told Albert that there was no reason we couldn't achieve as well or better. He said the main constraint was a lack of water and initial shelter. Well the shelter was no problem, whenever the opportunity arose the workers would collect Manuka scrub and wire into a fence; creating an effective wind break.

The water was to arrive some time later, but we did install extra tanks to help. And slowly the garden grew. As time went on the garden grew and it became known as an amenity area. Each OiC that came supported and helped to build on to what we already had. Later the gorse covered flat below the office was brought under control and plant out as a park, then picnic area and eventually a camping ground. There was a period of time when the camping ground was a popular Christmas/New Year venue. With the sale of the forest the camp was closed and just recently, under private ownership it has been reopened.

Generally Albert oversaw the expansion of the Headquarters site and he would con me into organising transport or bulldozer to shift huge rocks. But his work as a forest clerk should not be forgotten because he moved with the times and was good support to the field staff. He would never turn down the opportunity to accompany me on a pig hunt!

Deer, Pigs and other animals

Dip Flat Camp

As part of our forest ranger training, we attended the Hunter Training School at Dip Flat. This was an amazing place, situated on the banks of the Waiau River (the Northerly one). I well remember the flocks of Kaka flying from one side of the valley to the other in the morning, and returning at night. It is hard to believe that this bird is now rare and endangered.

Dip Flat was a tough place, on arriving you were given a heavy pack and were told to climb a seep hill dubbed 'the ringbuster' and be back in an hour! A hard enough feat if you weren't fit.
We were taught things like firearm care, safety and accuracy, camp cooking, cleanliness, first aid, bushcraft, safety, and the importance of fitness.

In those days, government policy was that deer, pigs, chamois, thar, goats, rabbits, hares, possums and some others, were noxious animals.
You see, New Zealand has no indigenous mammals, (except a bat) and our unique flora was not able to sustain browsing by introduced animals. Government policy of the day was to eradicate all noxious animals. Of course this was recognised as an impossible feat, but it was the target and something to aspire to.
The reason was that these animals contributed to or accelerated erosion. Simply on rock screes animals caused downward rock movement. But in the bush, the animals ate the seedlings and damaged saplings and pole stage trees. Relating this to human populations, the old and mature remained, but the babies, children and youth are wiped out. Therefore as the old die off, there is no youth to take their place as adults, so the bush/forest dies out.
So Government Hunters, called Deer Cullers (actually culling really means removing of the unwanted, but really they were exterminators) were employed to control the noxious animals. And they did a very good job albeit expensive and as governments do, to reallocate funds, the law changed and these animals became wild animals so commercial and recreational hunters were theorised to keep control - which of course they didn't!

Anyway back in the day we became crusaders for the bush and believed that we were doing a good job to preserve our indigenous flora and fauna. I stand by that even today! We used many tools, among them 1080 poison - the subject of much controversy. I have seen a lot of it used, with no harm that I know of to human populations. Water contamination is not an issue because 1080 is leached very easily so is diluted rapidly. Birds do not touch the carrot bait, and undoubtedly some eat the pollard bait, but these are birds in the main like blackbirds which are not indigenous anyway. I have never seen a bellbird of tui dead because of 1080. I have seen some geese though (introduced ones), and once at Hamner a dog killed by 1080 and that was distressing.
We were sometimes accused of participating in blood sports, but we saw it as our job and to use a word not often used today, it was our duty!

Now at Herbert Forest there was a resident population of wild pigs. Not Captain Cookers, these were domestic pigs that were released possibly because the owner could not afford to keep them.
The OiC of the forest Russell Ewing (a very skilled man in practical things) was an ex Government Hunter who was appointed to the position when he was no longer fit enough to climb the mountains. Russell loved the challenge of pig and deer hunting and with his old Mauser rifle was an exceptional shot.
Russell did not advertise the fact that there were a lot of pigs in the forest and with his friends, he would regularly go on a hunt. The forest was kept locked, as a fire security measure, but of course poachers used to gain access and take deer and pigs from time to time. These were local guys who had a healthy pass-time and would never damage the forest; quite the reverse.

When I arrived at Herbert, old Russell was crook, and nobody told me that he had a closed 'gate policy' - especially when it came to pigs and deer. At Naesby Forest I had a dog and a .22 rifle, so spent all my recreational time shooting rabbits, and there were lots of them! So when I walked in the forest with my dog and rifle, I found the reasonably quiet pigs to be easy pickings. I could creep up to them and dispatch them easily (not going into the gory details). The workers though I was a good guy, because I always gave them pork!

Pig hunters are gregarious creatures, and I often teamed up with Mick Hill, the 'dozer driver. And many an adventure we had!
I opened up the forest to recreational hunters, because the pigs really did need to be controlled.  

One day, following protocol, old Russell rang me to ask permission to go for a hunt. I suspect that must have hurt him in a way having to ask permission on his forest!
When Russell came back on duty, he still was not in good condition, but I would take him with me on my duties and he would bring along his old ex-army binoculars and rifle. Occasionally he shot something and I would carry it out for him and gut it so he could take it home.

One day he was too sick to go out and stayed in the office and Albert came to help me to measure some trees. We spotted a mob of pigs and I had my old .303 with me in the truck, so of course our other duties fell in importance ranking. I cannot remember if I actually shot anything, but Russell had spotted us with his binoculars.
'I saw James and his mate poaching up on that patch rooting in Compartment 5!' Russell informed us when we walked in the door.
'Bastards.' Albert replied and both of us avoided his gaze.

Not long before he died, Albert and I took him for a hunt. Albert sat beside him in the cab of the old A2 Bedford and I stood on the back with my rifle, trying to spot game. I saw a mob of pigs and signalled Russell to stop. Albert and took off after the pigs, while Russell watched events unfold. I shot a nice pig for Russell take home, but when we got there, the truck had disappeared.! Then I spotted the tyre marks, and there was the truck over the edge of the road, with Russell was lying back in the seat. We though the worst of course, but he had fallen asleep! He had put the truck out of gear and had his foot on the brake pedal. When he fell asleep, his foot eased off the brake and the truck rolled backwards - he didn't even wake up when it went over the bank! Luckily it was not too difficult to extract and Russell was pleased with his prize, the pig.
Russell was one of the good guys!

Herbert Forest

After I had completed my forestry training, I was posted to Naesby Forest where I was under the tutelage of Jack Rolls. Naesby Forest was a good little forest and I guess I was one of the last to work a draft horse to pull logs from the bush.

However I was called to Herbert Forest to become acting officer in charge because the OiC was sick and hospitalised with cancer. It was to be a three month assignment, but it turned out that I was to remain there for 25 years until the New Zealand government decided to privatise and later sell off national assets.

I was a young fellow and all the workers at Herbert Forest were 'older' people. I will name many because theirs was a contribution to history and to the nation, and I have nothing but respect for them all. They were local people who were prepared to invest in their community and took pride in their work and the asset they were helping to create.

Herbert Forest was then barely 1600 ha (4000 acres) and the oldest plantings just 17 years old, and there was only a limit area remaining to be planted with gorse being a main constraint.<3>

Land had been acquired piecemeal and there remained areas of unplanted ground which were to become a challenge to bring into forest production because they were pockets withing forested areas.

The main tool in those day for land clearing was fire and one of my first tasks was to prepare a 8 ha area for planting. There was an old homestead on this land. Nat Stevens'.

The story goes that Nat had sent home to England for a wife, and that brave woman travelled alone to New Zealand, and disembarked at the Otepopo Railway Station. On receiving instructions, she walked, carrying her luggage, maybe 8 km to the Wainakarua River, waded across and made the steep 5 or 6 km climb to the homestead, and knocked on the door. When the door opened, she met her husband for the first time! There is a small rock bluff the the East of the homestead, and they must have tipped their rubbish. One day while possum hunting, I came across it and found some of their bottles and one shoe - a high heeled one that buttoned up! 

The homestead was a wreck when I arrived there and the macrocarpa hedge well overgrown. These old trees would become a problem for our proposed new plantings, so it was decided they be felled and burnt. The workers had no experience with chainsaws, so I trained them and carried out the most dangerous work myself, because these large trees were difficult to fell.

The job took a little short of a week, and we had accomplished a good result; but not all were happy with us! The Moeraki fishermen had used these trees for years as markers so they could cross-reference their best spots! They were angry, but what could we do? They were down.

Our District Office was in Dunedin and the 2iC there had me draw up a fire plan. Fire plans were supposed to be in great detail (maps and all) and were submitted to Head Office for approval, that was the responsibility was the Chief Fire Officer (or whatever his title was) as long as the plan was followed accurately!

I had never been in charge of a fire before, but I had seen a few big ones and had great respect for it - we had heard plenty of stories about burnt people and of other damage. The workers though had complete faith in me and it seemed to me that they wanted to treat it as a day out!

Bernie, the District 2iC had promised he would be there to help me, because I was worried about the boundaries of the fire - forest with dry gorse sticking out the wire fence that surrounded the area!

Bernie radioed through that he was delayed and to start the fire on my own, so I did and he never did show up that day! The workers were good and carried out my instructions, burning away from the volatile vegetation we wanted to protect. Just below where the old homestead had stood, the fire raced up the gulley and I feared it would jump the road into an area of young forest on the other side! The wajax pump was right there so I made the order to crank it up! The fire was out before the pump got going! I had learned a lesson, fire slows down on ridgetops, and can not burn if there is no fuel! Further, the pump should have been ticking over, bypassing water.

Bernie arrived the next day to see that the fire had done a good job, but I had not followed the plan exactly, and he wrote up a report stating the fact - stirring me up a bit!

That was another lesson. Plans are just that and you have to be flexible and make changes when you think it appropriate. I was prepared to be criticised by my superiors and was not prepared to put my workers to unnecessarily at risk. These fires are risky things - nowadays considered too risky to attempt!

The next one was going to be Diamond Hill a 140 ha enclave within the forest, flanked by valuable remnants of Indigenous Podocarpus Forest.

Forestry is Life

The Swahili slogan 'Misitu ni uhai' means Forestry is Life. This is what forestry world wide is all about! I have a long association with forestry, trees, the environment and I have planted my share of trees. I also see my role as one to inspire people to plant trees. One or two is just fine, but those who are able should be altruistic and plant trees for the good of mankind (or person-kind if that language is preferred - on second thought I will continue as it comes out of my head! I'm not particularly PC).

It is not too strong to say 'Forestry is Life' for our water, air and temperature depend on trees/forestry.


The first bold statement that I make is that if government are really interested in preserving this planet, they should provide incentives, assist or aid countries like Brazil and Zaire to protect and conserve the indigenous forest resource within their borders.

Another bold statement is that as the world's population grows, natural resources diminish - viz oil! Sustainable plantation forestry is one of the few renewable resources.