(1802–64).

Soldier and colonial administrator.

A new biography of Wynyard, Robert Henry appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Lieutenant-General R. H. Wynyard was born on 24 December 1802, at Windsor Castle, into a family notable for its military traditions. His father was Lieutenant-General William Wynyard, Deputy Adjutant-General and Equerry to George III. Wynyard's brother, grandfather, and great-grandfather were also generals. It was natural, therefore, that Wynyard should join the army as did three of his sons in later years. He was educated at the Reverend Paulet's school, Dunmow, Essex. In 1826 he married Anne, daughter of Hugh Macdonnell, Consul-General at Algiers, by whom he had four sons.

In 1819 Wynyard joined the 85th Regiment as an ensign. Until 1828 he remained in England, except for three short trips to the Mediterranean. From 1828 to 1841 Wynyard lived in Ireland, working in the office of the Adjutant-General. In 1842 Wynyard returned to England and was appointed officer commanding the 58th Regiment, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Three years later the regiment was sent to Sydney, only to embark almost immediately for New Zealand. Wynyard played an important part in Hone Heke's War. As a senior officer he was often in charge of advance parties during the march to and from Ruapekapeka pa. For his services in this campaign he was made a Commander of the Bath. Wynyard remained in New Zealand until December 1846, living chiefly in Auckland, but paying visits to Wellington, Wanganui, and the Bay of Islands, where units of the 58th Regiment were stationed. He was recalled to Sydney for some months but returned to New Zealand in June 1847 where he was to remain until 1858. He was Commander of the Military Forces in New Zealand from 1851 to 1858, and had in his charge about 1,000 regular troops and 500 men living in the pensioner settlements near Auckland. It was a time of comparative peace although relations between Maori and European deteriorated towards the end of this period. Wynyard organised the defences of New Plymouth but no fighting had taken place before 1858, when he and his regiment returned to Britain.

For two years, 1851–53, Wynyard was Lieutenant-Governor of New Ulster. Sir George Grey, the Governor, had moved to Wellington in November 1850 for an extended period. When Major-General Pitt died in January 1851, Grey appointed Wynyard Lieutenant-Governor in his place. But Grey gave Wynyard only limited powers. Practically every decision had to be referred to Wellington for confirmation. In effect, he was chief observer for and adviser to Grey in New Ulster. In the opinion of officials and settlers, Wynyard carried out his duties satisfactorily.

From 1853 to 1855 Wynyard was Superintendent of Auckland Province. He was elected after a bitter campaign, thanks chiefly to the votes of the military pensioners. Auckland was prosperous and peaceful during his term of office. Unlike many other Superintendents, Wynyard believed in a strong central government, and his administrative decisions often favoured it. Wynyard was finally forced to resign as the Secretary of State for the Colonies would not allow him to hold this office and that of Acting Governor simultaneously. When Grey left New Zealand in 1854, Wynyard, as senior military officer, became for 20 months Acting Governor of New Zealand. He was hampered not only by the transitional state of the country's government but also by the fact that he was only a temporary administrator, very conscious of his limited powers. He had the great disadvantage to follow Grey. He lacked the Governor's popularity with the Maoris, and inherited the settlers' hatred of his policies. Wynyard had three major problems to face: first, the defining of the powers of the Provincial Councils; secondly, the establishment of the Central Legislature; and, lastly, the Maori land question in Taranaki.

When Grey returned to Britain only the Empowering Ordinance of the Auckland Provincial Council had been submitted to him. Despite misgivings, Wynyard approved all the others, even though their powers and responsibilities varied greatly. It seems evident that he expected the major task of the first general Assembly would be the granting of uniform powers to the provinces.

On 24 May 1854, Wynyard opened New Zealand's first Parliament with a Speech from the Throne in which he stressed the need for a strong central government. In this he was merely echoing Swainson's sentiments. Most of the first session, however, was occupied with the question of responsible government. Wynyard was anxious to do all he could for the colonists but, as always, his first consideration was to safeguard the interests of the Crown. He therefore refused to concede responsible government immediately, a decision roundly criticised at the time by FitzGerald and his friends. It should be said in Wynyard's defence, however, that nowhere in the dispatches or instructions from the Colonial Office was the matter mentioned, and Wynyard's Executive Council advised against the change. As a compromise, Wynyard offered to add some members of Parliament to the Executive Council. This was agreed to and FitzGerald, Sewell, Weld, and Bartley were elected. For a few weeks the compromise worked reasonably well, but on 1 August 1854, the elected members demanded complete power. Wynyard refused and they resigned. Other compromises were attempted without success, with the result that the Assembly, after passing an Appropriation Bill and a Waste Lands Bill, adjourned. Parliament again met on 8 August 1855, by which time Wynyard had had instructions from the Colonial Office to introduce responsible government. Before this could be instituted, the new Governor, Sir Thomas Gore Brown, arrived.

Wynyard had one other major problem during his administration, the threat of war in Taranaki. He had refused to take sides in the Maori land dispute, but sent 450 troops to New Plymouth to protect the British settlers. An uneasy truce was thus imposed on Taranaki.

In 1858 Wynyard returned to England, but was almost immediately appointed to the command of the troops in South Africa, and to the post of Lieutenant-Governor of Cape Colony. While there, when Grey was away on leave, he was twice Acting Governor, from August 1859 to July 1860, and from August 1861 to January 1862. In 1863 Wynyard retired to England as Colonel of the 98th Regiment, with the rank of Lieutenant-General. He died at Bath on 6 January 1864, and his wife then returned to Auckland where she remained until her death in 1881.

Wynyard was a man of average ability, but with the added virtues of dignity, friendliness, sympathy, and common sense. In Auckland he was regarded as a social success. Like all good army officers he was meticulous in his work, popular with his subordinates, and respectful and obedient to his superiors. Grey thus found him an admirable assistant. Wynyard's importance in New Zealand history lies in his involvement in the political and constitutional issues of the 1850s.

by Peter Scott Werry, M.A., Secondary-school Teacher, Hastings.

New Zealand Rulers and Statesmen, Gisborne, W. (1897); Dictionary of National Biography (1900).

(Anarhynchus frontalis).

This member of the family Charadriidae or plovers is unique among all birds in that its bill is turned wholly to one side. Species with bills curved vertically upwards or downwards or even crossed are relatively commonplace, but the manner of deflection of the wrybill's beak sets this species entirely apart. Furthermore, it is confined to the two main islands of New Zealand and, even here, its distribution is unusual. The only known breeding grounds are the shingly beds of a number of rivers of the eastern South Island from southern Marlborough to northern Otago. From December to May a northward migration takes place and the species winters on beaches and mudflats – mainly in the Auckland Province in such places as the Firth of Thames and the harbours of Manukau, Kaipara, and Parengarenga. Immature birds remain in the north when the return migration takes place from July to September.

The wrybill bears a superficial resemblance to the related and common banded dotterel: both are approximately the same size; there is the appearance of a cap to the head; the upper surface of the body is dark and the under surface white; and the chest is banded during the breeding season. There are, however, important differences in detail. The body shape of the wrybill is characteristically dumpy, its upper plumage is bluishgrey, across the chest is a single black band which is narrower and less intense in the female than in the male, and legs and feet are a blackish-green. The black bill is curved to the right.

On arrival at the breeding grounds in August, wrybills have assumed their full breeding plumage. After courtship display and mating the wrybills make nests which are mere scrapes in the midst of a wide area of clean shingle and large stones close to water. Two eggs comprise the usual clutch. These are laid between September and November and are pale greyish-green, minutely speckled, and scored with black. Incubation is shared. Both eggs and birds blend beautifully with their surroundings.

Though little studied, the food of wrybills is generally similar to that taken by other waders – small crustacea, molluscs, worms, and insects. In spite of much speculation, the adaptive advantage – if any – of the laterally turned bill (obvious even in the unhatched chick) is unknown.

The common call is a sharp “weet” given with a rising inflection, and the alarm note is a low churring. Among New Zealand waders, wrybills are notable for their lack of fear of man. The Maori name for the bird is ngutu-parore.

by Gordon Roy Williams, B.SC.(HONS.)(SYDNEY), Lecturer in Agricultural Zoology, Lincoln Agricultural College.

(1913–64).

Film producer and director.

Wynona “Noni” Hope Wright was born at Auckland on 8 September 1913 and educated at Auckland Girls' Grammar School and, for her final secondary year, at the Auckland Diocesan Girls' High School. Before long Noni Wright was making frequent appearances in dramatic productions, particularly those of the Auckland Little Theatre Society. With this background, she left New Zealand for London in 1935 for the purpose of broadening her theatrical experience. Within six weeks of her arrival she was touring England as understudy to Ursula Jeans in a company which included such notable actresses as Marie Tempest and Dame Sybil Thorndike. Her artistic talent, however, was to find its first sustained expression in radio work. Noni Wright began this new venture first as a free lance writing and broadcasting her own scripts; later, she joined the staff of the BBC. Shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, she obtained a position in the then Empire Section as Talks Producer for the Pacific Overseas Programmes. Meeting the exigencies of wartime needs, she arranged the sessions Anzacs calling home; she also conducted Hello children. The Anzacs programme was produced both in the studios and in hospitals, in particular those where there were New Zealand personnel serving with the RAF. During this time Noni Wright was twice featured on the cover and her work described in the New Zealand Listener. Her dramatic talent was by no means wholly overlooked during her service with the BBC which concluded in 1946. She played the leading feminine role in the BBC radio production of the thriller Sorry wrong number. After the war she went to Malaya under contract to the newly formed service Radio Malaya as feature producer and programme organiser, accompanied by her husband, Francis Norman Lloyd Williams, whom she had married in 1937. Williams, who was in the BBC, was appointed Deputy Director of the Service. By 1952 Noni Wright was engaged in journalism, becoming feature writer on the Straits Times, Singapore. At the end of the year she and her husband returned to England but, as the marriage showed signs of breaking up (it was dissolved in 1953 when Williams remarried), she went to Kuala Lumpur as a script writer in the Malayan film unit and was responsible for a number of prize-winning films produced by the unit.

In 1958 she joined the Singapore-based Cathay Organisation as a film director and producer. Her finest work in the field of documentary and feature films was done in the years during which she worked for two subsidiaries of this huge organisation headed by Dato Loke Wan Tho; Cathay Film Services, and Cathay-Keris. Her success was marked particularly by the awards her films gained at Asian Film Festivals held annually in many capitals including Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Seoul, and Taipei. At Hong Kong in 1961 her films won four out of eight best documentary awards, five of eight best planning awards, and three special awards. Her work also won awards at film festivals in Venice, the United Kingdom, and Berlin. During these years she was also commissioned to produce films for the British Foreign and War Offices, the governments of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei, and Hong Kong.

From 1953 until her death at the conclusion of the Eleventh Asian Film Festival in Taipei, in an aircraft accident near Taichung, Formosa, on 20 June 1964, she had won 10 first prizes at Asian Film Festivals. Among her many successes was This is Hong Kong which received in 1961 the oscar award for the best documentary film.

Just one hour before she died in the crash of the CAT airliner on a flight from Taichung to Taipei, she had gained the top award of the Festival in Taipei with her film Happy Homes. This depicted the work of the Singapore Housing and Development Board in providing housing and recreational areas for the resettlement of a large proportion of the population which comprises 1·75 million people embracing Chinese, Malay, Tamil, Eurasian, and a relatively small proportion of Europeans, principally of English origin. Happy Homes made in colour (as was This is Hong Kong) was shown throughout Malaysia in four different language versions, a common practice with Noni Wright's films of this character. Over a hundred copies were produced for overseas screening in 15 languages. In these productions Noni Wright showed that her sympathies were with the people of South-East Asia and that she felt a deep concern for those less fortunate in life. And her best work revealed a genuine poetic quality.

Slightly built and of very attractive appearance, Noni Wright had exceptional moral and physical courage. Working continuously in London throughout the blitz, she confessed to taking refuge in a bomb shelter once only and then “feeling thoroughly ashamed” of doing so. During the period of Emergency in Northern Malaya she accompanied troops to the battle zones. Throughout this crowded period she retained an alert interest in the land of her birth, particularly in its cultural progress. Such were her local ties, however, that from the time of her leaving New Zealand in 1935, she was able to fit in only three short return visits.

After the fatal aircrash, Noni Wright's body was cremated in Taipei and her ashes flown to Singapore where they were received by her son, Stephen Lloyd Williams (born 1939), an engineer with a major British oil company, who flew in from London. Subsequently they were brought back to Auckland by her father. The memorial service in her honour was conducted by Dean Shield at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Singapore. At least 80 per cent of the congregation which overflowed on to the lawn surrounding the cathedral was Asian. Many were deeply moved and characteristically not ashamed to show their grief at the loss of one whom they had taken so closely to their hearts.

by John Reece Cole, B.A., DIP.JOURN., DIP.N.Z.L.S., Chief Librarian, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington.

N.Z. Listener, 24–30 Aug 1964.

(1870–1928).

Rabbiter, pastor, journalist, and poet.

A new biography of Wright, David McKee appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

David McKee Wright was born in an Irish manse. His father, the Rev. William Wright, had the Congregational parish of Ballynaskeagh in County Down, Ireland, but he was probably more interested in belles lettres than in the Shorter Catechism. His mother was Ann, née McKee. David Wright was born in 1870 at Ballynaskeagh, County Down, and was educated chiefly at home and privately in London. For better or worse, he found himself, as soon as he was able to think or to form impressions, a member of a small, exclusive, closely related circle. It did not help him to make any real decision about a career, and at 20 he emigrated to New Zealand.

Arriving in Otago in 1887, he spent 12 years as rouseabout and rabbiter on Central Otago stations. But he had other interests. He was an omnivorous reader, a keen observer of people and things, with evident ambitions of becoming a poet. At this time he wrote a fair amount of verse, chiefly dealing with the Otago landscape, station life, and the people he met. Most of it was published in the Otago Witness, but in 1896, when he had embarked on divinity studies at Otago University, his first volumes of verse, Aorangi, and Station Ballads, were published. The reception these were accorded, and two special University awards for poetry, greatly encouraged him in this interest, and when he was ordained as a Congregational pastor in 1898, like his father, he found poetry as absorbing as the pulpit. After 10 years of ministry at Oamaru, Wellington, and Nelson, during which time he mixed journalism with sermons, he began to develop a prose style to match with his versifying. It surprised nobody, therefore, when in 1909 he decided to move to Sydney in search of a better market for his pen. He attracted much attention both with prose and with verse in the Bulletin, and won substantial and remunerative recognition as a leader writer and critic for the Sydney Sun. He died at Glenbrook, N.S.W., on 5 February 1928, “a bland, successful gentleman”.

On 3 August 1899, at Dunedin, Wright married Elizabeth Couper, daughter of Robert Couper, a pattern maker from Glasgow.

Wright's prose, with its strong flavour of Dickens, was generally superior to his verse, but he displayed an uncommon facility in both. Sensitivity to impressions, especially to those of the Central Otago landscape, was perhaps his greatest gift as a writer and as a critic. It would be unkind to dissect his poetry too carefully. Its lilting jingle, for the most part correct in structure, suggested the disinterested passion of the journalist rather than the free ideas, images, and daydreams of the possessed poet.

by Ronald Jones, Journalist and Script Writer, New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, Wellington.

• Down the Years in the Maniatoto, Cowan, Janet C. (1948).

Wrestling, as it is controlled today by the New Zealand Wrestling Union, began on 22 July 1930 at a meeting held at the Central Fire Station, Wellington. Before this date matches had been promoted in New Zealand both privately and by local associations. The rules adopted covered the control both of amateur and of professional wrestling.

The sport flourished under the guidance of the union and in 1931 the first amateur championships were held: M. (“Lofty”) Blomfield, of Auckland, became first heavyweight amateur champion. Other winners were: light-heavy, G. Mowatt (Otago); middle, W. Nicoll (Palmerston North); welter, S. Lack (Wellington); light, A. Mace (Wellington); feather, W. Williamson (Auckland), and bantam, C. Jones (Auckland). It was then usual to hold North and South Island championships, with the winners meeting to decide the national title.

By 1935 it was difficult to find enough professionals, so that the union was pleased to welcome Walter Miller (an ex-professional world champion) as a booking agent and controller of the professional men. Professional wrestling became one of the leading public sports under Miller's guidance, and continued as such with various fortunes until his death in 1959.

The amateur sport also continued to grow, but it was never attractive enough to the public to draw paying gates, and its income was derived solely from the professional contests through the various associations. In 1936 applications were lodged and finally granted for affiliation both to the New Zealand Olympic and Empire Games Association and to the International Wrestling Federation. For the first time an Australian amateur team toured New Zealand. In 1938 New Zealand sent a full team to the Empire Games in Sydney. The Second World War constricted wrestling mainly to juniors, with a few bouts for servicemen. After the war both amateur and professional wrestling was most popular. The public continued to support the professionals and attendance records were established throughout the country. The amateur championships were renewed on a district basis and, in 1948, the Smale-Humphrey Shield was presented for the district gaining the highest number of titles, and the Allen Cup for the most scientific wrestler. Joe Pazandak became the first professional coach to be engaged by the union to give instruction to amateur clubs. The 1950 British Empire Games were held at Auckland, and the New Zealand amateurs were not disgraced by their overseas opponents. In 1953 the union set up an amateur subcommittee to give it advice on all amateur matters. District committees were also set up to work in conjunction with the local wrestling associations. A team of wrestlers, together with officials, was sent to the World Championships in Tokyo in 1954. In 1955 the Waikanae Training School was begun with great benefit to the sport and is being continued on a yearly basis.

In 1961 the amateur side of the sport decided to break away from the parent body and applied to the International Amateur Wrestling Federation for a transfer of affiliation. This was granted and the New Zealand Olympic and British Empire Games Association followed suit and advised the New Zealand Wrestling Union accordingly. The year 1962 saw the beginning of a possible revival of professional wrestling. There are now 18 associations affiliated to the union.

(Xenicus gilviventris).

This bird is found in the South Island on exposed slopes of the Southern Alps, among rocks above the forest line. It is a tiny bird, without a tail, of yellowish-green colour on the back and a rusty-brown beneath; the male and the female are similar but the male is more brightly coloured. The rock wren is slightly larger than the rifleman and, like it, has a high-pitched call. It usually inhabits areas beyond the ordinary haunts of man.

The rock wren makes its nest among boulders which may be covered by snow for some months in midwinter. The nest has a tiny circular opening, about 1 in. in diameter, which leads to a larger globular area made of mosses, leaves, and tussock, and lined with feathers of other birds. These feathers are replaced when they become damp. Both male and female look after the young, and they drag large insects through the tiny opening to feed the fledglings of which two to five are born in spring. The rock wrens have only a short flight, but they have another characteristic, a peculiar bobbing motion which has been described as “knees bend”, by which they may be recognised.

In addition to the rock wren, there is another species, Xenicus longiceps, the bush wren or matuhi. This bird is also very small, of darker green colouring and with a white throat. It is found in damp rimu and beech forests on the West Coast of the South Island, and builds its nest in hollow trees and, like the rock wren, lines it with feathers.

A small bird of similar colouring and size, but of a different genus, Traversia lyallii, now extinct, was known as the Stephens Island wren. Several specimens of this bird were recorded in 1894, but it has not been seen since.

by Olive Rita Croker, M.A., Botanist, Wellington.

(?–1917).

American confidence man.

A new biography of Worthington, Arthur Bently appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Arthur Bently Worthington, an American, arrived in New Zealand in January 1890. Two months later he advertised religious lectures in Christchurch and within a short time built around himself an enthusiastic congregation of “Students of Truth”, said to have numbered 2,000. In August 1892 they erected a magnificent Temple of Truth in the heart of the city (it became the Choral Hall and, later, the Latimer Hall). Other extensive buildings were added, and a branch of the “Students” was formed in Auckland. Inquiries from the United States brought the information that Worthington was a notorious confidence man and fortune hunter, eight times bigamously married, whose real name was probably Samuel Oakley Crawford. These revelations did not shake the faith of his followers, even when he broke with his eighth wife who then confirmed the charges.

As a sequel to further scandals, the New Zealand Government vainly asked the American authorities to demand Worthington's extradition. Worthington married a young Christchurch girl and, in December 1895, fled to Tasmania leaving many debts unpaid. He was back in Christchurch in September 1897, seeking to revive his fortunes, but riotous crowds, numbering in the thousands, effectively stifled his sermons and forced him to return to Australia. In Melbourne, Worthington again formed a congregation of “Students of Truth” but in 1902 he was sentenced to seven years' hard labour for cheating a widow out of her inheritance by pretending to be a reincarnation of the god Osiris. On his release Worthington returned to the United States. He was gaoled for fraud in New York and he died there in prison in 1917.

by Herbert Otto Roth, B.A., DIP.N.Z.L.S., Deputy Librarian, University of Auckland.

(1872–1943).

Polar explorer and author.

A new biography of Worsley, Frank Arthur appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Frank Arthur Worsley was born on 22 February 1872 at Akaroa, the son of Henry Theophilus Worsley, a labourer, and Georgiana Priscilla, née Fulton. He was educated at Fendalton High School and joined the Royal Navy where he qualified in navigation. Because of his experience of the ice in Newfoundland waters, Worsley was appointed to command the Endurance during Shackleton's South Polar Expedition, 1913–16. In April 1916 he navigated Shackleton's open boat James Caird in the 800-mile trip from Elephant Island to South Georgia and, with Shackleton and Cream, made the epic crossing of that island. From 1916 until 1919 he saw active war service and commanded two “Q” mystery ships in the campaign against the U-boats. The Admiralty then seconded him to the War Office as Director of Arctic Equipment and Transport on the Northern Russian (Archangel) front. He was awarded the D.S.O. and Bar, the O.B.E., the Reserve Decoration, and the Russian Order of St. Stanislaus for his war services, and was frequently mentioned in dispatches.

During 1921–22 he acted as sailing master and hydrographer in the Quest, on Shackleton's last expedition to Antarctica; and four years later was appointed co-leader of the British Arctic Expedition. Between 1924 and 1938 Worsley published several accounts of his adventures. These were: Shackleton's Boat Journey and Crossing South Georgia (1924); Under Sail in the Frozen North (1926); Endurance (1931); and First Voyage (1938). In 1935, as a change from polar exploration, Worsley visited the Cocos Islands to search for pirates' treasure, but the Costa Rican authorities interrupted the expedition.

On the outbreak of war in 1939 Worsley served with the Red Cross in France and Norway and, for a while, commanded the Motor Ambulance Training Station at Balham. He rejoined the Royal Naval Reserve in 1941 and commanded s.s. Dalriada which was blowing up wrecks and clearing the Channel on the east coast of England. For a short time in 1942 he commanded the R.N.R. at the Naval Training Establishment at Hove, after which he was transferred to a similar post at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

Worsley was twice married, first to Theodora Cayley (divorced 1923), and then in 1926 to Margaret Jane Cumming. He died at Linksfield, Claygate, Surrey, on 1 February 1943.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton, Mill, H. R. (1923)
• The Times (London), 2 Feb 1943 (Obit).

Earthworms affect soil fertility in various ways. Their burrows provide drainage channels through the soil, improve its aeration, and assist deep root penetration. The lumbricid species of New Zealand pasture lands are all topsoil dwellers but in summer, if the surface soil becomes too dry, they retreat into the subsoil and go into diapause – a state of suspended animation. The vertical channels so made remain for a short time as subsoil drainage channels but, as their thin walls are not usually firmly compacted, they soon collapse.

Earthworms increase the efficiency of the organic cycle by hastening the decomposition of forest litter, and in pastures by speeding the release of plant nutrients from dead roots and pasture litter. Their casts are generally less acid and higher in nitrogen and available phosphorus and in exchangeable calcium, magnesium, and potash than is the case in undisturbed soil. The quantity of soil deposited at the surface in the form of worm casts was found (Evans 1948), on eight fields with different management histories, to range between 1 and 25 tons per acre per year. Calculations, based on total populations and taking account of species that cast beneath the surface, showed that from 4 to 36 tons of soil per acre per year passed through the alimentary systems of earthworms and were cast at or near the surface.

Three common lumbricids of New Zealand pasture, Allolobophora terrestris, A. calliginosa, and Lumbricus rubellus, are surface-casting species and together would soon cover a field with a thick spongy layer of casts were it not for such factors as the impact of raindrops, movement of surface water, and trampling by stock. Measurements on highly fertile farms south of Auckland have shown that, under grazing conditions, the build-up of compacted cast material amounts to slightly more than 1/10 in. per year.

These topsoil earthworms play an important part in our grassland farming. They stimulate pasture growth by removing dead root material, loosening up the sod, and providing an enriched layer of cast soil in which perennial grasses and clovers are able to re-root year by year. But all is not to the advantage of the farmer. In performing these beneficial tasks, earthworms inevitably play their part in reducing the bearing strength of the topsoil by weakening the sod and casting at the surface. Moreover, there follows the resulting increased poaching of the surface soil by stock during winter months.

by Norman Hargrave Taylor, O.B.E., formerly Director, Soil Bureau, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Lower Hutt.

• The Earthworm Fauna of New Zealand, Lee, K. E. (1959).

The most common introduced earthworms belong to the family Lumbricidae and, since such a large part of New Zealand has been cleared of the original vegetation and sown down to pasture, the lumbricid earthworms which feed on dead root and leaf material from pasture have become the dominant earthworm fauna both in pasture and in cultivated lands. They have been introduced at so many places and are so well acclimatised that there is no discernible relationship between their present distribution and geographical barriers as is the case with the native earthworms. The composition and population density of the lumbricid fauna is related directly to the level of fertility of the soil as modified by top-dressing and the composition of the pasture.

After the clearing of the land, native earthworms decline rapidly. The leaf-mould fauna is eliminated since there is no supply of leaf-mould; the topsoil fauna is usually eliminated but occasionally persists in a much reduced form; the subsoil fauna may be relatively unaffected but, if the soil is continually cultivated, this, too, fails to survive. There is an interval during which there is no further change in the condition of the depleted native fauna or during which earthworms are completely absent. The duration of this interval is related to the level of fertility of the soil and the availability of a population of lumbricid earthworms adjacent to the cleared land.

In the pumice land south of Rotorua, samples of the earthworm fauna were taken at various stages of development. Clearing of theland caused the extinction of the native earthworm Rhododrilus similis, and in pastures up to three years old no worms were found. As the pasture developed further and the “humus build up” at the surface became deeper, lumbricid species appeared. The first to appear was Octolasium cyaneum, a large sluggish species commonly found in the topsoil of low-fertility pastures on many soil types, the population being of the order of 100,000 per acre. After four or five years in pasture, Lumbricus rubellis then appeared and increased in numbers and, as the fertility of the pasture was built up, Allobophora calignosa and A. terrestris became established and dominated the earthworm fauna. In highly fertile pastures, numbers were of the order of 1–2 million per acre.