(Reporhamphus ihi).

This is common in the harbours and estuaries of both islands, grows to about a foot in length, is narrow, and is at once distinguishable by the curious mouth, with the beaked lower jaw protruding far beyond the upper. The piper is excellent eating. It can be obtained in quantity by dragging a net off beaches in quiet waters, but it also provides sport for young and old alike when fished with rod and line.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

(Stigmatophora longi-rostris).

This is slender with the tail tapered to a fine point. The mouth is long and tubular with tiny jaws at the extreme tip. The pipe fishes are like stretched out sea horses, but they always remain thus and the tail is not prehensile. The figured species is usually 6 to 8 in. in length, but it sometimes grows up to 14 in. It is greenish or brownish with two rows of dark-brown dots along each side. This species is common in Wellington Harbour and also occurs around Auckland. It is found hiding amongst masses of seaweeds, but a more abundant species, obtainable at Auckland in the same manner, is the smaller Ichthyocampus filum, which is brownish with black crossbars, and has a much shorter beak.

(Dacrydium colensoi).

Silver pine is a smallish, coniferous forest tree growing to heights of 50–60 ft and with diameters of 1 to 2 or, rarely, 3 ft. It is confined to some wet and boggy lowland and montane forest for nearly the whole length of the North and South Islands. The tree has occurred locally in small, pure stands in boggy areas but is usually scattered amongst other forest trees. It is commonest in the forests growing on the boggy terraces of the West Coast. In these it has been extensively worked, and silver pine buried in the bogs – where it must have lain for many hundreds, if not thousands, of years – is extracted and sold when markets are good. It regenerates readily and grows from suckers, but is extremely slow in growth.

The wood, which is light coloured, silky, and easily worked, has a remarkable durability, but it has seldom been regularly marketed because of the small quantities available. Nevertheless it has been keenly sought after locally, for house blocks, railway sleepers, poles, and fencing posts. Because of its value for these purposes it has mostly been cut out of available forest and large trees are to be found only in reserves. The bole of the tree is short and is crowned with many branches. The leaves are of two shapes: those on juvenile plants are half an inch long, narrow and linear, while those of adult plants are very small and appressed so closely to the stem as to form a cord-like appearance. As with other species of Dacrydium, silver pine is dioecious – that is, the small male flowers form catkins on one tree and the catkins of tiny female flowers are on another.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

(Pinus radiata).

This forest tree, limited in its natural distribution mainly to the Monterey Peninsula in California, was discovered in the botanical sense by two botanists separately, but at about the same time. Coulter first found it in 1830 and this collection was named Pinus radiata. Very soon afterwards Douglas, a Scottish botanist, collected it and named it P. insignis. It has sometimes been thought that the two names refer to different trees, but this is not so. Radiata pine was, of course, known before it was collected botanically, and, indeed, in Don's description he refers to the timber from the tree as a good shipbuilding timber used by the Spaniards in California. In its native habitat it is a tree which, on the best sites, grows to heights of 150 ft or more and shows great variation in form of growth. It hybridises naturally with at least one neighbouring pine, P. attenuata, and has one or two distinct varieties in islands off the Californian coast.

No other coniferous forest tree has attracted so much attention or shown such great promise of becoming, in the course of time, one of the main forest trees of the world. In all probability close to 1 million acres have been planted, mainly during the past few decades. New Zealand has the largest area, amounting to over 600,000 acres.

The tree seems to have been introduced into New Zealand soon after it was collected from California. It was probably grown in pots and sent out with settlers from England by the forerunner of the Royal Horticultural Society. Its rapid growth, prolific seed production, and ease of handling as a seedling soon made it a favourite tree for shelter planting. As time went on, trees from these shelter belts were used for timber which proved to be of good general utility. This fact, together with the tree's fast growth and ease of handling as a forest tree, led to wide-scale planting in the years 1925–35. Although the rate of planting decreased after that date, radiata pine had by then become established as the main exotic forest tree planted throughout the country. Since then it has formed at least 50 per cent of all State planting and the greater part of all other planting. The large areas established during 1925–35 are now yielding substantial quantities of wood which, within recent years, have contributed greatly to the industrial development of forest products in this country. What was once considered to be a low-grade, comparatively poor wood has now been proved to have many virtues. It forms an excellent, long-fibred pulp, and when knot-free logs are grown, the timber cut from them is good and the logs are readily peeled for veneer. Although the wood is usually all sap, it can easily be impregnated with preservative.

The great variation of the tree makes it one of the most promising for selection and breeding; it thus gives exceptional prospects of becoming a versatile forest tree throughout New Zealand.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

(1840–85).

Early settler and journalist.

Walter Hippolyte Pilliet was born in 1840 at Lyons, France. He was the son of Chevalier Jean Hippolyte Pilliet (1793–1881), a French Army officer who had distinguished himself at Waterloo and who later became a General and Aide-de-Camp to King Louis Philippe. His mother, Anna, daughter of Walter Hill Coyney, of Weston Coyney, was an aunt of Sir Charles Clifford. Pilliet was educated in France and at Rugby and served for a short time in the French Navy. About 1855 he came to New Zealand, where he was a cadet on his cousin's Flaxbourne estate in Marlborough. In 1856 he became a clerk in the Hawke's Bay Crown Lands Office, where he acted as private secretary to Sir Donald McLean. Later he occupied a similar clerkship in the Wellington Crown Lands Office. In 1864 he became Warden of the Pelorus Goldfields, but he subsequently transferred to Havelock where he combined the duties of Resident Magistrate, Collector of Customs, Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Licensing Officer, Postmaster, Coroner, Warden, and Returning Officer. From 1870 to 1873 he held similar positions in the French settlement at Akaroa, where his knowledge of languages put him at ease both with British and with French residents.

On 11 April 1874 Pilliet was returned to represent the Bays electorate in the Canterbury Provincial Council and he retained this seat until 1876. Afterwards he settled in Christchurch, where he edited the first Sun newspaper. On 9 December 1881 he was elected to represent Stanmore in the House of Representatives. A few months later he was unseated on a petition, but was re-elected and remained in the House until 27 June 1884. During most of his term in Parliament, Pilliet edited the Evening Post. He did not seek re-election in 1884, but remained in Wellington where he died on 7 November 1885 – a victim of the typhoid epidemic.

Pilliet was married twice: first, at Nelson in 1864, to Mary Ann Johnstone, and, secondly, in 1872, to Agnes, daughter of Ebenezer Hay, of Pigeon Bay, Banks Peninsula. He left two sons and three daughters by his first marriage.

Walter Pilliet impressed all who knew him by his ability and tact and there is little doubt that, had he lived longer, he might have attained one of the highest positions in the country.

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

• Evening Post, 15 Jul 1961.

The kereru of the Maori, the native pigeon is for size and brilliance of plumage one of the most magnificent of all pigeons. Widely distributed throughout almost the whole country and fearless of man, it is probably the most familiar of all the native forest birds, for no one can mistake its multi-coloured, metallic-shining back and wings, spotless white breast and abdomen, and coral red bill and feet. Both sexes are alike in appearance. Usually silent, the pigeon's commonest call is a soft “ku”. Its flight is characteristically strong and noisy.

Although the pigeon was once extremely abundant, its range and numbers were much reduced by settlement and the clearing of much of the native forests. Taken for food and feathers by the old-time Maori and at one time by the European settlers as well, the pigeon has responded to full legal protection and even shows signs of adapting itself successfully to many a habitat where introduced vegetation is dominant. This may be true of the race of Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae inhabiting New Zealand proper, but it is not true of the distinct Chatham Island race which at present is in grave danger of extinction. A race that once inhabited Norfolk Island is already extinct.

Because of its diet, the native pigeon plays an important role in the ecology of native forests. It eats a variety of berries and fruits and so spreads the seeds of a number of commercially important timber trees or plants which play an essential part in forest succession.

Nests are built in shade at some distance from the ground and consist of an untidy platform of sticks through which the single white egg may often be seen. After about a month's incubation, an almost naked chick hatches which is fed for a time on a secretion from the parent's crop called “pigeon's milk”, later supplanted by partially digested berries. The young bird remains in the nest for about six weeks.

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

The future outlook for pig production is hardly optimistic, for milk solids are being increasingly used for other products and there is a general labour shortage on dairy farms. Production will probably be maintained under present economic conditions. If, however, these change in favour of pig production, one could expect a large rise.

by Alexander Longwill, B.AGR.SC., Advisory Officer (Pig Husbandry), Department of Agriculture, Wellington.

Exports of pigmeat rose rapidly in the early thirties until 1937–38 when over 28,000 tons were exported to Britain. Porkers, in demand in London, made up the greatest part. During and after the war baconers predominated, but, as fewer were produced and more eaten locally, exports have quickly dropped to the present very low level. Those still exported are mainly the heavyweight (161–180 lb) carcasses not preferred locally. The few thousand tons of fresh pork now being exported goes to Pacific markets rather than to Britain. Proprietary freezing works and bacon curers market most of it with enough cooperative marketing to ensure competition.

Though per capita consumption of pigmeats in New Zealand is well below that in Europe and North America, there has been a tendency for a more rapid increase here, in spite of an already high meat consumption. Present per capita consumption is approximately 19 lb of bacon and ham and 13 lb of pork, or a total of 32 lb of pigmeat a year. This compares with 65 lb in the United States, 51 lb in Canada, and 43 lb in Britain. Pigmeat, however, is only 14 per cent of all meat eaten in New Zealand – proportionally far less than that in those countries mentioned above.

Pig-recording clubs, sponsored by the Government and the agricultural colleges, functioned from 1929 to 1936. Producers, feeling the need to apply quickly the lessons learnt by the recording clubs, approached Government to set up a national advisory service. The National Pig Industry Council resulted. Its main aim was to improve pig husbandry through an advisory service. It was active between 1936 and 1952. An officer of the Department of Agriculture acted as executive officer and supervised the work of nine district supervisors who were employed by district pig councils.

In 1952 reorganisation took place with the setting up of the New Zealand Pig Producers' Council, a purely producer body working under the aegis of the New Zealand Dairy Board. The Council works closely with the Department of Agriculture and depends on it for most research and technical guidance. The Department has a representative on the Council.

Pigs are mainly concentrated in the dairying (especially buttermaking) districts. Thus, since the industry expanded in the thirties, between 55 and 60 per cent of all pigs have been produced in the Auckland Province. The general pattern of distribution has not changed in the last decade; and though intensive dairying areas have changed to milk tanker, the later settled districts in Northland, Coromandel, and the Central Plateau of the North Island balanced the trend. In the last year or two the proportion of pigs produced in the South Island has increased slightly, due to expansion in Marlborough, Nelson, and Westland. The production in the southern half of the South Island remains much below the prewar figure.