NORTHERN WAIROA FORESTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 153, 29 June 1911, Page 6

NORTHERN WAIROA FORESTS.

THE RAILWAY AND THE MILLS.

In tie Northern Wairoa district public opinion ha 3 been stirred by a resolution of the Hobson County Council recommending the Minister for Lands to withhold from sale the timber of the State forests at Pekapekarau until the authorities had considered the construction of a section of the North Auckland Main Trunk line through that region. At a public meeting of the matter at Dargaville the. chairman of the County Council (Mr H. G. Slade) pointed out that 31 million feet of timber had been gazetted for sale, -while an equal amount was privately held, and to mill and get out that tim : ber would entail a very heavy expenditure in private lines. The argument of the County Council was that the construction of a ten-mile section of the Main Trunk line would render unnecessary a large portion of the private expen. diture, while the cost of the line's construction would 'be largely recovered by the State in a doubling of the royalties that could be obtained for the State timber and'the freight charges for carrying that and the privately-owned timber over the line. This view was. supported by Mr J. StaUworthy, M.P., as being in the best interests of the Dominion, and the meeting passed, a resolution urging the early construction of the line from the Wairoa river and the withholding of the State timber from sale meantime. Another aspect of the situation was put forward at a later public meeting at Te Kopuru, the centre of the Northern Wairoa. sawmilling industry. Here it was pointed out that over 200 men found permanent employment at the Te Kopuru and Tatarariki mills, keeping over 1000 people on the £2000 paid out monthly in wages. A closure of the State forests ■would entail a stoppage or curtailment, in the near future, of the work at the mills, which would seriously affect the workers. Resolutions setting forth this view were passed, and forwarded to the Hon. D. Buddo and the Hon. J. A. Millar.