THE TIMBER QUESTION.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 247, 18 October 1926, Page 15

THE TIMBER QUESTION.

IMPORTED V. LOCAL FUTURE POSSSIBIEITIES. (By A SAWMILLER.) T d 0 no t thmk it fair to the public ♦„ let some of the statements m your of October 7 go unanswered, lour interviewed tho importers r6 H builders regarding tbe qualifications f this timber and inspected timber AMri with borer. From the importers' ___ builders' side this timber has much to recommend it. The timber is very ft very light in weight, clean, httle L°«Vin convertion. consequently easily wdled and worked, as against our y e w Zealand hard and heavy, stronger and tougher woods. At the same time, the remarks made . your representative by one builder, that a five-roomed house could be built from 15 to 20 per cent cheaper by using cedar timber, as against N.Z. timbers, is not only misleading, but untrue. The fact is that of the average dwelling .built in New Zealand timber is only about 20 to 25 per cent of the total cost of the house. So this statement reo-arding imported limbers cannot be supported, is untrue, and the public are at least entitled to the truth. In reference to tho statement about cedar shingles being pulled off a house at Epsom after 28 years in use, is it not a fact that these thin shingles are soaked or painted with creosote, which is one of the world's best known preservatives of timber, and no doubt ordinary New Zealand timber treated in that way would last as long and longer, and could be supplied at less money than cedar, and is borer-proof. New Pests. The statements made about good cedar and bad cedar, and borer in the cedar that was inspected by your representative, shows clearly that the importers and builders have been aware of introducing inferior timber, and timber has been put in houses with a foreign distinctive borer. Now, our own New Zealand ordinary building timber can be treated and put into buildings borerproof. The timber is double the shingle, so why send away to buy inferior timber and import more timber-destroying borer? According to statements made there have been of late years over 20 fresh timber borers and pests imported into our Dominion, including the noted -white ant. Professor Corban, of Auckland University, says this has successfully colonised in Auckland.

The argument stated by one builder is that in forty years our timber resources will be consumed, and that we will then have to import on a much larger kale. No doubt we will unless timber is grown. We have great tracts of land in New Zealand very suitable for timber growing for soft woods that could be utilised, and we could make tree farming a permanent industry that could supply our demand and enable us to export soft woods to Australia, instead of sending every blessed penny out of this country for something foreign, just to satisfy a few importers or people that are making profits from the imported articles. One cannot blame them for that, but it reflects upon those who should safeguard the people ot this Dominion.

Future of Supplies.

The statement about what may,happen *n forty years is mostly bluff to hoodwink the public and legislators of our Parliament. As they are really patriotic, that cannot help seeing that tare will be thousands of acres of trees v forty years, not only to supply Jocai industry, but also a permanent export trade, the same as woo!, meat and butw lr. all comes from the land, and farming is, or shnuM be, a policy of o« toi-ntry. A permanent industry such 8-M this is 100 valuable to this ron-mion to be sac-lfhai or destroyed, and the sooner our legislators get down to hard facts the better for this Domi~<M and its workers.

rhe present policy of the State as regards the lumber industry to-day is one oi wanton waste and the destruction oi a lot of pur inferior timbers, which is supporting a policy of assisting a timte famine. Export-" of timber is practically prohibited, railway freights have ■been increased'so nigh that the cost of railage in..-.'some' cases is greater than we value :of the product. The system , short-dated tenure in cutting out Wish is a destructive policy, as at present "means that millions-of feet of timber "0 beuig destroyed annually. Large blocks of standing timber are taxed, a-«»t present conditions would be more satisfa ctory to the owners if felled, """it and put in grass. The greatest problem to-da S in a «ount_y that builds so many wooden wuses is preserving timber, and making ourT 1 " Proof - This looks a much W P r °P° sit »on than introducing SS! ■ peSts that hel P t0 destroy, to tL *V natter that should be sifted Portnf i tom ' and bave tbe fullest supIsl' 6 I lUblic - Evell P inus E/T -L treated ' I,as been converted m ° a durable wood. Pi?/? "J t °' day no rea sonable security SSrortif ? r ° ClUCer ° f New Zealand drawn, h planter > wbile we ar e ber f?l ay b 7 da * v nearer t0 the timbesttt Which we o «rselves do our th c i" aC °T a 9 c - And at the same time blood "T" atlons a re drawing the life goin ? f n ,.V j S - count r7 in our money *3* to g °b°e d thaf of The ° Dly P c °nstantlv t„ i Arrowing money Profitab v leepl eep man y who c °uld be «g the y w;n II ? Pl0yed P a nting trees d urthe citie, nt " months ban £i"g about