KARRI FOR SLEEPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 215, 11 September 1929, Page 9

KARRI FOR SLEEPERS.

VALUABLE HARDWOOD.

IMMUNE PROM WHITE ANTS. TREATED BY "POWELLISATION." Timber and flour-milling are 6poken ot as two industries which have made surprising progress in Western Australia, by Mr. E. B. Sinclair, manager of the State Sawmills, Perth, who arrived in Auckland by the Makura yesterday on a business and holiday trip. "It is rather wonderful," commented Mr. Sinclair, "to think that while Western Australia was importing flour only 20 years ago, a crop of 50 million bushels of wheat is expected this year."

Karri, one of Australia's most wonderful hardwoods, is the only wood handled by the mill at Pembertou (in the most south-westerly corner of the State), which Mr. Sinclair manages. The mill was established in 1913 to fill an order from the Commonwealth Government for 500,000 railway sleepers for the East-West line. Official reports, Mr. Sinclair says, state that after fifteen years' wear these sleepers, which were "Powellised," are standing up to the work better than those of any other timber. '"Powellisation," a treatment named after the man who devised it, is designed to combat the white ant, a dangerous pest in Western Australia. P'rom the saw the timber is loaded on trucks and piled in huge vats. When these have boon sealed, a solution containing arsenic and molasses is pumped in and brought to the boil, at which point it is kept for eight hours. After cooling, the timber is ready for immediate use. The process has rendered it immune from attacks by ravaging white ants and other pest 3 and it has the strength to stand up to any task.

Karri is being grown in increasing quantities, according to Mr. Sinclair, and re-afforestation is being pursued in a scientific manner. The demand for the timber keeps 350 men in constant employment at the State mill, and, fortunately, Western Australia is free from strikes. The mill now has a daily output of 48,000 superficial feet.

Karri's value, states Mr. Sinclair, lies not only in its durability but in the possibility of milling it in large sections. Beams 12in x Gin, and 80ft long can often be cut. Orders have been received from English railway companies for wagons.

"State control of the mills in Western Australia has had a steadying influence on the local prices for timber, besides opening up forests," said Mr. Sinclair. "The industry has grown so much that ,in the mills of the State over 000 men are employed, with a daily pay-roll of over *£SOOV'