N.Z. TIMBERS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18970, 7 April 1927, Page 4

N.Z. TIMBERS.

A VALUABLE COLLECTION.

(By W.H.W.)

There is a small specimen of a timber known as pokaki or pokaka, with a note on the back that it is a "'good timber i'or making mallets," and certainly it does not look to be useful for much else. It grows into a tree 50 feet high, and up to three feet in diameter, is white, tough, and compact in grain, but is not durable for outside work. Its toughness rendered it useful fo r the brakes of coaches, al*o for the backs of brushes. A sample of tea-tree has already been described with the manukas, A very small specimen of a timber named ine-ine, is a very prettily-mark-ed wood with a close grain. The figure is very like that oi the rewa-rewa or honeysuckle. A "beautifully-marked'knot of "spearwood" appears to have been cut from a very small tree, and, beyond any service that it might render for inlaying, does not look a useful timber. This also appiies to two small specimens called ''spoonwood," which is a tough, compact yellow timber, and "milkwood/' which is a soft, white timber with no outstanding features, also to a sample called ''flax tree," which looks absolutely useless as a timber. Dacrydhinr Cupressinum (rimn or red pine) "occupies a larger area of New Zealand forests than any other timbertree. Although of less intrinsic value than kauri or totara, it is adapted to a larger number of important uses, and is easily converted. It is the most important commercial timber of the Daminion. It grows into a fine tree, 80 feet high, and up to five feet in diameter, and is easily distinguished by its remarkable weeping foliage. The heartwood from the older trees possesses very durable qualities, and the figure in sonic specimens is very fiue indeed. It shows a greater variety of markings and colourings than any other timber, native or foreign, used in the Dominion. Figured rimu. given the same sympathetic treatment usually meted out to foreign decorative timbers, is their equal if not their superior in effest. but it possesses one marked disadvantage, in that it responds too readilv co the vagaries of moisture m the atmosphere, and very frequently, in spite of the most careful treatment, opens up at joints just enough to make an owner condemn the workmanship instead of the timber. The very small percentage of heartwood (less than 10 per cent.) makes it difficult to know what to do with the remainder of the wood, particularly in the North Jsland, where the sapwood is attacked much more quickly by the borer than occurs in the South Island. Rimu is of very slow growth, and once our natural forests are cut out we are likely to see the last of this very useful timber. The papauma (broadleaf) is a handsome tree, sometimes 60 feet high, with a gnarled and crooked/trunk up to four feet in diameter. If is a very durable timber, and of great strength. _ Its crooked habit rendered it especially valuable to the old-time wooden shipbuilder. Our sample, while ' close grained and pleasing enough, has shrunk with a corrugated surface and it is clearly not a timber adaptable for fine work. Fodncarpus spicata (matai or black pine) attains a height of 80 feet, with a diameter of three feet. It is one of our most valuable timbers, and more nearly takes the place of true hardwoods than most of our other native timbers. It is very durable, and accounts are given of a nrostrate matai over which three broadleaf trees had grown, infolding it in their roots; on felling these trees, it was found that they were upwards of three hundred years old. but the inaini was sound, and was split up for fencing posts. Rata. Our specimen of rata, sometimes called "ironwood," is very heavy, compact, and tough, but very much warped and shaken, and, although in colour it is very similar to mahogany, it has absolutely no figure. As the timber cannot be obtained in very great lengths, there arc not many uses outside fencing posts, house-blocks, and small bridge and culvert work, to which it can be put. It sometimes grows 60 feet high and up to 6ft in diameter. A specimen called silverleaf is cut from a very small tree, with no marked characteristics. Three specimens of matipo, two of which are very prettily marked, are again the product of small trees, and not of any use except for very small work and inlaying. One piece of this timber has kept its shape and polish perfectly.

-. Alectryon Excelsum (Titoki) is sometimes known as the New Zealand ash. It grows to a height of 60 feet aud 3 feet in diameter. The timber is of great strength and very tough, but not durable. It i 3 an excellent timber for the wheelwright, and for agricultural implements. Black Hinau is of great value on account of its durability, and it is very hard to burn even when dry. The bark is of value for tanning purposes, and a black dye was obtained from it by the Maoris, w'ho also used the fruit for food. It grows into a tree 60ft high and 3ft in diameter, but its trunk seldom exceeds 25 feet in length. Mingi Mingi is a very small tree, ] although the wood is very durable and very pleasingly marked.

Our sample of currant tree is a verx fine one, and if this timber could be obtained in any quantity it should be of great value to the cabinetmaker and for general finishing. This completes the list of samples in this collection, which, on account of its age—£s years from the time of preparing—is of very great value. Not a single sample is affected by the borer. Two very fine timbers obtainable in limited quantities are not in the collection —Libocedrus Doniana (the kawaka or New Zealand cedar) and the silver .pine. The former is a noble tree, sometimes 100 feet high and 5 feet in diameter. The wood is difficult to distinguish in colour from that of American redwood (sequoia sempervirens), although somewhat closer in grain, it is very durable and should make a very excellent cabinet or finishing timber, as it is often very beautifully figured. Silver pine is our most durable timber, but is only procurable in verv small sizes.

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