TIMBER IN STATE HOUSES

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22768, 21 July 1939, Page 12

TIMBER IN STATE HOUSES

_♦ • DISAPPOINTMENT AT DECISION RESOLUTION TO BE SENT TO GOVERNMENT (From Our Own Reporter.) GREYMOUTH, July 20. Keen disappointment at the decision of the Government to allow the use of dressing A rimu timber in State houses in Canterbury only on condition it be kiln-dried was expressed at a meeting of West Coast sawmillers and delegates representing timber merchants of North Canterbury held at Greymouth to-day. The following telegram was sent to the Minister for Housing and ActingCommissioner of State Forests .(the Hon. H. T. Armstrqng):—“The recent decision of the Government for the use of only kiln-dried dressing A instead of heart has failed to solve the problem of unbalanced utilisation of existing stock and future production. “This conference views the position with alarm and urges as the only solution that the Housing Department and State Advances specifications be amended to permit the use of seasoned air-dried dressing A reduced to an approved moisture content consistent with local conditions, as well as kilndried for flooring and weatherboards on the East Coast of the South Island. “It is imperative that an imipediate decision be made, otherwise the mills must close down one day each week to adjust stocks to the restricted consumption of dressing A.” The millers, it is learned, are at a loss to understand the insistence upon kiln-drying because of what is claimed to be the proven durability of airdried dressing A rimu in Canterbury. It is claimed that even on the West Coast, where the rainfall is much greater, air-dried dressing has proved satisfactory and durable in houses. The delay and expense of Operating kilns, millers consider, will wipe out the advantage of the decision of the Government. for the timber cannot be put through kilns a.t less than 6s per 100 Super feet, which will increase the price to such an extent as to produce _ even stronger competition from other kinds of building materials.