USES FOR N.Z. TIMBER

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23086, 31 July 1940, Page 10

USES FOR N.Z. TIMBER

—* — PAPER AND PETROL SUBSTITUTE INVESTIGATIONS BEING MADE WELLINGTON, July 30. The possibilities of using New Zealand timber for the manufacture of paper, and for producing a substitute fuel for petrol, are discussed in the ahnual report of the Director of Forestry, Mr A. R. Entrican, which was tabled in the House of Representatives to-day. “Far-reaching studies info the economics of local pulp and paper manufacture continue to be made,” the report states, "and the recent beginning in the southern states of the United States .of America of thß first newsprint mill in the world to operate entirely with pine timbers, as a substitute for spruce, fir. and hemlock hitherto universally used, augurs well for the establishment of the industry in New Zealand, which sooner or later will supply not only local but also a portion of Australian newsprint requirements. “The necessity for conserving petrol, supplies has at last focused public attention,” the report adds, "on the possibilities of wood charcoal as a substitute fuel, and as a resujt of its longcontinued investigation into the use of charcoal gas producers for both vehicular and stationary engines, it has been possible for the State Forest Service to expedite the production of charcoal from a wide variety of native and exotic timbers. -Suitable types of beehive portable and makeshift, kilns have been evolved, and a number of officers have been trained for instructional purposes should nation-wide production prove necessary.”