TIMBER EXPORTS FROM COAST

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24020, 7 August 1943, Page 4

TIMBER EXPORTS FROM COAST

SHIPPING FROM LYTTELTON CRITICISED From Our Own Reporter GREYMOUTH, August 6. The railing of 2,000,000 super, feet of timber from the West Coast to Christchurch for shipment to the North Island was criticised at a meeting of the Greymopth Borough Council, and it was decided that the council should protest to the authorities concerned, explaining that it was uneconomic to ship the timber from Lyttelton rather than from Greymouth. The subject was introduced by Cr. H. Herring, who said that if the 2,000.000 feet of timber had gone oyer the Greymouth wharf the waterside workers would have earned about £2OOO and the Greymouth Harbour Board would have collected about £290 in dues. It was an important question for the West Coast, and if nothing was done about it, the same procedure might be adopted again. The first 1,000,000 feet was sap rimu fpr boxmaking, and it was to be dried in Christchurch, said Cr. Herring. He added that this was a mistake, for the West Coast was one of the finest places for air drying timber, and the heavy rainfall was. strangely enough, one of the important factors in the drying, as the rain washed out the sap. Hundreds of thousands of feet of timber had been dried 'on the West Coast and had gone to Australia in excellent condition. It might be argued. he said, that the Greymouth bar was difficult, and that there was a shortage of shipping, but a lot of timber could be shipped from Greymouth while it was being dried in Christchurch.