USE OF HILL TIMBERS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25246, 26 July 1947, Page 3

USE OF HILL TIMBERS

FORMER SAWMILLER’S VIEWS

POLICY OF DEPARTMENT CRITICISED

Further claims that much good building rimu was being left on the hills while inferior rimu from swampy flats and. miro were being used for house building were made by Mr P. J. Higgins, of Hokitika, a retired sawmiller and builder of 40 years’ experience, in an interview yesterday. Mr Higgins said he was not satisfied , with the replies of the State Forest Service. To Mr Higgins’ original statement (published on June 3), the service replied that it did not agree that the present price structure discouraged milling hillside timber. Mr A. R. Entrican, Director of State Forests, in a reply td the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association, published on June 27, said that an intensive national forest survey to determine remaining indigenous forest resources was b'eing undertaken and until this was completed no information could be given on the future policy of rimu cutting. “It is human nature to defend its actions, good or bad; but just how good Mr Entrican’s defence is in support of his policy can be judged this way,” said Mr Higgins yesterday. “You know what he said about the miro timber? Well, this is the position. Right up to the time the demand set in, his department said miro was not a suitable building timber, the merchants were against buying it, the builders against using it, and to this day, sawmillers will not use it for bridges or for any other durable and dependable purpose. Why? Because it is known to be exactly what I have said. We have had to renew’ all our furniture through having once used it, and houses that have been built since the restrictions were lifted are taking the borer wholesale. This is not to say that I contend that miro should not be milled. There is a use for it; but not in houses, not at any price, and it should be branded to identify it for its respective purpose. Preservation Treatment “Mr Entrican gave the impression that the swampy flat rimu was being treated to preserve it before use, which is a confession that he thinks 4t requires treatment; but as yet (although I have seen dozens of houses built with this timber) not one piece has undergone treatment. “Now, I can tell you that this class of rimu, heart included, is the shoddiest of shoddy timber to build with, untreated, and that a house built with it, together with a sprinkling of miro, will soon be riddled and ruined, furniture included, as the destroying elements of dry rot and the borer are not in the least concerned about good design and building technique. Like disease, they simply get in to the conditions that invite them. Hundreds of New Zealanders can bear witness to these facts. “Of the timber left behind, Mr Entrican says its higher heart content is an inducement to mill them. If that was correct millers would not be leaving them. On the other hand, he says that what may not be economical to work to-day will be so at some future date, as there f are some areas being worked to-day that had been left behind years ago. Suppose that was the case—it is no excuse for letting our highest-quality building timbers remain on the hills at a time when they are most needed.

‘‘lt is not a true picture of the position because much of the by-passed timbers of the past have gone up in smoke, others have- been felled and the country grassed, and others have lost all economical means of access for all time when the long and costly tramways have been pulled up,” said Mr Higgins. State Policy Criticised “In any case, what sort of a policy is it to leave a valuable asset to the elements w of chance, allowing the big millers to pick the eyes out of our forests and expect the small man to follow up behind to clean up the leavings? That is exactly what Mr Entmean’s reply and policy amount to. “ft has been said, also, as the question of erosion is as important as the question of timber, that the leaving of timber areas here, and there is a safeguard in that respect. Here again it is onlyan excuse for leaving timber behind, because there is not a single instance anywhere where the taking of the timber trees has caused erosion. Moreover, in most cases, where the timber is left, the land is useless, and where it is not, it is felled and grassed. “Now, this is the issue,” said Mr Higgins: “As it is known and proved beyond dispute that New Zealand’s best building timber grows on the hills and its worst on the flats (which Mr Entrican has not denied and can not deny), I ask, is it not high time that we found ways and means to bring this best timber into service for building purposes, instead of leaving it where it is worthless, and to devise a plan in which to identify and direct all timbers to their respective purposes at their point of production. To my mind, this is quite a simple thing to do and it can be made foolproof from one end of the timber process to the other. What is more, as the life of the house depends entirely on the timber it is made of, it is our duty to protect the home-maker, at the high price he has to pay to-day, against the use of non-durable. and borer-breeding timbers.”