Bright Future Predicted For West Coast Timber

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28870, 15 April 1959, Page 7

Bright Future Predicted For West Coast Timber

Revolutionary developments in the improvement of timber preservation had widened the scope of all classes of West Coast timbers, and raised the standard of the poorer types to that of the best, said Mr C. W. Pollard, of Auckland, president of the New Zealand Timber Merchants’ Federation, to a meeting of members of the West Coast association in Greymouth yesterday. The object of Mr Pollard’s visit to the West Coast, on which he was accompanied by the secretary of the New Zealand federation (Mr C. R. Gibbs), was to advise those in the industry how best to sell their timber by its full utilisation and elimination of wastage.

The West Coast had more sap woods than elsewhere, Mr Pollard said, and quite an inexpensive treatment could make sap timbers as durable as the best of heart woods. Timber which once had a life of five years now had a life of 100 years. “No. 1 Material”

The Minister of Housing (Mr Fox) had recently told the federation that timber was New Zealand’s No. 1 building material, and always would be, said Mr Pollard. For schools and similar buildings there had been a huge swing back to timber, especially where there was an earthquake risk.

Preservation of timber, giving wood complete immunity from borer and decay, had made it a much cheaper material and more versatile; a stronger competitor than ever before to brick, concerete and other building materials, he said. The West Coast had the greatest stands of native timber in New Zealand, said Mr Pollard, and native timber would still be milled on the Coast when the rest of New Zealand had been cut out. “Millions Of Acres” There were millions of acres of native bush, however, which would never be milled because of their difficult situation, making

cutting less than economic, said Mr Pollard. As radiata pine was able to be developed and cut particularly economically it would mean that much more than these “uneconomic” stands would also be left. Mr Pollard said there was an urgent necessity for timber merchants to co-operate in marketing the products of West Coast forests. It was necessary that they should keep up-to-date in the installation of new equipment and machinery, and broaden their outlook by studying at first hand what was happening in other localities. He was pleased to learn it was planned to establish a timberdrying kiln and treatment plant at Greymouth, in line with modern developments. “It is an excellent thing for the district to have,” he said. “It is a step in the right direction.”

Next school term 600,000 exercise books would have on the back of the cover the history of timber, from the cutting of logs to timber treatment and its eventual use, said Mr Pollard. AlSo coming up would be 11 million cards for distribution among children, including those on the West Coast. “We want all the merchants to know what we are doing for their benefit, and to link up with us,” said Mr Pollard.