NEW SAWMILL WILL HELP COAST TIMBER INDUSTRY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31190, 14 October 1966, Page 8

NEW SAWMILL WILL HELP COAST TIMBER INDUSTRY

Processing Plant Near Reef ton

The firm, an associate company of H. W. Smith, Ltd., Christchurch, timber and joinery manufacturers, has cutting rights for 20 years in an area of State forest in the Inangahua district. The company will concentrate on milling beech timber. It is also hoped to export West Coast timber products to Australia under the limited free trade agreement. The processing plant and mill will employ about 60 persons. The plant will complete a pattern covering the northern part of the West Coast to the far south, and will be the fifth biggest on the coast. Among the guests at tomorrow’s opening ceremony will

Perhaps the most modern sawmill in New Zealand will be opened in Reefton tomorrow by the DirectorGeneral of Forests (Mr A. L. Poole). Built at a cost of £lOO,OOO by H. W. Smith (West Coast), Ltd., the fully automated mill will help stimulate the West Coast’s timber industry. Total expenditure when full processing facilities are completed will be about £200,000.

be the member of Parliament for Westland (Mr P. Blanchfield) and Mr P. O’Regan, chairman of the Inangahua County Council. Many hundreds of visitors are expected to attend the function. The mill stands on 10 acres of levelled land about two miles from Reefton. A siding has also been built at the plant to transport the finished products. The building was designed by Stock and Associates, architects, of Christchurch, and the mill was constructed by Modern Builders, Ltd., Greymouth. Highways Construction (Nelson), Ltd., prepared the site and access roads and the consulting engineer was Mr I. G. B. Wilson, of Christchurch. Most of the machinery was manufactured and supplied by Southern Cross Engineering Company, Ltd., Christchurch,