Record Period Ahead For Timber Industry

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31231, 1 December 1966, Page 9

Record Period Ahead For Timber Industry

The timber industry should prepare for a further period of record activity, and for expansion and development which would continue indefinitely providing both private enterprise and the Government did their housekeeping in a businesslike manner, the Minister of Works (Mr Allen) told about 30 representatives of the timber industry at the annual meeting of the Timber Development Association in Christchurch yesterday. The country was virile, robust, and bursting to expand, Mr Allen said, and he could not see any end to the country’s growth, which meant that the timber trade and allied trades would be fully accupied for a long time. “Your industry, along with other fields of private endeavour, faces a future limited only by your own ability to imagine, comprehend and accomplish,” he said. The association must plan ahead to meet the demands of the future and the competition that would oppose the industry. The Minister of Forestry (Mr Gerard) had warned that millable native timber supplies might not last 20 years, and he outlined policy for a gradual reduction in dependence on

this type of forest. Timber had long been regarded as an all-purpose building material, and while it possessed many fine features, he was sure the industry was not so naive as to think that past records of performance would ensure a permanent place for timber in construction and manufacture. The aim should be to further acceptance of timber and diversify the use of wood even further. Variability was one of the most important factors against engineering uses for timber. Desirable characteristics could now be bred into trees and it was possible to stabilise wood by sophisticated although rather expensive means, and these and other scientific contributions would go a long way towards the improvement of wood. Outstanding results in the wood preservation field had been achieved during the last year, when more than 300 million feet of timber was treated with preservatives. Quality control and the marketing of standard products was of great importance. Manufacturers of new materials relied heavily on standards to induce acceptance; and the timber industry

should also make every effort to gain acceptance by this means. Education was also vital; standards had no value unless they were adhered to, and the implementations of them called for staff training at the production and marketing stages. Similarly the significance of quality and grade marks must be known to the architect, engineer, specifier and user. The association was the right body to propose educational programmes. Christchurch could be the focal point for the development of wood as a building and engineering material, and he hoped to see established in Christchurch a centre for higher forestry education that would include greater research into wood technology. The industry must press ahead with confidence, win more customers, and thereby expand. To achieve this it was vital to strive for improved efficiency, to concentrate on precise quality control, and to train staff. It was also essential to know what the public wanted, an dit must be obvious that the good-will any industry enjoyed depended on the service it provided.