Dry firewood

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 12

Dry firewood

Sir,—This morning I awoke to a vintage Christchurch autumn day. The air was crystal after the southerly and the poplar leaves, crisped to gold, danced and sparkled with the freshness of the day. Then the day turned grey. My neighbours had woken and stoked up their “approved appliances,” turning the city into a respiratory blotch and a visual smudge. I commend most highly all those responsible for the lowering of the price of electricity this year. I have one question. A recent survey of wood merchants showed they all expected a shortage of good dried wood. The sole exception was the . city council’s forest division, which would simply cut trees down to meet any demand. Does the city council guarantee that it will sell only wood dried to comply with its clean air laws?—Yours, etc., D. McARTHUR. April 10, 1984.

[The acting general manager of the Christchurch City Council, Mr H. E. Surtees, replies: “It is incorrect to say that the council would simply cut down trees to meet any demand. A limited volume of timber suitable for firewood is available each year, and there are also physical limits to the quantities that can be produced at any time. Every endeavour is made to supply wood as dry as possible, but for a number of reasons it is possible that it may not comply with clean air requirements at the time of use. This, in the main, is because of the method of storage by users, and its condition at the time of burning is the responsibility of the purchaser.”]