IN TOTARA LAND.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1088, 29 March 1911, Page 18

IN TOTARA LAND.

of the grandeur of sucli forests. We sets patches of decadent bush, and a bit of green stuff now and again from the railway carriage windows, but away back in the bush of totara land Nature takes on a solemnity and authority that is peculiarly dwarfing to the mero man that crawls about the roots. No particular measurements of the trees havo been taken by those interested in the enterprise, but in a single acre of forest inspected there wero at least 30 trees, the trunks of which could only be encircled by four men joining outstretched hands around the huge trunk, and in some cases there was not a branch protruding for a distance of SO feet from tho ground. This will give a faint idea of the dimensions of the botanical natives of this district. Further realisation can only bo acquired by inspection—and it is worth it.

Few oven know the locality of Taringamutu. It is a flag station three miles to the north of flourishing Taumarunui, 011 the North Island Jlain Trunk Line. The country thereabouts -is far from mcouraging in aspect, being pumice land strewn scantily with . ti-trcc and other inconsequential shrubs; but bear away to tho cast, following tho track which would if pursued bring tho traveller to tho shores of Lake Taupo, and tho country undergoes a surprising change. Abaufc sixteen miles inland from Taringamutu the. bush is revealed on a scale of grandeur impossible to anticipate from tho character of the land thereabouts tapped by tho Trunk railway. Here exists one of the finest totara foresb thai yet remain in New Zealand, c:i'l it ij hero that the' Taringanr.iiu Tiir.kr Company,■ con-

nccte'd only with the outside world by sixteen miles of its own railway, operates. There the silence common to the New Zealand bush, is broken by tho crash of tho falling giants of the forest and tho hum of busy mills, engaged in cutting up the trees that probably first took rcot 500 years ago. A totara forest, slow growing as it is known to be, can overgrow. When that happens tho tre& commences to hollow in tho centre from tho root upwards, and tho "heart" is not discovered for 'some distanco up in tho air. In tho ease of tho Taringamutu Timber Company's ' holding this is nut the ease. Tho trees nro dead ripe for cutting, and the timber that is being turned out is as lino in quality as was ever milled in tho country. Hovr little the dwellers in cities know

Tho Company and Its Field. ' The Taringamutu Timber Company was only formed ill September, 1907. It has a capita] of £63,000, and cutting rights over 12,000 acres of forest, tho land being held by Native owners. Tho initial difficulty was its remoteness from tho railway, and a lino of railway had to bo constructed at considerable expenso over a distance of sixt ?n miles. A humble stait was mado with cue mill, but at ,present there are three mills in work, capablo of turning out 750,000 feet of totara a month, tho total output of which is absorbed in the North Island. Considering tho small encouragement given to enterprises of this nature in New Zealand, credit is surely duo to thoso who have risked their money in this "bush proposition," and tho success which is attending the business is just as surely the just return for the risk taken.

Tha Value of Totara. When ono talks of the value of good totara for a variety of everyday uses, ono talks of a material the value of wliich : for certain purposes it is almost impossible to compute, for in good

THE TARINGAMUTU TIMBER CO.

Main Tfaok Line, North Island, N.Z.

: — THE COMPANY'S FIELD OF OPERATIONS REVIEWED. -

totara, you get all the lasting qualities | of Australian hardwood without the excessive weight and the difficulties in! working which that class of timber carries with it. Yet for somo unknown |

| reason the hardwoods havo eonio into the market, particularly on tho seaboard, when the want could be supplied from our own forests. It is a foolish I falacy to suppose that the very best

totara is not now obtainable—there are many millions of feet of it easily in view, and it behoves those interested in local industries to make careful inquiries beforo going abroad for tho timber they require. Only the other day tho engineer of tho Wellington Harbour Board (Mr. James Marchbailks) reported that old totara piles pulled up from tho oldest part of the Queen's Wharf, which had been down for over •10 years, were as sound as tho day they were driven. This speaks worlds for tho lasting quality of this timber, and should influence its use wherever long and faithful service is required of material. In the case noted tho birch stringers had been found in a rotten condition, but tho totara piles which they supported wero "as good as gold."

A Disability, It is not all beer and skittles working a timber mill in the backblocks of this country. Taringamutu is a ease in point, Tho freight rates press heavily. For every ]00 feet sent from the mills to Auckland 3s. Gd. is paid in freight, and to Wellington, 4s. Gd. per 100 feet. Compare this with the 2s. Gd. freight rate for Oregon pine brought right across tlio Pacific from another hemisphere, and tho idea that thero is something wrong somewhere cannot but bo conveyed. Surely a modicum of encouragement should be given to a homo industry of this character, when a need is being supplied by well directedenergy. within i a couple of hundred miles or so of the chief ports of this island. ' Lanti for Settlement, Thero is another phase to this question. Not only is a great industry and a primary need receiving attention, but the land, that the people aro greedy for is, by tho same operation, being cleared for settlement. This is not idle talk. Although only a littlo over three years in existence. Tho advent of tho company's railway has been the means of opening up a block of 5000 acres, which

is now being cut up into farms. Tlio land, with its admixture of pumice and fine soil, is said to bo easily ploughablo. Where sucli a forest of giant totaras havo found sustenance there must bo much good in the land, and there is a fair prospcct of the district developing later on into a thriving agricultural district dotted with smiling homesteads. New Route to Taupo, Still another and highly important development may como of tho operationsof the company. As stated before a section of sixteen miles of railway (Government gauge), has been laid down on the routo between the Main Trunk Lino and Taupo. This great tourist resort is at present cut off from the railway systens of the Dominion, and has to be reached by coach or motor-car from llotorua, Napier, or Wniouru, which have

perforce to travel by dusty and at times b°Bgy roads. From the site of tlio company's mills to Taupo is only another 24 miles of easy country. Here, then, it may be safely prognosticated) is tlio future railway connection with Taupo. Behind tho Gun. Tlio company's affairs are in good hands, and although the bush is in the Auckland district, the bulk of the shareholders aro Wellington men. Tho general manager is Mr. George M'Hattio, a practical timbor man, whoso gonial personality is as well known in tho North Island as the late King Dick himself. Tho mill manager is Mr. W. H. Wackrow, a capable and conscientious officer; .tho secretary is Mr. A. E. Whyte, of Wellingtonand Mr. Charles Stewart, of the Stewart Hardware and Timber Company, Wellington, is tho chairman of directors.