NOTED SAWMILLER

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 67, 12 December 1932, Page 10

NOTED SAWMILLER

Death of Mr. W. J. Butler

FEDERATION PRESIDENT After an illness of nearly a year, .Mr. AVilliain James Butler, 1 president of the Dominion Federated Sawmillers’ Association, died early on Saturday morning. The private interment took place at Karori Cemetery yesterday afternoon. The late Mr. Butler, who was 74 years of age, was born at Leamington, England, and came to New Zealand as a youth. AVith his two brothers he worked in the bush at Kakahu, South Canterbury, and later he was engaged in sawmilling at One Tree Point, Southland. The brothers .then went to the AVest Coast and began goldmining at Kanieri Forks. Their luck was not encouraging, and they set up as bridge builders, and built many bridges for the Midland Railway Company and the Grey County Council. The first sawmilling operations done by the brothers on their own account were at a mill on the Ross Road near Riinu on the AVest Coast. Their next venture was at Kokiri, where they built a sawmill and ran it successfully for about ten years. It was here that they introduced the steam log hauler into New Zealand. In 1902 they sold their mill at Kokiri and bought a white pine bush at Naumai, introducing the steam log hauler to the North Island. They built an up-to-date band mill at Naumai, and for eight years carried on successful milling operations there. They successful tendered for the Hokitika Harbour Board Endowment Reserves of 28,000 acres, and having sold their Naumai interests, built a mill which was regarded as the most up to date in the Southern Hemisphere. Mr. AVilliam Butler also built a timber yard at. Riccarton to accommodate the products of the AVest Coast mill and formed the Butler Timber Co., Ltd. He was foremost in any action for the advancement of the timber industry, and was largely responsible for the formation of the New Zealand Sawmillers’ Federation. From its inception until his death he was its president. Mr. AVilliam Butler was at the time of his death a director of the following timber companies: Butler Bros. Ltd., the Butler Timber Co., Ltd., Stuart and Chapman Ltd., Ellis and Burnand Ltd., Ellis A’eneer Co., Ltd., and Ogilvie and Co., Ltd. He is survived by his widow and his two brothers, Messrs. Osmond Butler, of Kahikatea, and Joseph Butler, of Melbourne.