RIMU FOR BUTTER CONTAINERS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 130, 26 February 1937, Page 8

RIMU FOR BUTTER CONTAINERS

Successful Tests

MARKETING ' DEPARTMENT TO USE 5000 CASES

Successful .experiments with rimu timber in the manufacture of butter boxes promise a substantial development in the near future. Already, following London expert observations on trial shipments this season, the Primary Products Marketing Department has arranged to purchase up to 125 tons of butter , packed in 5000 rimu boxes for export to the British market. The Commissioner of State Forests, Hon. F. Langstone, states that immediate arrangements are being made by the Department of Agriculture and the State Forest Service for 2000 of these boxes to go forward as soon as they can be manufactured and packed. “The satisfactory results of careful experiments with rimu timber for butter containers removes a great deal of anxiety as to future supplies of boxes to meet the demands of our trade in export butter,” said the Minister in an interview. “Supplies of white pine are declining rapidly, with the difficulty becoming more acute each season as the forest stands of this timber recede into less accessible areas. It has taken rather a long time to demonstrate the practical use of rimu, the delay no doubt being due to some extent to prejudice. A start with experiments was made by the State Forest Service in 1925, when a heavy increase in butter production was foreseen. Up to that year white pine had been used to the exclusion of all other timbers for New Zealand butter boxes.

"The experiments in the first place were directed toward the' development of a coating, or lining, which would allow the .use of any of the ordinary commercial timbers by protecting the butter against tainting thereby. It was only by accident that untreated boxes used for the control of these experiments disclosed the fact that rimu timber free of central or coloured and resiny heart was actually superior to the untreated white pine also used for control purposes. "As a result of these original investigations, a. number of further experiments have been carried out more recently by various authorities and on each occasion the findings have confirmed the original conclusion. We decided to make a practical test in the export trade, and a commencement was made this season with small commercial shipments. Again the London observations were of a confirmatory nature, the butter being reported as freer of taint than that in the best white pine boxes. Hence the Marketing Department’s decision to use 5000 rimu boxes for a start. "These experiments are of fundamental importance,” added Mr. Langstone. “The use of rimu to supplement the declining supplies of white pine in both the North and South Islands will tend to keep the prices of butter boxes at a reasonable level. It is not intended to ‘rush’ rimu in the manufacture of butter containers. The trade will be fed judiciously. We have ample supplies of rimu timber, and if the dairy industry in New Zealand and Australia will gradually switch over to the use of that timber for butter boxes it will not only relieve the demand for white pine, but will also give a fillup to the rimu trade, and we will be able to supply Australia’s full requirements without restriction.”