STATE SAWMILLS FOR ROTORUA

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 173, 19 April 1937, Page 14

STATE SAWMILLS FOR ROTORUA

Forest Thinnings A PERPETUAL SUPPLY OF EXOTIC PINE Two sawmills are to be established in the Rotorua district by the Government, and it is planned to cut timber from State forests for use as posts, fruit-cases and also for general housebuilding purposes. The Commissioner of State Forests, Hon. F. Langstone, said in an interview on Saturday, there was a very large quantity of boxes needed in New Zealand for internal requirements, and there were also other markets, such as the demand for fruit cases in the Cook Group and Samoa. The extent to which milling would be developed depended on the state of the market. “What I have had in mind was the State Forest Service being prepared to utilise our forest products,” he said. “The forests in the Rotorua area are now reaching a stage when a lot of the trees are ready for extraction. There is the forest management of thinnings and the managing of forests’ so that they can render the maximum amount of growth without injury to the trees, and the utilisation of those trees that are ready for thinning and should come out, to be made into various products such as fruit-eases, boxes and requirements of that sort; and it has taken quite a good deal of planning to establish a plant that would meet those requirements. “I have discussed the matter with my officers, and plans are being put into shape. They will be put before me for my confirmation when thej are ready to do this work. There is a very large quantity of boxes needed in New Zealand for our internal requirements, and there are also other markets such as fruit-cases for the Cook Group and Samoa; and the demand for exotic pine timber is growing at the rate of over 5,000,060 feet a year. “A lot of the trees' used up to the present were plantings that had been made here, there and everywhere, and must, of necessity, have brought a good deal of trouble to the millers to find supplies to meet requirements. “At Rotorua there will be a perpetual supply of these classes ot timber, and now that the forest is ready for operation it is necessary for the department to prepare plans accordingly. “From niv observations I am satisfied that quite a lot of this timber will come in for building purposes. When in Ilanmer I saw some houses that had been erected from our exotic pine timbers, and they serve the purpose in every way with 100 per cent, efficiency. “Of course, they have to be kept well-painted and looked after, and they must not come in contact with the ground, but otherwise, with these precautions, the timber from these forests will loom very large in the near future in meeting requirements for home-building. "There is also the question of posts for farmers’ requirements. Up to the present they have had to rely on our durable timbers, such as totara and silver pine, but it has been known for years that through the process of creosoting even softwood pines can be made very durable, and I am hoping to establish a creosote plant, possibly several of them, so that quite a lot of the thjnnings in our various forests will be treated with creosote and will supply a very valuable utility so far as the farming industry is concerned.” The commissioner said it would be some time before the work was ready to proceed, but when all the plans and information were ready the work would go on as expeditiously as possible.