TIMBER RESOURCES

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 146, 21 June 1916, Page 13

TIMBER RESOURCES

WAR PROVIDES AN IMPETUS,

RIMU. VERSUS OREGON PINE,

As is generally known, the timber re-' sources of the Dominion are, being re-; duced at a rate which at least one expert regards as. positively alarming. In conversation with the writer he deplored the waste of valuable timber which■went on. A3 the laud .was settled, and he referred particularly to the area between. Paekakariki and Levin. The whole district, at one time carried a very, heavy' supply of timber,- and that which. was not ruthlessly cut down, but which was easily- accessible, was soon milled. Taken all round a valuable lot .of timber has come out of the district, 'and is still coming out.

AT REIKORANGI AND TE HORO

Up to file present time something like 20,000,000 feet of timber has come out of the Reikorangi Valley, and there is still about another 15,000,000 feet remaining. It was'in the Reikorangi Valley particularly that much valuable rimu, or red pine, was wasted. The district round about this little settlement has produced some of ' the best rimu ever taken in New Zealand, and what is left is now being worked -by Mr. Norman Campbell's mill, which has a capacity of 150,000 feet per month, and employs 150 men- The only other mill is Martin's mill, about 6J, miles inland from Te Horo. From time to^time many mills have operated, but gradually the different areas were cut out and left for settlement purposes.

} INLAND FROM OTAKI. i N Avray.inlagd frora, Ofc&ki there Btffl.re.

main great resources of good timber, but it. is so scattered and so difficult of access that, under the existing circumstances, it would not be possible to work it. The cost would be prohibitive. But there is bound to come a time when it will all be used. An expert pointed out to the writer that the whole of the North Island is practically relying on a strip of timber in the King Country. That will not last- for ever, and even now the mills are pushing further and further back from the railway. The cost, of course, is increasing all the time, and soon it will be just as profitable to work Otaki as it is to work the Main Trunk. So the whirr of the mills may yet be heard in i-iie mountainous country at the back of Otaki. ABSENCE OF OREGON PINE. When Oregon pine was introduced to New Zealand it became a serious rival to our own red pine, and the timber industry at Waikan&e suffered somewhat. Before the war the freight on Oregon pine was 2s 9d, but it has since increased by. leaps and bounds until the nominal quotation is now 16s or 17s. But even at that price there are no boats to bring the timber from America, and so the builders aie falling back on New Zealand red pine. It is also notable that no jarrah is coming into the Dominion now, high freights and lack of space again being the trouble. There is one more factor which has given an unneeded impetus to the timber industry. Steel girders are not now obtainable, and the millers are asked to supply heavy timber to take their place. This class of order has already been, executed at the Waikanae mills.