ORIGIN OF TIMBERS

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 85, 20 October 1928, Page 30

ORIGIN OF TIMBERS

| EMPIRE RESOURCES FOREIGN COUNTRIES HOLD (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 24th August. The Imperial Economic Committee has recently ■ applied itself to the question of how best the timber ro sources of the Empire may be utilised, and its findings' are summarised in a report—the tenth of a series. Its two main conclusions- are: Canada is in a position to supply in increasing quantities much of the soft wood required in this country. The utilisation of lighter hardwoods, of which there is an abundance within the Empire, in place of soft woods, should bo carefully explored. In the meantime, the committee points out, much can be done by public bodies and companies by exercising a voluntary preference in favour of Empire timbers. In this connection the action of the Office of Works is notie;.'<! as "a useful and interesting progression. " In its' earlier specifications, foreign timbers were stipulated for cer tain uses. Later a choice was permitted between foreign woods and certain named Empire woods. Finally, in April of this year, it was announced in the House of Commons that "as a. general rule only British -Empire timber will be specified for carpenters and joiners' work in Office, of Works' building contracts." OAK FROM UNITED STATES. I So far as Empire-grown soft woods are concerned, it is from Canada that any largo increase in supplies must be expected, and attention :s specially directed to the possibilities of extending the use in the United Kingdom of Douglas fir from British Columbia. The methods of conversion of timber in that province are at present mainly designed for the needs of the North American markets, and the committee suggests that if the export trade with tho United Kingdom is to be increased tlr;rc will- have to be study of the special requirements of this market. Of the hard woods, oak heads the list as occupying "a sentimental place in public esteem which no >thcr wood enjoys." But it is not generally realised that three-quarters of this "typically English timber is grown in the United States. Over £2,000,000 is spent on imported oak every year, of which less than I per cent, is-"supplied from within the Empire. A still more remarkable fact brought out in tho report is that throe-quarters of the imports of sawn mahogany into the United Kingdom in 1926 came from America, where the tree does not grow. The committee envisages the day when tho Dominion visitor may be told with pride that the woodwork he sees and the floors ho walks upon arc made from Empire timbers, whether ho be visiting a town hall, a university, a bank, a company's offices, or a school. SOME LITTLE-KNOWN WOODS. An appendix gives interesting examples of the purposes of utility and of decoration to which Empire timbers! whoso names are still unfamiliar to the public have already been put. A bridge across the Thames at Henley built of pyankadu, aii^:.. exceptionally durable hardwood from' India, is instanced, as well as the panelling, pews, and doors of All Saints', Paddiugton, in which padauk, another Indian wood, has been used. Greenheart, from Brit ish Guiana, prized for -the qualities which make it a valuable component of fishing rods, has also been used for dock gates at Southampton, while Kenya cedanvood is shown to be competing with American cedar in the pro vision of material for the manufacture of pencils. Tho voting lobby of the London County Hall has been panelled with Indian laurel wood, the Southern Railway use Australian walnut in their coach work, the L.M.S. .silver -greywood from India; and the ' G.W.R. white cedar from North Borneofor the under frames of coaches. Gurjun, a little-known Indian wood,\is also used for coach work by several railway companies, while the tables of Lyoiis''s Corner House in Oxford street1 arc .made of Australian silky oak.It has been computed that tlio total consumption ,in'the United. Kingdom in 1924 amounted to nearly 1,100,000,000 cubic feet of standing timber, and that of this amount only 56,000,000 cubic feet, or 5.4 per cent, were supplied from "homo-grown" sources. Of tbo timber imported in 192G, approximately 95 per cent, of the soft woods and 70 per cent, of the hard, woods were derived from foreign and not from Empire sources.