FOREST THINNINGS

Evening Star, Issue 22626, 19 April 1937, Page 14

FOREST THINNINGS

TO BE USED FOR CASES AKD BOXES [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, April 17. The utilisation of the Dominion’s forest products for posts, cases, and general home building lies behind the recent • announcement . that the Government intends to erect two mills in the Rotorua district. “What I have had in mind is the State Forest Service being prepared to utilise our forest products,” Mr Langstone (commissioner) said. “In the Rotorua area the forests are now reaching the stage when a lot of the trees are ready for There is forest management of thinnings, and the managing of forests is undertaken so that they can render the maximum amount of growth without injury to the trees, providing for the utilisation of those trees that are ready for thinning and should come out to be made into various products, such as fruit cases,, boxes, and. requirements of that sort. It has taken a good deal of planning to establish a plant that will measure up to these requirements. A lot of the trees that have been used up to the present were plantings 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,” the Minister said, “ there will be, a perpetual supply of these classes of timber, and now that the forest is ready for ■ operation it is necessary for the* department to prepare its plans accordingly.” Referring to posts for farmers’ requirements, he said that up to the present they had had to rely on durable timbers such as totara and silver pine, but it had been known for years that through creosoting even softwood pines could be made very durable, and he was hoping to establish a creosote plant, possibly several, so that a lot of the thinnings could be treated.