The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1882. OUR TIMBER TRADE.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 3, 24 June 1882, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, JUN E 24, 1882. OUR TIMBER TRADE.

We propose in this article to give so.ne information to our readers on the subjfet of the products and local industries of Feilding 1 and its immediate neighborhood. As timber is the principal and largest, it m, we will nocessarilv give it our first consideration. 'I he sawmills at present working are as follows : —Makino, Messrs Lindsay f'aldwell, and Corpe and Son ; Cheltenham, Reid and ' Temple; Feildinp, P. and J. Bartholomew ; Aorangi, J. and C. Bull ; Taonui, W. L. Bailey Bros., and Henry Adsett, and Trondheirn, Hichter, Nannestad and Co. I here are eight mills in all, one of which, that of Reid and Temple, laving only recently commenced work, consequently it must be left out of our calculations as to past productions." The annual average quantity of sawn timber from these seven mills, forwarded by rail, for the past four years, has beea 8,000,000 feet, to which may be added 2,000,000 feet sold to iocal censumers and carted to Sanson, Bulls, aud other places for building purposes, making in all an average ot 8,000,000 feet, which, wich freight added, makes a total value of £40,000, an amount large in itself, but, in our opinion, about one third of what can be produced without much additional effort. We are aware that the whole ot the machinery of the mills is in good condition, besides being of a high class as a rule : and would overtake any increase of work without any additional expenditure. The amount of posts, rails, stabs, sleepers, laths, shingles, &c, are worth quite £5,000 a year, and as the railway line extends northward, the demand notably increases. '1 his item requires no special comment from us, further than to state many pood men make a reipectable and comfortable living at it, and in most cases have io pay a liberal royalty for the privilege of spliting to the owners uf the land. We will now endeavor to show how the conjectured increase in the timber trade is likeiy to come about, and by what means : There can be no doubt that at present tlivj best p-irt at which to ship timber, foreign or to New Zealand ports, is Wanganui, not only from its geographical position, which enables a vessel when once the difficulty of the bar it overcome, to make a straight course west tor Australia, but, if bound tor few Zealand ports, to take a leading wind north or south, as the case requires. \\ c confidently affirm that the present river difficulties are indirectly a beneit, inasmuch as they have caused the exercise of a most praiseworthy amount of energy bj' the Wanganui business men. They are pushing un the dredging work ot the river, while the lieads Railway Company are now laying a line of railway to the heads, which is intended to provide a ready means of loading vessels outward bound. Of necessity their principal cargo must be timber, and that timber must come from Feilding and its districts. In conclusion, it would be as well tnat our readers should be made aware that in no year lor the periods of which our averages are taken have the mills worked lull time. This subject is a deeply interesting one to us, and will be resumed at an early date, when we propose to make certain suggestions towards the improvement of railway charges for carriage that will benefit the inillowuers, and at the same time increase the revenue.