TIMBER SUPPLIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 September 1940, Page 12

TIMBER SUPPLIES

STATE ACTIVITIES''" Steady progress is being made with the construction of State buildings in Wellington. The building programme of the State Housing Department has kept all sawmills busy for some time, and it was expected that there would be a slackening off when the demand for timber for houses was reduced. A certain amount of reduction took place, but. it was more than compensated for by the heavy demand for timber for military camps. As the camp'accommodation was wanted in the shortest possible time all available, timber was diverted and private orders had to wait. It is these orders that will keep the mills busy, probably for the rest of the year. Sawmills have also been busy meeting Australian orders for all classes of framing' and building timbers. There has also been a good demand for box timbers from Australia. The increased Australian demand is likely to continue, as it resulted from the cutting off of supplies from the northern hemisphere. One difficulty created by the heavy demand on timber supplies has been the drying of timber. A number of timber merchants have installed plant for kiln-drying, and all kiln capacity, is kept going. Most of the kiln-dried timber is being claimed for furniture manufacturing. The abandoning of some proposed State buildings, including the new Broadcasting Centre in Wellington, until after the war is not likely to affect the-,demarid for timber to any extent. Most of' the timber used in such buildings is for boxing for concrete walls and for doors and fittings, and does not represent a large per - centage of the building operations. ' .