TIMBER SUPPLIES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22313, 24 April 1947, Page 4

TIMBER SUPPLIES

QUOTA SHORTAGES GISBQRNE~BUILDING LITTLE IMPROVEMENT Supplies of building timber available in Gisborne are almost entirely the product of two district projects, one drawing its raw material from the Motu district and the other from Kotemaori. Little timber is coming from the West Coast of the South Island, whence 40,000 ft. per month was provisionally allotted last year when the district quota system was drawn up; and not much more is believed to be forthcoming from the Main Trunk area in the North Island, which under the quota scheme was expected to yield some 70,000 ft. per month of the estimated requirements of 250,000 board feet per month of the building industry in Gisborne. “We are slipping back all the time, and there is not much prospect of catching up within a measurable period,” stated a timber merchant today, who expressed concern for the interests of the prospective home-build-ers in the district. He pointed out that the Motu bush in the Mangatu No. 4 block was yielding about 80,000 to 90,000 ft. per month, and the Kotemaori mill was turning out an average of about the same quantity. This left Gisborne about one-third short of the monthly requirements. The demand for building timber has not slackened even as the result of regulations which restrict the use of l-imu timber to flooring and indoor dressing uses, in the process of housebuilding. Use of Pinus Insignis Many farmers are having to secure their timber for ordinary farm purposes by the process of felling trees on their own or on neighbours’ properties and sending them to one or other of the town mills to be sawn. A good deal of pinus insignis is being used in this way by people who may doubt its lasting capacity where it is exposed to the weather, but who have no access to alternative timber. Pinus insignis is being used in portions of the State housing programme in Gisborne, for house frames and other purposes. Most of this timber, if not all, is being railed from the Rotorua mills of the State Forest Service, where it is kiln-dried before dispatch. Private building contractors are not yet using the pine, but houses under construction by the rehabilitation trainees’ classes are absorbing the Rotorua consignments. South Island Timber Another merchant stated that the actual volume of imported timber from the North Island is not available to the industry, because much of it is handled by the state housing organisation without going through the privately-con-trolled yards. He considered it possible that the North Island contribution to tne district quota was being met in this way, at least in some months; but he had no means of assessing what volume was handled by the State. Shipping-tonnage shortage accounts almost entirely lor the lacn of timber supplies from the South island. An official of the South Island timbermillers' organisation was in Gisborne during Easter, and indicated that there was plenty of timber available cutting and shipping on the West Coast, if ships could be found to handle it. He had no doubt that a full shipload could be arranged for Gisborne merchants if a bottom could he provided; but that appeared to be out of the question. The district mills’ timber to-day is described by merchants as highly satisfactory, taking grade and quality into account. Some good bush at both Motu and Kotemaori is furnishing excellent logs and the sawn timber is right up to standard. Grading is done on a much keener basis, however, in these days and the buyer who asks for a particular grade is unlikely to find a good proportion which might be superior to the general run of the grade. In earlier years deliveries from the mills often included a bonus in the way of timber suitable for special purposes, which could be selected from the bulk lines.