THE DURABILITY OF NEW ZEALAND TIMBERS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1704, 20 January 1874, Page 3

THE DURABILITY OF NEW ZEALAND TIMBERS.

Referring to the very able paper by the Rev J. O. Halcotnbe read at the Nelson Exhibition, upon the durability of the New Zealand woods, and reprinted in the local patera at the time, the, Wellington Evening Post says: — "Mr Halcombe points out that, owing to the greater care and forethought exercised in Europe, where timber always haß been and still is! largely used for building purposes, the; wooden edifices last as many centuries as those of New Zealand decades, or in some cases, years. Ue rejects the theory that this difference in durability is owing to the superiority of the European timber, maintaining that when properly treated the woods of New Zealand are equal to any in the world, and he attributes the very perishable nature of our wooden buildings, firstly, to wrong treat--ment of tho timber itself; secondly, to defective architectural designs ; and, thirdly, to faults in the constructive details. Under the first head, it is pointed out that the treatment to which our timber commonly is subjected would cause the best English oak to perish in a few years, that any timber if felled when the sap is in active motion is rapidly destroyed by dry rot, that the. only proper time for felling in this country, is, theref ifore, during the months of May and June, the timber even then requiring due aea--4 soning both in bulk for twelve months and also after being sawn up, before use, to acquire that condition which alone can ensure its lasting. Those competent to judge deem our New Zealand totara, 'kauri, and matai (to which list some add several other woods), although not so tough and strong, are quite as durable as English oak and chesnut. But. all timber 'in Europe ia felled during . the depth of winter, when the sap is at rest, whereas here, as Mr Halcombe truly remarks, 'the sawyers prefer it full of sap, as being in that state easier to cut, - and anyone may have seen sawn timber being used in buildingß with the sap oozing out under every blow of the hammer nails. , And then people blame the timber for not lasting. . . . Timber * merchants might do much to remedy this fault, though they are not likely to do it until the paymasters, the owners of buildings, insist on its being done, and are ready to pay proportionately to the increased value of the material' We earnestly commend these considerations .to our local architects and builders. Let us use concrete wherever available, but when we must use timber, let us at least -take air possible precaution to render it as durable as possible."