King Country Chronicle. Tuesday, April 10, 1928. ELIMINATION OF WASTE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 2560, 10 April 1928, Page 4

King Country Chronicle. Tuesday, April 10, 1928. ELIMINATION OF WASTE.

A recent speaker at the Rotary Club in Auckland made some interesting remarks in connection with the possibilities existent in this country for the manufacture of woodpulp. In the opinion of exp'erts, the world will be faced with a serious shortage of soft woods suitable for the manufacture of newsprint within the next half-century. At the present time thousands of tons of timber are wasted every year, either by burning off or in the waste products of sawmills. During the year 1926, paper to the value of £1,171,937 was imported into the Dominion, and there seems to be a sad lack of enterprise that this enormous sum should be lost to the country, when the raw material is being wasted in every direction. At the present time the timber industry of the Dominion is in a parlous state, due to heavy importations and the fact that wooden houses are to a large extent being superseded by other and more durable forms of construction. This has been the means of swelling the army of unemployed throughout the Dominion, in addition to a loss of revenue to the country. By the establishment of pulping plants there seems to be a golden opportunity of rejuvenating the timber industry of the Dominion, and placing it on a sound footing. Some four years ago the British Government introduced the Trade Facilities Act, whereby a large sum was to be made available for the development of industries overseas. This sum was to be loaned to the Governments of the Dominions, or properly accredited companies or bodies on specially advantageous terms, provided the machinery to be used was purchased in Britain. If this offer is still available, as we believe it is, there is opportunity' for business men with initiative and energy to establish, an industry which gives great promise. The demand for newsprint in New Zealand is increasing every year, and there can be no question that if produced cheaply enough, there will be no difficulty in disposing of thousands of tons every year. Experiments carried out in various parts of the Dominion have conclusively proved that there are many native timbers which make wood-pulp equal to anything from other countries. New Zealand has several distinct advantages for the development of this important industry. Our softwood trees grow much more rapidly than in other countries. If the pulping industry is to be permanently established, it means that re-afforestation will have to be undertaken on a very much larger scale than at present, and. the fact that the trees grow quickly will make planting a sound commercial proposition, and will provide work for hundreds of men. It would also prevent unoccupied lands becoming a menace to farming through the spread of noxious weeds and rabbits. There are tens of thousands of acres of land in the Dominion, unsuitable for farming, that could be. made valuable for tree-planting. Another great advantage the Dominion possesses for this industry is our hydro-electric power. Nature has been very bountiful to this country in the facilities offering for cheap power, and there are many latent sources of supply yet untapped.

The bulk of the world's wood-pulp supplies comes from Canada and Sweden, but New Zealand has equal, if not' superior, facilities for manufacturing this world-wide necessity. With the growing demand to open up fresh avenues of employment for our growing population and the necessity for placing the timber industry on a more solid foundation, the propitious for making a' searching enquiry into the possibilities of the wood-pulping industry. If the Dominion can retain the money now being sent out of the country for newsprint, it will go a long way towards balancing our import and export figures, while it will also help to solve the problem of unemployment.