THE GIANT KAURI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18495, 4 September 1923, Page 9

THE GIANT KAURI.

PART, IN NAVAL HISTORY.

IN RATTLE" WITH THE; OAK.

TREES OF ENORMOUS ,AGE.

'! Kauri..symbolises': strength. of 'limb and stoutness of heart.'- .Thus - Mr. J. Butler, managing ',' director ■'• of the Kauri Timber 'Company, eulogised the giant kauri . ' trees of . New Auckland Savage Club,, when the gathering took 'TTie form of *'a-" kauri'bush camp." ; ,-'•'; -,";".. :.!'..-'

The kauri industry, said Mr. Butler, | had existed in the Dominion for over 100 years, nln 1815, tho whaler Catherine, took to England some kauri spars. The, matter was then taken Up by the naval authorities andH.M.S. .'Dromedary; was sent from England on August 27, 1819, to Hobart with instructions to proceed to New Zealand, and obtain a load of kauri, spars. About a ; year after leaving England she arrived at the Bay of. Islands. The Dromedary had orders to get spars from 74 to 80 feet long, with a diameter of from 21 to 23 inches. ' ,

At the Bay of Islands, the Dromedary was able to get only a few spars. ■ Later she went to Hokianga and " there ' again was not successful. Back the warship sailed to the Bay of Islands and by that time the ship's carpenter', who-doubtless wanted to get back to England, recom mended that kahikatea 'would be just lis good as kauri. There was a difficulty, in getting these big kauri spars' from., the bush, 4 for each would weigh 3i -tons and contain 2500 feet of timber. After a good deal of trouble the Dromedary managed to 1 get kauri spars. Then she proceeded to Whangaroa, and there sufficient spars were.obtained to load the ship..

'" One Axe, One Spar.'' '• The price paid for* those • -spars; - continued Mr. Butler, was one axe for each j spar, delivered,alongside'.' That was'the first transaction in kauri on .record. There., were , a number .of naval- engage merits taking place about the time those early kauri spars arrived' home in lingland. Some' engagements' took place in the Mediterranean, in connection with the suppression of piracy. Ships were also conveying soldiers to settle matters in Burma i and India, and there was, further, the I battle of Algiers. In many of those old j English warships kauri spars were, no j doubt, used indeed, that must have i been the case, seeing that it was not till ' ; 1829 that steam was. first used with <»ny- ! thing like success in ships. Thus the kauri went hand in hand with English I oak —the oak which had been immortalised by poets— the oak which had been called "the wooden walls of England." Hand in hand, oak and kauri, no doubt, went a long way toward making many of those glorious sea traditions of which they were all 50 proud In those early days there was a firm in Hokianga, known as Brown and Binnie, who started to. build ships of kauri. One of those-vessels,,' called' the New' Zealand, was considered to-be a vary ' fast sailer. Two other of those old vessels were the Endeavour and. Province. , Veterans of the: Bush. Occupying the centre of the stage was a section, about seven "feet In diameter, of a kauri tree, felled in the Kauaeraiiga bush. The section is .to be sent to the Imperial Exhibition. ' . ' ! .Referring to this section, Mr. Butler re; marked that it had been-said -the kauri tree was the oldest living thing on earth, but the turtle'ran it'.a.' close second. The log before them had 920 annular rings : in other 'words if went back to the • period when William the Conqueror, .was asserting himself in England. ' There were trees in the bush which were a great many years older, and it was quite reasonable to suppose there were trees in existence which were living when 'Alfred'burnt the cakes. •■:-.'• ■.'..'■ :

Professor Kirk,had made mention of two kauri' trees 22 feet in diameter and 10Q feet hicrh, the contents of which would be 295,784 feet- -If one of those trees had.grown at -the 'same, rate ,as the one from : which the section on the stage was cut, it must have been 311" years old. If. only for their great age, .the kauri commanded reverence and admiration. The section before them came from a tree winch right through was practically all heart."' ' -.■;*.- ' • ' "■--."• '• '■•'