NEW ZEALAND BEECH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21247, 29 July 1932, Page 11

NEW ZEALAND BEECH

TIMBER FOR MOTOR-CARS! BRITAIN'S REQUIREMENTS EFFORTS TO SECURE ORDER The prospect of a highly remunerative and unexpected development of the beech milling industry of the Dominion which was foreshadowed by the report of the Empire Forestry Commission which visited New Zealand in 1930, and received welcome corroboration as a result of keen inquiries for a supply of this valuable .. timber running into millions of feet, has now developed into something very much more than mere hopes. At the present time the milling industry in tho Dominion is concentrating on the capture of" tho whole order for 9,000,000 ft. which the motor-body builders of Great Britain are determined to place somewhere. The subject of beech timber and its value to New Zealand as an export com- ( modity was discussed in Dunedin this week by Mr. J. R. Wilson, managing . director of Messrs. Andrew Sharpe, Limited, and he supplied some interesting details with regard to the arrangements and negotiations that had already been put in train with the purpose of convincing British consumers that New Zealand beech offered them more complete satisfaction than could be secured in any other country. When the millers of the Dominion first learnt that British users of beech for motor-body building had decided to take at its face value the favourable report upon New Zealand beech submitted by the Empire Forestry Commission two years ago, they determined to demonstrate the superiority of the Dominion article at any cost. A trial shipment of 5000 ft. of the timber was forwarded, notwithstanding the prohibitively stringent specifications laid down by buyers who were 14,000 miles away from vendors with whom they had never previously dealt. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed for the exporters of this experimental lot to learn the exact condition and quality in which the timber arrived in Great Britain after a journey through the tropics. A Further Shipment New Zealand millers are, however, not satisfied with the demonstration thus given to British consumers, and are determined that further evidence of the reliability of Dominion shipments shall be furnished to Home users. With this end in view, therefore, a further shipment of' from 9000 ft. to 10,000 ft. has now been assembled, and during the present week it will be despatched. Unlike its predecessor, however, this consignment will go forward not according to the very unusual specifications laid down by the Home consumers, but in terms of the scarcely less stringent and careful regulations fixed for the control of the international trade in hardwood timbers. It is hoped by thii means to prove to British consumers that timber graded in New Zealand according to international standards will prove as useful and valuable for their use as timber which complies with their, present prohibitive specifications. The shipment will leave New Zealand with the imprimatur of the Government timber experts, who will certify that it complies with all the regulations for the supervision of the trade in hardwood timbers that are in operation throughout the world at the present time. The extent of the investigations that have been made by the Government Forestry Department into the potentialities of ari export industry in beech may be gauged by. the fact that the closest inquiry has been made into the climatic conditions obtaining in the chief centres of consumption. It has been found, curiously enough, that these conditions are practically identical, especially from the point of view of moisture, with those obtaining in Southland and Otago. Sending Delegates Overseas The sawmilling interests of the Dominion, however, are not content with merely sending Home trial shipments, but are prepared to finance the visit of one of their own nominees to the centres of consumption, provided the Government will send its own forestry expert to assist in the handling of the case. Mr. Thomas More, of Riverton, the largest beech operative in the Dominion, has been chosen to represent the sawmillers. It is further intended that an additional shipment of approximately 5000 ft. shall be sent forward in a few week's time to arrive during the stay in Great Britain of the experts sent to the consuming centres. This timber will be dried under normal conditions for from four to six months, and will be exported with the idea of demonstrating to the British manufacturer that it is quite unnecessary to insist on a guaranteed drying period in New Zealand of 12 months. It is felt that one shipment will be sufficient to show that the restrictions with regard to drying are more severe than are necessary. It has been urgently recommended by the sawmilling industry to Hhe Commissioner of Forests, Mr. E. A. Ransom, that the forestry official who 60 expertly handled the export arrangements with Australia in 1930 should be sent to Great Britain in an endeavour to secure for New Zealand a market for beech timber, which will undoubtedly have the result of expanding a primary industry which at the present time is in need of all the encouragement it can get.