TIMBER FOR THE HOME MARKET.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1194, 18 January 1895, Page 37

TIMBER FOR THE HOME MARKET.

The Government on the 10th accepted the tender of the Kauri Timber Company, of Auckland, for the supply of 100,000 feet of seasoned kauri suitable for street paving blocks, to send to London as an experimental shipment. It is to be despatched by the s.s. Mamari from Auckland towards the end of the present month. Only two offers of seasoned timber were made —one by the Kauri Timber Company and the other by certain sawmillers in the Manawatn, who quoted a price which was regarded as prohibitive. Experts in this Colony consider that black birch could be used with great advantage for street paving, but owing to the wood being of a faulty character very much of it has to be wasted in cutting out planks of the requisite size. If the paving blocks were cut in New Zealand and placed in water for a couple of months, they would harden considerably and last for years. The Department of Industries and Commerce have received from the AgentGeneral reports furnished by Mr James Freyberg (Government timber expert at Home) bearing date respectively 3rd November, 9th November, 16th November and 30th November, accompanied by a budget of press clippings, all bearing on the demand for timber for street-paving and other purposes. In his report of the 3rd November, Mr Freyberg points out that Capetown is now experimenting with wood-paving (a soft wood being used); that everywhere soft wood is now condemned, and that Russia, which has hitherto done the bulk of the European timber trade, has no hard wood suitable for paving blocks; that the city authorities of Paris have been experimenting for a long time with wood as a substitute for stone paving, and are still endeavouring to find out what kind is best. He also mentions an auction sale at Liverpool, where the entire cargo of kauri, ex Defensor, from Kaipara, was sold at prices ranging from 2s Id to 4s 3d per foot. The first lot, from 6in to 9in thick, with a width of 34in and upwards, brought 4s 3d per foot, but the same wood cut into small planks onl brought an average of 2s 6d per foot. Fine wide plank is evidently very scarce, and timber must be cut to suit the market. An eminent firm of furniture makers offered to manufacture and exhibit in their windows in Regent street, London, a really superb suite of New Zealand rimu, but the broker was unable to obtain the necessary thick plank in consequence of the wood having been wrongly cut in the Colony. Mr Freyberg had also been unable to supply the Danish timberexpert with sufficient of the New Zealand woods cut properly for a trial in Copenhagen, as he suggested. Writing on the Bth November, Mr Freyberg regrets that no effort is being made to bring the extraordinarily fine timber of New Zealand into the English market, and he adds:—“ln fact, our supply is considered somewhat mythical, owing to our apathy in past days.” “ Only yesterday,” he proceeds, “ a piece of silver-pine from our West Coast, was shown to a leading timber firm in London dealing extensively in paving blocks and this wood was pronounced one of the finest in the world for that purpose.” He also says “ the fact ought never to be lost sight of that Europe and America use up the wood produced on 11,400 square miles annually.” The report of 16th November states that the current prices for kauri flitches in the docks were 2s 6d for 12in and Id per inch extra for increased width, i.e., 4s 3d to 4s 6d per cube foot for 31in to 36in. The stock is still very low; only 45,000 cubic feet, one-half of which is a recent re-shipment from Sydney and Melbourne. The expert also points out (1) that the estimated cost of inland transport of Russian timber 800 miles to the White Sea is more than the cost of sending timber from New Zealand to London •; (2) that the hard woods of Australasia are being sold for paving and other purposes faster than they can be supplied j (3) that a cargo of Tasmanian stringy bark was sold immediately after its arrival, and was laid in the streets of London within six weeks, while two more cargoes had just been sold at prices paying 42 per cent, more than the reserve. He also quotes a report by the City Surveyor pf Melbourne upon a trial made in that city that “ kauri timber is an excellent material for woodpaving purposes.” A small experimental section of kauri paving was laid some years ago at Glasgow. This gave so much satisfaction and compared so favourably with the woods alongside of it that recently the City Corporation, unsolicited, ordered a further quantity, which has been laid alongside various othe»* woods for comparison and a final test. The report of the 30th November contains the following facts :—All the Jarrahdale jarrah that can be supplied up till next August (nine months hence) is sold for delivery. Yesterday 1000 loads more were sold for delivery after August, the purchaser being unable to obtain it before. Three cargoes of Tasmanian stringy bark have been sold for delivery, and another contract entered into owing to the fine samples sent. Mr Taylor, of Rotorua, has arranged on his return to the Colony to ship a cargo of rimu to a leading timber broker in London. Mr Freyberg says :—“ It would be a great atep in advance, and give a decided impetus to our timber trade, if a selection of carefully-prepared merchantable samples of our hard woods of one uniform standard size were shown at the Imperial Institute, and at the Agency-General, London, properly marked and priced, with suitable blocks cut off for paving, placed alongside for comparison. I would suggest that all slabs should be cut 6ft 4£in long, 9in wide, and 3in thick. Thus, seven slabs would give 100 ft 4 10-12 in, or, allowing for saw Icerfs, it would be 100 ft; net. This would simplify measuring, help the trade, and give us “ a New Zealand standard,” besides furnishing a ready mode of reckoning, as

42 slabs would be one load, and 70 slabs 1000 ft. It would place the timber paving industry on a very simple basis. Those sizes also could be easily handled. But it is absolutely necessary that all the timber should be carefully selected, and cut much better than the samples now arriving; and it is perfectly impossible for the men here to lay a good road if accuracy is disregarded either here or at the mills in Australasia.” Attention is then drawn to the fact that a timber company at Vancouver had just contracted to supply the South African Mining Company with 100,000,000 ft of timber.

There is still a later memorandum dated Ist December, in which the expert reports that the first consignment of timber from the Kauri Timber Company has been received by the War Office, and has been delivered at the Woolwich Arsenal, where it is being tried for use in the construction of gun-carriages and ammunition boxes. Experimental tests have demonstrated that the tensile strength of the New Zealand kauri is very nearly equal to that of the best English oak, while its weight is little more than half that of oak, and its cost also is only half that of oak. . Last week an oak tree was sold at auction for '<£26, which would have purchased double the quantity of kauri. Strength and lightness combined qre essential for artillery purposes, and kauri is found to afford this valuable combination in a marked degree.

Statements having been circulated that disease germs lurked in the wood blocking of the Sydney streets, the City Corporation has obtained a report of a bacteriologist on the subject. Portions of the blocking 11 years old were examined. Both the material and the moisture found underneath it was placed under a searching analysis, but no pathogenic germs were found, and a special search revealed not the slightest trace of typhoid bacillus.