The Value of Totara Timber.

Otago Witness, Issue 1793, 3 April 1886, Page 14

The Value of Totara Timber.

Mr Ferguson, the Wellington Harbour Board engineer, in his report to the Board brings prominently into notice (says the Wellington Times) one important and interesting fact. It is that New Zealand totara has proved better capable of resisting, the attacks of water and the teredo than any of the vaunted Australian and Tasmanian timbers hitherto imported at such heavy expense on the strength of their supposed superiority. Jarrah, red-gum, and ironbark have all been tried in the balance and found wanting, while totara has stood the test with virtually complete success. Mr Ferguson states that whereas the totara piles of the Queen's Wharf were untouched by the teredo, the ironbark and red-gum piles, were •' much riddled by the teredo, in one or two cases to a dangerous extent," also the jarrah sheathing of the Waterloo Quay breastwork "is becoming more and more dilapidated by the ravages of the teredo." The latter is to be patched with totara planking. The signal failure of the jarrah timber, as well as the red gum and ironbark, will surprise many staunch believers in the capability of that wood to resist anything and everything. It is clearly proved now, however, to be notably inferior to totara for subaqueous use. Mr Ferguson remarks that the totar.a piles were softened on the surface where in contact with the water. But this softening does not go on to a dangerous extent, being confined to ths surface and never penetrating far into the heart. The remarkable durableness of totara has long been known to old colonists. There are many posts and piles of that wood which are known to have been 35 or 40 years in the ground or in water which still remain apparently as sound at least as when first put down. Although somewhat brittle and shortgrained when sawn, it is on the whole the most valuable and durable timber of New Zealand, and in this latter respect is superior to any imported wood. Yet little care is taken to preserve our comparatively limited forests of. this fine timber from reckless waste or destruction ; and hardly any attempt is made to keep up the supply for the future by planting young trees. On the contrary, totara saplings are cut down by the hundred for stockyard rails or any other purpose for which round timber is found most suitable, and the fireraisers do not spare totara forest any more than others. It is time, therefore, that more stringent measures were taken to protect what remains of this excellent and once-abun-dant timber. Otherwise, what with needless use, reckless waste, and frequent fires, the totara will in a few years be as great a rarity as a live moa. The Forestry Department might with advantage devote some special attention to the conservation and propagation of the totara.