STATE FORESTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17232, 11 April 1930, Page 7

STATE FORESTS

PROBLEM OF THINNING , NEW INDUSTRIES POSSIBLE (Per Press Association.) NELSON, this day. Speaking at the State Forest Service Conference upon the question of the utilisation and exploitation of plantation thinnings, Mr. W. T. Morrison, Conservator of Forests at Rotorua, pointed out that the question of the utilisation of plantation thinnings was governed to some extent by a sylvicultural policy. If older established stands were to be thinned, then it was necessary to find not only some method economically utilising those thinnings, which was possibly subordinate to the problem of marketing, since unless ttiey could dispose of the product it was economically unsound to-undertake thinning on a large scale. The main question was the conversion of the raw product to n marketable commodity. There was at present no available source of utilisation for the raw material, and it was, therefore, necessary to look for the best method of conversion and the best form in which to present it for the market. In the older Continental countries there was generally a ready market for all forest products, but in tho Dominion there was comparatively little scope. Probably the principal avenues of exploitation would he found in suitably converting small dimensioned material into either box timber, or possibly'charcoal. Possibly both could bo combined to utilise down to 3in. diameter stems, the smallei being - relegated to the charcoal pit and tho larger to the gang saw. PRIVATE ENTERPRISE. Tho establishment of a Scandinavian gang mill by this service might help in this connection, but it was not certain whether such a mill could be operated at a profit in the initial stages. If however, it even equalled the cost of thinning it would at least have been worth while. Possibly, after a demonstration, a mill could bo leased to a contractor or contractors, which would eliminate tho question of State interfer ence, and enable contractors with a tolerably small capital to provido employment all the year round for a number of men. The state of the timber market at present was not encouraging in this respect, but there would always be a fair demand for box timber manufactured from exotic conifers, against Which indigenous timbers, with the exception of white pine, would not be strongly com. petitive. An auxiliary to box timber sawingi should bo the manufacture of charcoal and by-products incident to this manufacture, for it should be possible to utilise a very large quantity of small dimensioned stems. If unemployment was to be prevalent for a number of years, the foregoing suggestions might be the means of providing independent employment for quite a number of workmen.