MILLING ACTIVITY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18465, 2 August 1934, Page 12

MILLING ACTIVITY

BUSH SALE AT MOTU MR. F. W. REDDLE’S MILL BOX COMPANY’S EXTENSIONS

A renewal of activity in the bushfelling and milling business in this district is foreshadowed by the recent acquisition, by the Gisborne Box Company, of the exceptionally fine stand of timber on Mr F. W. Peddle’s property at Motu. This timber has been reserved by Mr Peddle for over 30 years, in ant icipa lion of a time when other milling propositions in the district were wcli on the way to being “cut out,” and its sale constitutes an event of outstanding importance in the history of the Motu district. With the timber, Mr Peddle has disposed of his mill machinery, and it is the intention of the Gisborne Box Company to remove this equipment to Gisborne, where it will operate in future. The timber stand is located between Motu and Motuhora, and is easy of access from the main highway, a system of tram-lines having been laid down to tap the further portions of the block. There has been little activity in milling business in the past two or three years, and the resuscitation of the business which the Box Company proposes to undertake will be of considerable importance to the MotuMatawai area, in which the company will be employing a large number of. men.

There are already representatives of the Box Company operating irt the bush further up the Motu Valley, and a fair quantity of timber is being handled in bulk between Motu and Gisborne, but the timber-getting activity which is to be resumed on (Mr Peddle’s property will increase the output of the district enormously.

MAGNIFICENT RESERVE

The prospect of the felling of this particular stand of bush will be noted with regret by many who are familiar with its magnificent appearance. It has been one of the notable scenic assets of the district, and on more than one occasion efforts have been made to secure it as a State forest reserve. Mr Peddle, who was among the pioneers of the Motu district, set this block aside in the early days, is hen the forests of the area were being ruthlessly destroyed in clearing the land for sheepfarming operations, and his foresight lias been the subject of many flattering comments in the intervening years. It was inevitable, however, that the stand should be foiled some day to meet the needs of the growing community, and the close, strong growth, of forest trees should furnish an unusually valuable source of clean-grained timber. It is anticipated that the Box Company will be drawing about 1,000,000 ft. from the stand for the first year, with a prospect of a substantial increase in the footage with the normal growth of business.

The removal of the milling machinery from Mr Peddle’s mill to Gisborne has boon determined upon after a study of the problem of cutting and haulage. The company has experimented with a scheme to break down the logs at various points throughout the country areas from which it is drarving its supplies of white piue timber, and has concluded that it can make the best use of Mr Peddle's milling equipment at the Gisborn s headquarters. TRANSFER OF MACHINERY The logs will be transported to town for breaking-down purposes, and incidentally will give the Railways Department a considerable additional revenue. In this connection, it is expected that additional trains will be run by the department, and the country districts served by the railway will thus benefit by the operations of the company. The breaking-down of the Jogs in Gisborne will enable the firm to use steam power, developing its heat in a Dutch oven by the use of the waste products of the mill. By this means the operation costs will be reduced considerably, and the cost of conveying the timber in bulk to Gisborne will be to some extent offset. The construction of the Dutch oven is now in progress at the Gisborne yards of the Box Company, and the steam installation should be Toady for operation within a few weeks. STEADIER EMPLO YMENT

In the bush taken over by the company, there is a largo proportion of well-grown rimu, as well as of white pine.' The primary need of the company is for white pine for its boxmaking establishment, but the rimu will be taken out as occasion offers, and will be brought to town for milling into standard building sizes. The programme prepared by the company will give employment all the year round to a large number of men, it is expected, whereas under the old conditions, the concentration of its main activities upon box-making caused seasonal reductions in the number of men employed, and there were times when the staff was reduced to skeleton proportions. Witli the rimu supplies to work on, and an extension of the company’s business into the field of general timber merchandising, employment for the yard staff and for the timber-getters in the bush will be much more constant.

The part played by the company in maintaining the local circulation of money in the form of wages, and royalties to owners of hush properties, has been an important one during the past two years. Thousands of pounds which formerly went outside the district for supplies of boxes for various purposed are now retained annually in the area covered by the operations of the company, with general benefit tu tlie community. The purchase ol : the stand on Mr’Peddle’s property tit. Motu ensures an adequate supply of timber for several years, at least, and provides a further Indication of the forward-looking policy of the management.