Butter Box Supplies

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19042, 16 June 1936, Page 10

Butter Box Supplies

THE opinion that there is no im- * mediate cause for alarm that New Zealand-grown supplies pi' white pine for butter-box making are running short is expressed in the report t,o be presented at the annual conference of the National Dairy Association at Hastings on June 17. "At the. last conference some fears were expressed that the continued export of white nine would deplete the available supply of this timber to such an extent; that the future source of the industry's butter-box requirement;, might be seriously endangered," the report continues. "The executive has made an investigation into the position and from the information gained is .of the opinion that there is no present, cause for alarm and that there would be no reasonable justification at this juncture in approaching the Government to depart from the' present policy with regard to export. Enough for 30 Years.

"Dealing in round fibres, the •existing supply of white pine in tiie whole .of New Zealand is in the vicinity of 1,400,000,000 superficial feet, approximately 300,000,000 of which is located in the North Island and the balance mainly on the West Coast of The South Island. | The total annual cut for both export and the domestic market ranges from 45,000,000 to 50,000,000 feet, of which about 20,000,000 feet are exported and the balance absorbed by;, the heeds of domestic market. Apart from some fluctuations due to economic conditions, the annual output is more or less stable at the figures mentioned and at this rate .of consumption there should be supplies available for every purpose for at least the next 30 years. "At the present time, owing to lack of access, a substantial portion of the timber in both the North and South Island, could not be milled at an economic price, but with the cutting out of tln> more conveniently situated stands it is inevitable that a*gradual hardening in price must take place, which in turn will make it possible to work the more remote localities.

"The possibility arises that whitqpine containers may eventually become ton costly to use, in which event a suitable substitute will have to be found. Experimental shipments of butter wrapped in metal foils sheathed in parchment paper have already given highly satisfactory results, and there is no reason to doubt that the advances of scientific investigation will make suitable- substitutes avail able by the time white pine becomes uneconomic or unobtainable."