DOMINION'S TIMBER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19135, 2 October 1936, Page 5

DOMINION'S TIMBER

LAST YEAR'S OUTPUT SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE CRITICISM OF INDUSTRY (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. New Zealand's sawn timber production last year, 300,000,000 ft., was :>o,ooo,oooft. iii excess of the. previous year, and twice the total of the record low cut of 1032. The greater part of the increase is in rimu, but the annual report of the State Forest Service states that insignia pine, which was the only timber to maintain constant expansion of output, during the depression, reached a new height of 27,000,000 ft. The rapid expansion of the domestic demand has caused an excessive amount of insufficiently dried timber to be used for building, and the Director of Forestry suggests that the industry, with virtually a prohibitive tariff against well-dried •• imported .timbers, .is.'.uridor. % -heavy .obliga(ion. to offer a'better drying-service to the community. Several increases, in the wholesale prices occurred during the year, the additional mill realisation on rimu being Is per 100 ft., which, the report suggests, enables efficient producer? to obtain a fair return on their investment. Discussing sawmilling methods, the report, is exceedingly critical. "Although the low prices of the depression period provided a strong incentive for cost reductions by improved sawmilling methods, and resulted in a re-design of some plants and the installation of: new machinery, little real progress has been achieved. OUT-OF-DATE MILLS "The relatively high degree of efficiency so apparent in logging operations' is far from paralleled in the milling activities. This has been reflected more particularly in the rebuilding of mills recently destroyed by fire. Not infrequently, new mills arc a copy book pattern of the milling practices of 50 years ago, and in some cases do not include a single modern machine and are in such ill-balanced operation that both fixed and operating costs are excessive. While numerous factors combine to perpetuate the use of such equipment, ranging from capitalisation difficulties to technical operating problems, there is little doubt that considerable room for improvement exists, and under the shelter of a virtually prohibitive tariff and exchange barrier, the industry is under an obligation to reduce costs accordingly." With the, exception of the Rotorua region, State tree planting on a large' scale has ceased throughout the Dominion, due to the fact that the existing areas available for afforestation have been completely planted, except for blanking and miscellaneous planting. The total new area afforested during the year, 12,000 acres, was slightly lower than Last year's figures and the lowest for many years. The area of artificially created State forests in the Dominion now approaches 420,000 acres. Planting on a reduced scale will be continued in the Rotorua region.