Silver Pine v. Totara.

Southland Times, Issue 13285, 12 August 1895, Page 3

Silver Pine v. Totara.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —The relative qualities of the abovenamed timbers for railway sleeper purposes has given rise to some breezy talk in the House of Representatives, and several letters have appeared in the papers on the subject, and as I have had considerable experience amongst both classes of said sleepers I may<i be able to throw some light on the subject. The most of your readers are acquaintod, with the lasting qualities of totara, but I don’t think a great many of them are acquainted with silver pine. I hold a very high opinion of silver pine, but a still higher one of totara; that is, taking totara for all-round purposes. In the first place, from what I have gleaned as to the growth of silver pine, I find the trees, are. very stunted, therefore, to (get anything like a fair number of sleepers from a tree you must necessarily have a deal of sap wood, and I maintain the sap wood of silver pine is no better than the sap wood of any other kind. Totara, on the other hand, grows to a larger size, and if the rule is observed as to not allowing sap wood to remain on. the sleepers greater benefits could be derived from cutting sleepers, and they could be sawn or hewn at a cheaper rate than silver pine. Last year I adzed about 18,000 silver pine sleepers and I must say the greater portion of them were the worst rubbish I ever handled. The size prescribed for totara sleepers is 8 x 5 inches and 7 feet in length. Now, in cutting silver pine those engaged seemed to be allowed to “go as they please,” for the sleepers were all sizes, ranging from 6 x 5 to 12 by 4 inches and a very large number were not sawn at the ends but just chopped- off with the axe ;• consequently they were all lengths, which will entail unnecessary labour on the department in getting the ends sawn to a uniform length. Another very noticeable fact was that the sleepers forwarded to the working railways were far superior to thoseforwarded to the Public Works Departmen', those sent to the former being well done and had far less sap wood than those sent to the latter department. Those sent to the latter were nearly all hewn and were winding in all directions (which caused me all the more bother) and were full of sap-wood and heart shakes, defects that would not be tolerated in totara. While giving these descriptions and making these observations, I have to add that they are simply statements of facts coming under my own observation, and not allegations against any official or individual, as with all their defects and imperfections the sleepers may have been according, to contract. On that point Ido not presume to speak, but only to say that they were as 1 have stated, and not up to the standard usually applied to totara sleepers. Another thing, the condemned brand as used here was greatly in evidence on the sleepers sent to the Public Works Department and used on the Seaward Bush Railway. I do not know, of course, whether the brand was used as the mark for “ condemned” on the West Cpast, but judging from the quality of the sleepers in which it imprinted, I should say that was what it meant. From my observations I should say there were four or five distinct species of somalled silver pine, each one being of a very durable nature, more especially one very dark kind which I am informed is known as “ old man.” One kind resembled totara having a clean grain, another was like kowai, another like miro, being coarse in the grain, and another kind very much resembled American lyellow pine, being of a soft nature, and the grain ot a very fine texture, and I should say in every way adapted for furniture-making. Silver pine, like totara, is of an oily nature, and will readily ignite with a match when about half green. I can’t say as to how long silver pine would last as s'eepers, but this I know, that heart of totai a has been quite sound at the end of 30 years, and taking that as a guide I should tay that seeing that there is more heart wood in totara than in silver pine the former would be the best for sleeper purposes, and if due observance were paid to the regulations bearing on the subject, totara sleepers could be produced at a much cheaper rate than silver pine.—l am, &c., James Pomeroy. North Invercargill, 9th Aug.