TIMBER TRADE

Southland Times, Issue 25314, 18 June 1935, Page 8

TIMBER TRADE

EXPORT GRADING SOUTHLAND SILVER BEECH DELEGATION DEPARTS Among the passengers who sailed for Australia by the Monowai from Wellington on Friday were three Southland sawmillers who intend to visit several Commonwealth centres to further the export of New Zealand timber to Australia. The delegation, which is composed of Messrs O. Randle, M. J. Kilkelly, and T. Harrington, will discuss the question of establishing a uniform grading system for New Zealand silver beech sent across / the Tasman. . . One of the primary aims of the members of the delegation is to secure approval by actual users of New Zealand silver beech in Australia of a form of grading and classification that will give them clear definitions and specifications of each of the grades exported (says the Wellington Evening Post). It is considered that such an understanding will act as a protection to both exporters and consumers, as it will give the purchasers definite knowledge which will enable them to purchase according to requirements. Grading Hardwoods. “The matter of grading hardwoods, to which classification silver beech belongs, is a rather complicated one,” the secretary of the Dominion Sawmillers’ Federation (Mr A. Seed) said when interviewed on Saturday. “It is somewhat different from the process of grading and classification adopted for building timbers, for the latter are classified according to strength and other factors peculiar to construction, whereas hardwoods, being used mainly for manufacturing purposes, require to be graded and classified on the basis of the volume of ‘clear cutting’ that each board will provide.” Mr Seed explained that a beam twenty feet long with a knot in the centre would be useless for spanning a ceiling in a building because it would be liable to break at the knot, but for manufacturing purposes the knot could be cut out and the rest of the beam used for broom or brush handles, boot lasts, or similar articles. “After many years of the process of trial and error,” Mr Seed continued, “the hardwood lumber industry of North America has devised and adopted a set of grading rules that can be made applicable to almost all known hardwoods, and already these rules have been recognized and accepted in the timber markets of the United Kingdom as a definite standard applying to upwards of 80 per cent, of the hardwoods imported into England. Forestry Investigation. “Investigations by forestry experts are at present being carried.out in the hardwood districts of Australia with the object of adapting the same grading rules to the trade in Australian timbers; and the object of the present delegation representing New Zealand silver beech millers is to seek to establish the same form of grading rules for our silver beech exported to the Commonwealth. The ultimate aim is to secure uniformity of grading and classification for all Empire hardwoods.” It would be remembered, Mr Seed added, that a delegation visited Great Britain in 1932 to establish silver beech on the Home market. That delegation had met with a fair measure of success which had been reflected in New Zealand’s timber exports. The trade established there was largely due to the adoption of the grading rules he had referred to. SOFT TIMBERS ' VALUE AND EXPORT. EASTERN INQUIRIES: Some time ago inquiries were received in New Zealand as to the possibility of shipping white pine or rimu to Ceylon for making the containers required there by the tea trade. Investigations were made by the Dominion Federated Sawmillers’ Association, and it has been discovered that the New Zealand timbers could not hope to compete with the present sources of supply. The present supply of timber for tea cases is drawn almost exclusively from the Baltic region or Japan, and the cost to the importers is so low that New Zealand millers consider that similar returns for their product would cover royalty and transport only. Another request for New Zealand softwood was received from Shanghai through the representative of the Department of Industries and Commerce there. Although the request was for a sample log only, New Zealand saWmillers were surprised to receive it, as the softwood requirements of Shanghai merchants have always been supplied by the Pacific Coast of North America. The Sawmillers’ Association reports that there is very little prospect of competing at Shanghai with white pine because of its relatively high value on both the New Zealand and Australian markets for making containers for dairy produce. The association believes that there may be a future outlet in the East for the pinus insignis at present approaching maturity in the Dominion, and consequently the inquiry received is being followed up with a view to securing useful information regarding the demand for such timber at Shanghai and the values ruling there.