OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 223, 26 January 1911, Page 3

OUR STAPLE INDUSTRIES.

RURAL NEW ZEALAND UNDER REVIEW

1 • No. U. (By K. J. EA.MES). [All Eights Reserved.] AUCKLAND: A PROVINCE OF PROMISE. THE TIMBER INDUSTRY. In an earlier article the writer selected the timber industry as one of the subjects whioh must be excluded from the present scope of enquiry. But since the paragraph relating to this subject was written it has been his good fortune to see something of the work of the bush, and upon repcrusmg the paragraph referred to it would appear that a great industry, albeit the explanation that was given, was treated rather eavilierly. Unfortunately anything like an analysis j of tile capital engaged— -a, good deal of it, I believe, precariously engaged—or of theJ animal output from the various mills, is unascertaiuable. The export, of course, is quite inconsiderable when compared with the enormous quantity used every year in the rapidly-growing villages and townships spread throughout this important province. Along the Main Trunk line the timber industry flourishes, as the heavily-laden trains abundantly testify. "If it hadn't been for the timber," said one wise man of the wood, "there would have been no Main Trunk." There are great forests still untouched in the centre of the North Island, but the fact remains that the consumption is exceeding timber growth at an ever-increasing ratio. Which leaves us where we w-ere, so far as the ultimate fate of the timber industry is concerned. The secured rights of the. millers vary considerably. Heard a fellow-passenger remark the other day that the New Zealand timber was just about cut out. "Rot!" said a horny-handed interjector. "Ever been to Taupo?" he asked. The reply was in the negative. "Well, I have," he. went on. "Worked there seven years. They (mentioning a certain firm) have enough timber arranged for to keep them going for si::ty years, and after that there is a lot "f Government reserves to come in." Ah! 'those Government reserves. They are causing a good deal of heartburning just now. When they are thrown open there can be little doubt that the milling rights will command big money. Perhaps there is no other above-ground business in which so much capital has to be -sunk before any return is possible. A great part of the money, too, is put into buildings, cuttings, tramways, etc., which have no selling value when the bush is "cut out." One such plant the writer saw cost £30,000 before a stick of timber was cut. Another, with rights ensuring work for "20 years, cost about half that sum. Millers appear to have rather louder complaints against the Government than most other beads of our commercial enterprises, but into the merits of their troubles space will not permit us to enter. Timber is dear; very dear. But it will be dearer yet. Every year the mills are getting into more difficult country in their quest for logs, modern machinery has to be cmployed in reiving them from the bush, ami the cost of production cannot help I but go on growing. There is magic in the transformation of the tree, from the giant standing in the forest to the planed boards in the mill yard.?—an operation which may be completed in a day. But perhaps the most interesting of all the work is the felling of the tree and the hauling of the great logs to the bush skid-way. In felling, the bnshmen knowalmost to a hair the direction in which the tree will lie after it has crashed through its 'smaller neighbors. There U art everywhere. The cross-cuts are put in to get the most possible and the best possible out of the tree; and in such manner the ensuing breaking-down is also done. After a great log, tons in weight, has been securely gripped at the end of a steel cable o, 10, 15 or 20 chains away from the hauler, the devices and manoeuvring of the linesman to get the "stick" through the bush are well worth watching. Small bush offers no obstacle, and acres of it may be torn away by the trunk of the dismembered giant which is obeying the irresistible pull of the steel hawser. By a system of pulleys the least difficult passage is selected for the line of the log's travel, and when, after much engineering, its bulk lies resting on. the skidway, the impression of the buzzing saws and planes Ls lessened, and one realises that the most important end of the milling industry lies in the bush. And about those thousands of axemen who are engaged there and throughout New Zealand. Their perilous occupation requires brain and nerve and muscle. To the credit of these craftsmen of the bush stand many of our comforts and conveniences. IN THE MAKING. After all, if one wants to see New Zealand in the making it is desirable to get off the beaten tracks. The line of railway is less interesting than the roadi ways, and the roadways are much less romantic than the pack-tracks. Amongst other places, a run along the road northI wards from Te Kuiti to Hamilton gives a i vivid impression of a country in the making. Take the stretches of fern which apparently stand for nothingnesslands that are idle and unreproductive. That, in places, is what one sees on one side of the road whilst on the other is a territory redeemed. Twenty, ten, or even .five vcars have made all the difference. Kankness and uselessness have given place to sweetness and productivity. The surface has been but scratched by the hand of man and the Earth has responded bounteously. From south of Otorowhanga to Ohaupo there is a thirty-mile stretch of splendid-looking country, in crops and grass. At the time of the writer's visit in December it comprised as desirable an appearing farm and crazing area as one would wish to possess. more one sees of the extensive and productive province of Auckland the more one realises the great future that it. in common with the whole of New Zealand, has in store.' It is a climate-blest district. Tf its soils have not the native soil constituents of the "province prolific," it's sun-kissed geniality gives splendid compensation. Sheep and "cattle and swine and crops; all do cxcellentlv well in the areas adapted to their particular needs. The imagination glows at the thought of the prosperity of which the settlers have already a good working acquaintance, hut which remains to be realised in its fuller abundance.