BULLOCK AND MOTOR

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1929, Page 9

BULLOCK AND MOTOR

HAULING FALLEN KAURI.

LAST FOREST WORKED OUT.

Millions of feet of timber have been removed from the Parua Bay district since the kauri industry had its beginning in the North, but the sound of the bushman’s axe will be heard no more. The last kauri forest was purchased from Mr. Squires by a well-known contractor, Mr. H. Wrack, and 250,000 feet of timber has been felled. In the old days (states an exchange) Parua Bay was popular with timber workers because of its accessibility to the Whangarei Harbour, but, as the resources fringing the shores became worked out, haulage »f the fallen giants to the water became a problem of more difficulty. The present bush is nearly two miles from the sea, pocketed away among steep gullies, and remote even from a clay pathway. Both modern and ancient methods have been used in combination to solve the problent Horses and bullocks are assisting motors in dragging the timber from the forest fastnesses. The contract for removal has been let to Thorburn Bros., of Parua Bay, who have commenced their work.

The- spectacle the other day, of a twoton motor lorry nosing carefully down a hillside so abrupt as to be quite unploughable, with a huge log chained on the carriage, and a couple of fearless workers busi’ employed keeping the weight as evenly distributed as possible, was one which alternately warmed the observer’s blood and chilled it, for the undertaking was hazardous in the true sense of the word. As the crawling lorry negotiated the last of the thrilling slopes, and reached the comparative safety of the formed track, the watchers breathed a sigh of relief. The journey described is likely to be the most risky undertaken, for it concerned the removal of the most ungainly, and the second largest, log in the bush. The log is 13 feet in circumference and 18 feet 4 inches long, and contains 3277 feet of timber.

When a reporter was taken to the scene he was confronted with a most unusual sight. On a slight rise the lorry was stationary, leaning at a drunken angle towards a steep drop below. The weight of the timber had screwed it into the dangerous position, and the wheels, leaving j track, had become jammed. Strenuous efforts by the driver and his three assistants did not result in moving the huge bulk an inch, and finally six span of bullocks were hooked on in front; so the mosi up-to-date and oldest-fashioned methods of bush haulage were employe.! in conjunction. After a spade had been used to lower the wheels, engine and beef power were turned on together. The engine made most fuss about it, but after a- momentary pause, the log .-.nd lorry began to move, and at the top of the hill the patient cattle were outspanned.