MATAI AND INSIGNIS POSTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 July 1933, Page 3

MATAI AND INSIGNIS POSTS.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—ln this morning’s issue of the Daily News are two items which 1 a few words of mine.might make clear. The first is regarding the lasting qualities of matai as posts. Over 50 years ago, as a “new chum” • bushman, I came in contact with my first matai, which I felled so quickly that I was looking for another and found it quite different, having only about one inch deep of sapwood. Now the first one would have been of no use for posts; the other would last for years. I have proved this since in many cases, having round a section a fence of matai posts which has been up for nearly 30 years. They are still so hard that a staple is difficult to drive in. The second item is the report of Mr. Davies’ address at Hurford about the lasting, qualities of insignis and macrocarpa as posts being influenced owing to the time of the year they are cut down. There may be some truth in this, but there is moi-e in whether the growth is upright or horizontal. The horizontal part of the tree is of course the branches. The resin lodges in them more; hence their lasting power. This I have also proved by practical experience.—l am, etc., GEO. I. MACKIE. •Waitara, July 18.