IN OPERATION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21308, 30 March 1939, Page 6

IN OPERATION

Whakatane Paper Mills

Pulping Commenced

By Telegraph —Presc Association ROTORUA, March 29.

The culminating point of many months’ construction of careful planning ■was reached to-day when the turning of a button by Mr G. Hultquist M.P., set in motion the machinery at the pulping mill of Whakatane Paper Mills, Ltd. The plant is one of the mast extensive and up-to-date in the Southern Hemisphere, and when in full operation will employ 130 men with a wage bill of more than £BOO a week. The mill is designed mainly to produce carboard products. The main production unit is more than 100 yards long and is of Swedish manufacture, while the steam driven power plant generates sufficient pow’er to supply the needs of the whole of the Bay of Plenty. It drives two giant dynamos of British manufacture and these will supply the whole of the power for the undertaking. The plant has been installed by Swedish and British experts, and a number of most highly specialised processes are being directed by Canadian operatives skilled in this class of work. The raw material consists of waste paper, of which very large supplies are being obtained, and plnus insignis timber which is being secured from the extensive plantations owned by the company on Matakana Island in Tauranga harbour. These trees are 12 years old and it is estimated that the plantations on Matakana will supply the mill for a period of five years, at the end of which time further plantations owned by the company at Matahina will be ready for cutting.

In performing the official opening ceremony, Mr Hultquist paid a tribute to the courage and enterprise of the company and particularly its managing director, Mr H. Horrocks, in promoting so extensive an undertaking. Tire company would be employing New Zealand labour and using New Zealand material for the production of a commodity which was at present being imported into the country. The company was cartying out the Government’s exhortation to expand New Zealand industry, and it looked forward to the day when it would supply not only the whole of the New Zealand market but also a large proportion of the Australian market as well.