Waste and Destruction in Saw-milling

Forest and Bird, Issue 107, 1 February 1953, Page 5

Waste and Destruction in Saw-milling

THE appalling - waste perpetrated by some sawmillers in New Zealand is vividly shown in these photographs taken by Dr. J. T. Salmon in. the Westhaven and Aorere regions. Taken in conjunction with the grave warning given by the Director of Forestry in his 1952. Annual Report, as mentioned in our Editorial, such callous wastage in. our indigenous forest resources must give all New Zealanders cause for serious concern.

Among the .debris were more ' than one trimmed trunk, which had apparently fallen off a lorry and been left, and branches of

rimu from which good short boards of heart timber 4 to 8 feet long could have been cut; these were just thrown out, only the best part of the tree being taken.

Dr. Salmon was particularly impressed with the contrast between such practices and the way in which tree-felling is carried out in England and the Continent, which he recently visited. There he found that every part of the tree was used, for timber, then firewood or other purposes, the remnants even being collected for kindling or pulping. In

those countries Necessity has long made its impression; in New Zealand, though on the doorstep, it is as yet hardly recognized! Debris such as this, left when the forest is regenerating, makes the forest almost impassable for a long time. It is, too, an extremely dangerous fire hazard, and a breeding ground for all manner of forest insect pests. It was probably through the medium of such brash and sawmill tailings that the two-toothed longhorn borer has developed into a dry-wood borer, attacking houses.