Sawmilling Section.

Progress, Volume XVI, Issue 7, 1 March 1921, Page 160

Sawmilling Section.

[This Section is published by arrangement with the Dominion Federated Sawmillers* Association (Incorp.) in the interests of the Sawmilling Industry of N.Z.] Acting Editor : ARTHUR SEED.

The latest news from Mr. W. T. Irvine is by letter from him from Sydney, dated March Ist, in which he states that he is hoping to leave for New Zealand by the Manuka on the 17th. Our sawmiller readers will be pleased to learn that Mr. Irvine is now much better, and is anxious to get back to New Zealand and back to harness. He mentions having met Messrs. Bush and Syme in Sydney on their return from London, and these gentlemen were to have left for New Zealand on the 2nd inst.

At a recent meeting of the Council of theT'orestry League it was definitely decided to appoint an organiser for the League and to carry out an active campaign to secure a larger membership and make the league the active ana influential body that the importance of its aims should warrant. Provided the necessary finances can be arranged to cover the cost of salary and expenses, it has been decided to appoint Mr. Will Lawson as organiser, and we have no doubt that Mr. Lawson will do ample justice to the position, as his work in publicity and organisation in other directions is already well known. An appeal is being sent out by the League for a certain number of life members with a 12gumea subscription, or for a sufficient number of people to guarantee, say, £lO or £2O each for twelve months in order to ensure the necessary finance of the organisation campaign, and we would urge our readers to give this matter their active support, for to our mind the need of a very strong Forestry League is imperative to create such a body of public opinion as will ensure the definite carrying out of the Forestiy Tolicy recently laid down by Sir Francis Bell and to assist the aims and objects of Captain Ellis, the Director of Forestry. Without a very strong body of public opinion behind it the Progressive Forestry Policy is quite apt to be put on one side by our politicians; but if it has sufficient public support then the Government should be able to place the Forestry Department and its policy on such a definite basis that it is not likely to be assailed or altered by any future Government. It is essential that forestry should be placed beyond the reach of political influence, and to this end the organisation campaign about to be launched by the Forestry League should do good work, and it should receive the active support of every person with an interest in the future of our country, and especially of sawmillers, the future of whose industry is so dependent upon the successful carrying out of the Forestry Policy in this country.

We were recently called upon by Messrs. B. Bannon and Captain Charles K. Rowles, who are representing Messrs. Spear and Jackson, the prominent Lnglish saw makers, and were pleased to hear from them that their visit to this country is the direct outcome of the general trade awakening of Great Britain. Captain Rowles (of Messrs. Price and Walker, one of the largest sawmilling firms in England) is on a special mission to visit the whole 01 the sawmilling districts in New Zealand and to meet every person possible connected with the industry in order that he should learn at first hand the exact requirements of this country in regard to saws, so that Messrs. Spear and Jackson may be able to produce an article which will give entire satisfaction to the users. We are told that the English manufacturer is now able to produce saws and planer and veneering knives at a cost that will land them in this country at a price very considerably below that now being charged for the American article. Captain Rowles has had experience in the sawmilling industry in Russia, Siberia, India, Siam, Australia and Canada, and is a practical sawmilling expert, having managed the milling interests of his firm in Russia in pre-war days, and he is anxious to place at the disposal of any sawmillers m this country his advice on any matters in which he can be of assistance. We feel sure that our sawmiller readers will be pleased to meet this gentleman, and to know that we have now in this country a representative of a British firm whose mission is to assist in bringing British trade methods quite up-to-date.

The Statement of Forestry Policy laid down by the Commissioner of State Forests, Sir Francis Bell, to the delegates of the Dominion Federated Sawmillers’ Association, which was commented on in our last issue, vvas recently distributed to members of the Forestry League with a circular asking for members’ comment upon the Policy. At the last meeting of the Council of the Forestry League a considerable number of replies were read, and among these were very able letters from the Rev. J. H. Simmonds, of Wesley Training College, Auckland; A. Bathgate, Esq., of Dunedin; and W. Stewart, Esq., Government Surveyor, Kokakoriki, Taumarunui. There is no doubt that the wide publicity given to and the distribution of the Statement of Forestry Policy has stimulated wide interest in these matters, but in all the replies received by the Forestry League there appeared no new ground covered or suggestions made that had not already

been dealt with in the full discussion which took place between the Executive of the Federation and Sir Francis Bell and the officers of the State Forest Service; except perhaps the suggestion put forward by Mr. Bathgate that no attention appears to have been paid in the Policy Statement to the afforestation of the head waters of rivers that are not already clothed with forest. Many such rivers, we understand, are to be found in Canterbury and Otago, and there is no doubt that the afforestation of the sources of these rivers is a matter which should surely warrant attention. The Rev. J. H. Simmonds stressed the necessity of devoting expenditure and attention to the planting of areas close to markets rather than distant areas such as Rotorua, etc., and particularly suggested the wisdom of seeking such places as the Marlborough Sounds for afforestation, for there the land is in large measure unsuitable for farming and is centrally situated, sloping as it does to such excellent waterways for the rafting of logs or towing of timber, the locality certainly stands out as one most eminently suitable for afforestation purposes, particularly so as such large markets are so near at hand. We consider, however, that attention should be paid to idle lands even closer to markets than this, and would point out the poor land along that range of hills running from Eastbourne along the eastern side of the Flutt Valley right to Kaitoke. In this range of hills there is a very considerable area of poor land at present lying waste, and there is no doubt that the Government could acquire this land at a very reasonable figure even were it taken under the Public Works Act, and here, of all places, should afforestation prove a success, for there would be a very ready and close market for all forest products and a return could be looked for at an early stage from the sale of firewood, posts, poles and props that would be available from the first thinnings. Moreover, a steady supply of forest labour could always be counted upon in such a locality as this so close to a main centre.

We have received from the Director of the State Forest Services (Captain L. Macintosh Ellis) a copy of his Report on Forest Conditions in New Zealand, which was laid on the table of the House of Representatives last session and wFich has now been printed. It is undoubtedly a most able and instructive report, and is accompanied with maps of both islands showing the several conservation regions and coloured reference of State forests, provisional State forests, forest reserves, etc., and also has copious diagrams and tables dealing with timber output, export, royalties, licenses, prices, etc., all of which are of great value to those engaged in the timber industry and will be of considerable use for reference purposes. It is too large a matter to deal with in a short paragraph, but as most of our readers will have had copies of Mr. W. J. Butler’s able Digest of the Report, which was printed some months ago, and as the Report itself was widely dealt with by the Press

at the time it was presented, they are probably already fairly conversant with its main features. We would recommend, however, all those who are interested in the timber business to obtain a copy if possible.

In the January issue of The Australian Forestry Journal (which is issued monthly by the Forestry Commissioners of New South Wales) there are many excellent articles which are, of course, mostly of interest to Australians, but its principal article, entitled “The Awakening of New Zealand,” deals with the establishing of our State Forest Service and quotes from the Report above referred to. The article in question closes as follows: “The Forestry Journal hopes to be able to treat of New Zealand plans when they shall have more advanced meantime it is gratifying to note the alertness with which the authorities in the Dominion are proceeding to cover the hiatus that has been long allowed to exist in forestry industry in Australasia. The creation of a Forestry Department in that country has come about not a day too soon; the wonder is that the generally progressive spirit of the people of that line country permitted it to be without such an institution so long.” It would be an excellent thing if our State Forest Service issued a Forestry Journal also, or perhaps the monthly Journal of Agriculture could be enlarged to embrace forestry and become The Journal of Agriculture and Forestry. As it is we notice there is an article in the February issue of the journal by Captain Ellis on “Forestry in New Zealand: The Government Policy and Private Planting,” and there have constantly appeared articles more in relation to forestry than agriculture. An official monthly organ dealing with forestry and timber matters is certainly needed to stimulate public interest in this all-important subject and such important industry. We are pleased to know 7 that the Forestry League is taking this matter up with the Government, and hope a publication will result that will be of interest and assistance to the sawmilling industry in particular, but will also keep public opinion and sentiment up to “concert pitch” in forestry matters.

Professor Ernest H. Wilson has just concluded his visit to and investigations in New Zealand, and in next issue we hope to print some of his published views concern - ng the Dominion, but following is reprint from The Weekly Times, Melbourne, following this gentleman’s visit to Australia:— FOREST WEALTH. “There seems to be a sort of arboricidal mania here,” said Professor Ernest H. Wilson, Assistant Director of the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, when discussing his impressions of Australia, and more particularly of New South Wales. There are tens of thousands of thoughtful Australians in all parts of the Commonwealth who will agree with him. In nearly all the States vast

forests have been and are still being destroyed by the axe and by fire, and at a conservative estimate Australia must be losing millions of pounds annually. In Victoria, however, there have been signs of a new spirit since the constitution of the Forestry Commission. An educational campaign designed to make the public realise the value of our timber assets, and the necessity for protecting them is being carried out by the Commissioners. Machinery has also been devised for the prevention and suppression of fixes, but valuable as this may be, the public will feel more satisfied if assured that a sufficient number of rangers have been appointed to keep it working effectively. Other States have not all appreciated the importance of taking similar measures. Much timber is still being destroyed, and value of existing supplies is realised by very few persons. There is reason to beheve that Professor Wilson is right when he says that many Australians continue to import from America and other countries in ignorance of the fact that their own woods could often be used for precisely the same purposes. It is true that the Australian public is gradually losing its conservatism in this respect. Local hardwoods are now recognised as being among the best in the world, and a number of our more ornamental timbers are used, with excellent effect, in the construction of furniture. Unfortunately the recognition of this has been accompanied by enormously increased prices for our native woods. The fact that Australian timbers can be used in the manufacture of furniture has been of great assistance, however, to those who are endeavouring to protect forest areas from fire and destruction by settlers. As the Victorian Forest Commission pointed out in reply to Professor Wilson, a new era is being ushered in, at all events in Victoria. But the advice which the Professor summed up in the sentence —“For heaven’s sake stop making havoc of your heritage of natural forest” — is sound, and needs reiteration.