FIGHTING COMPETITION

Te Ao Hou, December 1961, Page 35

FIGHTING COMPETITION Puketapu soon discovered that its greatest difficulty would not be the cutting or carting but the marketing of the timber. Once large stock piles had been established, sawmillers began to object to the log prices and standards of grading were made very stringent. Deliveries of Puketapu logs were curtailed and sales outlets became restricted. The battle had begun. The incorporation's answer was to build a railway siding to rail the logs to selling points outside Taumarunui, but it turned out even that did not solve the problem, for sawmillers in other districts created the same difficulties. It was for this reason that the Puketapu Incorporation entered the field of sawmilling. By running their own mills the owners could sell direct to the public. The fifties were a tricky period for all millers of native timber. Pinus radiata, during this period,

became a strong competitive timber; pre-cutting and pre-fabricating and various forms of timber treatment became widespread. If real profits were to be made out of native timber, the emphasis had to be on all this processing rather than just logging and milling. To meet competition, the Puketapu Incorporation therefore had to invest much money in mill machinery and started two joinery factories, one at Taumarunui and one at Eltham, as well as a mill at Hawera. As a result of these developments, the incorporation did very profitable business. In the fifteen years up to 1960, a gross profit of £736,000 was made. This was a great achievement, especially if one compares it with the government estimate of 1945. Mr Pei Jones says that about 14 ½ million H.D. of other species were cut during this period, which at the government price would have brought £226,000. The difference represents £510,000 gross profits.