It was left to modern science to discover that a reservoir of steam confined under the earth can produce a long-lasting supply of electric power, drive machines and heat huge industrial boilers. In New Zealand large scale experiments are still continuing to produce such power at Wairakei; but at Lardarello, in Italy, geothermal steam has been successfully used for the last thirty years for power generation and for the extraction of chemicals. At Lardarello, the steam was easier to harness than it will be at Wairakei or at Kawerau, but nowhere can the sensation have been greater than at Kawerau, because of the very fortunate time of the discovery. In June, 1952, the giant Tasman Pulp and Paper Company had been registered. The all-important question of the site of the mill had not yet quite been decided, although it had been studied off and on for twenty-five years. Ngaruawahia, Mount Maunganui and various other places had been rejected and Murupara, although for various reasons not quite ideal, had been tentatively chosen by the company. The discovery of steam at Kawerau, offering prospects of savings in coal of up to 50,000 tons per year, made it easy to come to a decision. Apart from its steam, Kawerau offers an abundant water-supply—life-blood of a paper-mill—and a flat plain good for industrial building.

A Desert made Fertile Tasman's story began in 1925 on the Kaingaroa plains, a 350,000 acre pumic plateau, in 1925 still a desert sparsely covered with tussock. An English visitor, Mr William Adamson, suggested that if New Zealand only had the courage to plant the whole of these plains with pine trees, it could sustain not only sawmills but a pulp and paper industry big enough to compete in world markets. The idea was taken up by Mr Alex Entrican, then departmental engineer in Forest Products and the then Director of Forestry, Mr L. M. Ellis. Most of the stands totalling 260,000 acres were planted between 1927 and 1931—the period of the slump. At present, the Kaingaroa plains boast a greater concentration of wood growth than there is in any other similar area in the world. There may be other forests as dense, but none so quick-growing. It can produce a constant yearly output of 23 million cubic feet. Planting was followed by a long period of study, during which the Forestry Service found out by tests that the New Zealand pine could make pulp and newsprint as good as is made in Canada or Scandinavia—not quite as white, but making up for this in greater strength. Government experts also worked out an unsurpassed method—later adopted by Tasman—of making the very best use of the trees. In 1951, the government was ready with its plans and preparations and offered the timber output of Kaingaroa for sale to a private company by tender. The only tenderer was the Fletcher organization. In June, 1952, the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company was registered with a capital of £6 million and the right to issue debentures. At this stage, the only shareholders were the government and the Fletcher organization, although others came in later.

The Mill is Built As a mill site, Tasman chose 483 acres of flat land next to the Tarawera river—part of the Putauaki Maori Land Development Scheme. The owners sold this land to Tasman for £50 per acre, over double the government valuation. To satisfy the people, owners were offered Crown land in exchange for what was sold, so that nobody would be left landless against his will. Only one owner actually asked for such an exchange, however. The mill, constructed by Fletcher-Merritt-Raymond, measures 280,000 square foot floor space and has cost over £14 million. It is the fourth largest newsprint mill in the world and its paper machine delivering newsprint at the rate of 2,000 feet per minute, is the fastest in the world. Working round the clock, it will produce 75,000 tons of newsprint per year. Newsprint is however only one side of the story. The Kawerau plant comprises in addition to a sawmill, a groundwood pulp mill and a chemical pulp mill. The sawmill, the biggest in New Zealand, will produce 72 million Kaingaroa Forest today. (r.n.z.a.f. photograph)