CONTRACT FOR SUPPLYING THE ADMIRALTY WITH TIMBER.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1688, 16 July 1875, Page 2

CONTRACT FOR SUPPLYING THE ADMIRALTY WITH TIMBER.

An absuj d rumour has gained currency in the South to the effect thab Sir Julius Vogel and Mr Thomas Russell have entered into a contract with the Admiralty, on behalf of the New Zealand Government, by which a large portion of the New Zealand kauri forests are to be reserved for the purpose of supplying the British Admiralty with timber for shipbuilding purposes. The true facts of the case, we believe, are these :— During his residence in England, and in his private capacity, Mr. Thomas Russell has pressed upon the attention of the Admiralty the valuable qualities of the kauri pine for shipbuilding, and has succeeded in arranging for its use to a very large extent at the naval dockyards. With this view he has entered into a contract with the Admiralty, on his own behalf, to supply two and a-half million feet of timber per annum, in the form of spars and balk timber. This important contract has been sublet to Mr J. M. Dargaville, who, as is well known, has acquired rights over extensive kauri forests on the Wairoa river, Kaipara, and elsewhere, and has now some large contracts on hand for supplying logs to mills, particularly to the Aratapu sawmill. The Shortland Sawmill Company, in which Mr. Russell is a shareholder, has also xindertaken part of the contract. The arrangement will no doubt tend^o briDg the kauri into still greater repute, and by increasing the demand will tend to accelerate the present very rapid process of denuding the lands of the province of their timber. Even at the present rate of consumption, the time is not far distant when the kauri pine will be a rarity. The tree is one of very slow growth, and no measure, however comprehensive, for the conservation of forests can possibly keep up such a supply as that no w oeiag drawn from this province.