STATE FORESTS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 97, 10 August 1943, Page 5

STATE FORESTS

AREAS FOR MILLING

MR W. SULLIVAN'S CONTENTION

| In the Rotorua district, there were large areas of State forest which were closed and should be available for further milling, said 1 Mr W. Sullivan, M.P. for Bay of Plenty, when the Estimates were under discussion in the House of Representatives last Week. Mr Sullivan said that .something like three to live mills had closed down, or were about to close down in that area, but the mill owners should lie allowed to operate in the State forest reserves, something which was denied them. A big housing scheme was in view, and timber was required for other purposes, and it. was therefore imperative that mills should operate wherever forests were available. The policy seemed to be to draft tile men from the mills which were closing down to mills which were operating, the result being that the bush was cut out much sooner than would be otherwise be the case. If the men were allowed to operate in State forests as separate organisations, the output would be greater than attempting to increase the output by increasing the shifts. It was 110 use saying there was no machinery in the country, because it was there already, but the men Avere not allowed to operate it. In the Tauranga ar-d Buy of Plenty districts there was a dearth of posts. Creosoting of posts was not carried out extensively at Waipa, and the Minister should, see that there' was an adequate supp'y of posts in those districts. While one. did not know what taxation was being paid by the Rotorua mill, one knew the heavy taxation that was being levied, on private mills. Indeed, the sawmillers had had a tough time for the last, year or two. The owners and the employees had worked hard in an effort to turn out timber to meet requirements., 'with the result that they were cutting out the bush very quickly.