VISITORS IMPRESSIONS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 51, 23 February 1945, Page 5

VISITORS IMPRESSIONS

WHAKATANE PAPER MILLS

TREMENDOUS POTENTIALITIES Unstinted praise for the manner in which the project of the Whakatane Paper Mills has been launched and developed was given by two prominent Sydney * ( businessmen who were the weekend guests of Mr Gv H. Chairman of Directors. The visitors were Messrs Rolf . Hansen and Harry Smith bath of whom are substantial shareholders in the company and who spent practically the whole of their time inspecting the plant and the thousands of acres of reafforested areas at Matahina. Mr H. Smith, when interyiewed by a Beacon representative, stated that lie had been charmed and surprised by all he had seen. He had no conception of the size of the plant noi had he any idea of the tremendous extent of the plantations. This latter factor was highly important because he with others realised that in the post-war period there would be a world shortage of soft woods, and Australia would depend largely on New Zealand as a source of supply in this direction. Exemplifying the manner in which Australia is. situated Mr Smith said that prior to the war Australia imported two hundred million tons of softwoods of which eighty million came from the Baltic. American and European sources would be closed for many years owing to the. tremendous work of reconstruction needed in the wardevastated areas. New with its propensity for rapid growing of all softwood -timbers would play a vital part in the supply of paper and card for the Australasian commercial centres. The two visitors both stated that they had enjoyed themselves immensely even though their stay had been somewhat limited. The most outstanding feature of New Zealand's scenery was the perpetual green of the countryside and This compared in sharp contrast to the brown dust-covered Australian landscape to which they had bccome used, during the past 18 months'. They considered the growth of the Whakatane Paper Mills project phenomenal in view of the comparatively short period since its initiation and were of the. opinion that shareholders would reap a substantial reward in the years to come from their investments'. The mill itself was a plant which would hold its own with any of a similar type throughout the world. It was efficiently run and their impressions of cleanliness and roominess were features which led them to suppose that no little effort had been spared to ensure adequate disposal of refuse .

Those who had pioneered the establishment of the mill were to be congratulated on their foresight for here was an industry which was ■calculated to be a first-class advertisement for the Dominion. The exported board from Whakatane was finding favour in Australia and India and there was no reason why even further substantial additions could not be built on to the existing plant. New Zealand's capacity for growing softwood timber quicker than any other country in the world was perhaps the greatest, reason why she should figure more prominently in the pulping industry than she had in the past. Pinus could not be. grown in any part of Australia with the same rapid results, though widespread experiments, were now taking place in the Western States. New with her moistened climate her fertile hillsides and her adequacy of sunlight possessed everything which made lor a firstclass development of the softwood industry. Messrs Hansen and Smith left for Rotorua where they will inspect the thermal attractions before going on to Auckland*