STATE FOREST VENTURE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 67, 15 August 1947, Page 5

STATE FOREST VENTURE

MAJOR SCHEME FOR MURUPARA RAIL LINK WITH EDGECUMBE SUM OF £7,000,000 INVOLVED News of Intense interest to the Whakatane district concerning the establishment of an extensive State paper and pulp manufacturing- works in the forest reserves between Murupara and Kaingaroa at an approximate cost of £7,000,000, is announced, and it is expected that Cabinet approval for the necessary expenditure will be sought during the present session of Parliament.

Included in the construction will be the erection of a dam on the Rangitaiki River, for electric power and continuous water supply purposes. One of the main objects of the mill will be to provide newsprint from the heavily-timbered pinus radiata plantations in the area, following successful tests carried out recently in Tasmania when New Zealand pine pulp was converted into newsprint. The site of the proposed mill at Murupara was inspected by members of the Whakatane Chamber of - Commerce when they recently visit- ■ ed that district at the invitation of the Murupara branch. Power Generating Unit There are two main sites where the river fall is adequate, but construction of a dam on one of them would force the flooding of the Maori • village and probably scenic reserves, at Waiohau, a small native village between Murupara and Te Teko. The more favoured spot is nt a point about 15 miles from Murupara, in which distance the river has a fall of about 200 feet. The road to Kopuriki and adjacent farms is about 50 to 70 feet above the bed of the river, and a dam erected in this vicinity would raise the water level without flood risk to surrounding land. Two members of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research are making experimental bores on the Kopu Tiki roadside as the first practical step in the proposed establishment. Samples of the subsoil ars being forwarded to Wellington for analyses. Experimental Bores Sunk So far six bores have been sunk. It has been found generally that at •50 feet there is solid rock, with varying quantities of shingle above. It is estimated that about 30 bores will be put down in close radius, in such a way .as to present a cross-section of the subterranean foundation. The purpose of the analyses is to ascertain whether the ground in that area will hold water. If conditions are favourable then the dam will probably be built near the 15-mile peg. If negative results are obtained, the Waiohau site near the bluffs will probably be the alternative ■dam area.

The actual location of the paper and pulp works cannot be ascertained, but it is believed that it will be fairly close to Murupara. Between Murupara and Kaingaroa is about 300,000 acres of pine forests' which have scarcely been touched. Permanent Supply Assured

Forestry -officers have for _ some time been urging the milling of these thousands of acres of'trees, as there is more than enough timber in the plantation to keep the sawmills busy for many years. So vast is the whole State forest area, which stretches •across the wide Kaingaroa Plains, that unless some use is made of the most fully-matured pines, the trees will age and become lost for industrial purposes, is the view expressed generally. Production In Five Years It is not expected that the Government will start production for another four or five years. When he returned from Tasmania, where he witnessed the trials of New Zealand pulp, Mr V. C. Rapson, inspector-in-charge of the engineering diivsion of the State Forest Service, stated that machinery to carry out the process did not exist in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the township of Murupara is being given an opportunity •to expand. A new, and larger post •office is one of the immediate works -scheduled,- and a complete revaluation of the farming land is to be carried out next year.

ELECTRICITY AND WATER TWO MAIN ESSENTIALS PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED The projected Kaingaroa scheme has caused considerable comment in forestry and manufacturing circles. Comments on the proposed pulp and paper mill at Murupara ..have ..been made by authorities from N.Z. Forest Products Ltd. (Putaruru) and the Whakatane Paper Mills in an interview with a press representative at Rotorua.

“The Government has had advice on the scheme for several years but early this year it was revised by an expert from England,” stated the former. “It was decided to arrange for a quantity of newsprint to be made in Tasmania as an experiment, using New Zealand pinus radiata timber.

“The paper was good basically, and the tests proved that there was no reason why New Zealand should not produce first-grade newsprint.” He believed that the cost of establishing the mill, as suggested by the English expert, would cost at a conservative estimate about £7,000,000. This would depend largely on the amount of constructional work which would have to be done, and the plant required. Rail Link Needed “About 50 miles of railway will have to be built over steep and broken country to link the suggested mill site with the Taneatua main line at Edgecumbe, and will cost over £750,000. It has to be demonstrated that this will pay. Referring to the problem of labour, he stated that this was a question which would take some time to resolve. Numbers of trained mechanicians would be required, and there would also have to*be a plentiful supply of men to do general work.

Many would be married, and the numbers living at the camp would be about 6000. This mill would have to provide amenities to attract workers, and there would have to be many of the shopping and trading facilities of a small town.

“There is no housing, and the Government will need to build up a very substantial township to give homes to the hundreds,” he added. “The manufacture of newsprint will probably be economical in view of the very serious shortage of the world. It will save American dollars and Swedish kroners, for it is from these two countries that most New Zealand newsprint is imported. We will also be using our own raw materials. There are vast quantities of pine in New Zealand. Many forests are ready for immediate utilisation, and milling should be carried on in them before the timber dies.

“Machines are very difficult to obtain, and delivery may not be made for four or five years. This difficulty of getting plant is very intense. Disposal of Refuse “Before pulp is manufactured there must be considerable laboratory work to determine the precise methods. With technical experience and the right type of plant there is no reasonable doubt that New Zealand will make newsprint cheaply enough. “The laboratory tests will define the best way of converting the timber to newsprint. There must be some delay if reasonable prudence is to be exercised.” The Rangitaiki River contained ample water for the project, he continued. It would have to be decided whether the effluent from the mill could be dumped in it, as this may have, serious ejffects in the stream supplying farmers in lower regions.

He instanced the case of a company which, a few years ago, was refused a permit to erect a paper and pulp mill on a stream which flowed into the Waikato Rivei\

Ample Supplies For All

The representative of the other paper manufacturing firm stated that there was ample timber in the region to maintain the supply to the sawmills, as well as to the pulp factory. He estimated that there would be at least two billion super feet of pinus radiata in the region. Electricity and water were two of the main essentials, about three million gallons a day being necessary as a conveying medium to pass the refuse into the river each day. The Tasmanian newsprint from New Zealand had already been used in the production of a newspaper, he added. The Welington “Southern Cross” had printed two editions on the paper, and to the general public there was no marked variation in quality. The newspaper had reported that experiment to be a very successful one.