CHRISTCHURCH AS SITE FOR NEWSPRINT MILL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 8, 15 October 1948, Page 7

CHRISTCHURCH AS SITE FOR NEWSPRINT MILL

All Facilities Wit kin 25 Miles Usually, when there is talk of the wood pulp industry and paper-making possibilities in New Zealand, the reference is to the Bay of Plenty or the Rotorua district, but an expert with 45 shears of experience in- the printing and paper trades has spoken in favour of a site within a few miles of .Christchurch, writes “Freedom’s” Christchurch correspondent. The expert is Mr- E. E. C. Hyde, whose opinion it is that a site at Chaney’s, six miles from the city, offers possibilities for the establishment of a wood pulp factory which would provide the Dominion’s whole paper requirements without going more than 25 miles away in any direction for timber. Apart from offering outstandingfactilities for obtaining timber, the locality has an unfailing pure water supply, a railhead, cheap building land, cheap building material, lime deposits on the same railway line and a reserve for the disposal of effluents. / Four hundred acres of 14-year-old pinus timber was .all that was necessary to provide 25,000 tons of paper, New Zealand’s annual requirement for newsprint, Mr Hyde said. At Bottle Lake alone there were almost 5000 acres of suitable trees, the Waimakariri catchment area had about 4000 acres, the Selwyn Plantation Board about 17,000 acres, 1000 acres were privately owned and at Eyreton there were 25,000 acres of State forest. Pufe-filtered artesian water which rose in the area was another advantage, very important in paper-mak-ing, Mr Hyde continued, and the availability of lime, which could be obtained from Waikari, was also a big factor. The close proximity of the railway line, supplies of' shingle for building from the Waimakariri, the availability of labour and the fact that high tension power lines passed by the site were all points in favour of Chaney’s as the centre of an important industry.