P.M. may see old and new mill

Press, 31 January 1986, Page 23

P.M. may see old and new mill

By

BARRY SIMPSON

in Nelson

When the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, comes to Eves Valley, Nelson, to open New Zealand’s most modern sawmill, some of the area’s residents hope he will find time to slip over the hill to see the oldest and only steam sawmill in New Zealand open to the public. After 10 years of searching, begging, accumulating and restoring, the Waimea Steam Museum Society is now working the same type of steam sawmill that was running throughout New Zealand earlier this century and upon which much of the nation’s early economy was based.

Mr Lange is to open the $29 million sawmill of Baigent Forest Industries

on February 11. The old mill, a replica of those of yesteryear, has been assembled from materials and machinery from throughout New Zealand.

The “powerhouse” of the mill is a 12 hp Marshall steam engine made in Gainsborough, England, in 1902 — one of some 36,000 made by the firm before the turn of the century. The engine was bought from Mr Kerry Grainey, a former engineer at the Christchurch Gas Works.

Although the engine was the largest piece of machinery in the mill, the problems acquiring it were by no means as large as those associated with finding a straight, intermediate shaft — a fairly innocuous-looking

piece of steel but so important to the smooth running of the mill. One was finally found in Owaka, near Balclutha. Some of the large flat belts used to drive the saws came from there also, and from many areas throughout New Zealand. Such belting is now obsolete and many miles of it have either been destroyed or dumped. One of the greatest problems faced by the society — the acquisition of hardwood timber of sufficient size and length for the foundation of the overhead intermediate shaft — was solved by Mr Duncan Rutherford, of Leslie Hills Station. The stress on the intermediate shaft calls for total rigidity of the

foundation. Hardwoods, of about 381 mm by 381 mm (15in x 15in), are essential. However, such timber is either expensive or unobtainable.

Knowing of the society’s quest for such timber, Mr Rutherford bought sufficient when the Waiau Bridge was being demolished and had it carted to the mill site entirely free of charge.

The materials were one thing. Getting the expertise to put the mill together was another thing.

Old sawmillers, Mr Calvin Cochrane, a Forest Service reading engineer, and other Forest Service staff provided the advice and skills required. There was no shortage of en-

thusiasm. The mill was completed last year and began cutting timber in November. It is essentially a working mill and is being worked commercially — funds from the sale of timber being poured back into the society’s projects. Mr Ross Higgins, a retired farmer whose life appears to be totally dedicated to the museum, said that other mills were open to the public in Auckland, Christchurch and Shantytown, but all were dieselpowered.

The only other steam mill still running in New Zealand was that of Mr Stan Milne, of Edendale, near Invercargill. It, however, was a commercial outfit and not open to the public.