FORESTRY UNIT

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 230, 26 June 1944, Page 4

FORESTRY UNIT

Milling Timber In Italy

N.Z.E.F. Official News Service. ITALY, June 23.

Working among rich timber country in the toe of south Italy, members of the New Zealand Forestry Unit are extracting timber from an area greater than a large province of their own country. They are making good progress with the production schedule which aims at exceeding half the amount of timber milled in New Zealand in one year. Men on tin: job are from companies which gained a high reputation during throe years’ hard work in England. They operate one mill and supervise the work of 30 Italian lumber camps. All the timber milled is taken 50 miles by road to a port near the Gulf of Taranto. The New Zealanders on the way from England spent a period in Tunisia, where they milled 75,000 super feet of maritime pine oak in a country where conditions were very difficult. After the invasion of Italy one unit started operations in central Italy behind the Eighth Army, while the other started operating in the south. ‘ Corsican pine is the main timber handled. It is a timber of fine quality, much used in bridging, sleepers, dockyards and truck bodies. All the timber used is paid for at a fair price. The mill is near a long narrow lake and the men supplement their rations with trout caught there.