RAILWAY ENTERPRISE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 139, 9 December 1929, Page 13

RAILWAY ENTERPRISE

KIMS FOB TIMBER

BIG INCREASE IN USEFUL PRODUCT

The Minister of Railways (the Hon. W. B. Taverner) states that the Bailway Department will install kiln-dry-ing timber plant in the North and South Islands, one at Otahuhu and another at Addington, at a cost of about £10,000 each for the treatment of departmental supplies of New Zealand timber. The plant will readily bo capable of extension to treat timber for other departments. Mr. Taverner remarked that as he was also Commissioner of State Forests he was doubly interested in this attempt to widen the range of use for New Zealand timbers. "The Railway Department is convinced that it will benefit by securing better-conditioned, more lasting timberfor its constructional work," lie said, "and by cheaper as well as more effective conditioning kiln-drying will allow indigenous timber to replace a great deal of imported timber, and '. ill render useful, for constructional purposes a considerable amount 'of sap wood and non-heart grades, that would emerge as an inferior product from the old seasoning process of air-drying. GKEATER USE OF TIMBER. "It is well-known that the New Zealand timber industry in its attempts to secure higher utilisation of the tree and, therefore, better economies, has in some case 3 found a difficult problem in the comparatively small per centage of heart. Any conditioning process that will secure higher results from non-heart timber, the profitable disposal of which has been a longstanding trouble with sawmillers, will therefore be of vital help to the industry, and I hope these two kilns will become of national importance, in | that they will provide the construction- ; al shops of the Railway Department j with better timber at less seasoning , cost, make available for them a greater proportion of New Zealand timber, and inspire the timber .'industry and all wood iisers with the idea of higher utilisation and greater economy through the medium of artificial drying. Evidence of the success of kiln-drying abroad is complete. The evidence of its success as applied to New Zealand timbers is not as complete as it might be. I hope that this will no longer be the case when the Railway Department's kiln-drying is in full operation, I wish to emphasise that in this enterprise the Department has the valuable co-operation of the Department of "forestry." HIGHER SERVICE AT LOWER COST. "Kiln-drying," continued Mr. Taverner, "will enable a direct financial economy to bo effected* • Substantial though this saving is, the better service, the longer life and lower maintenance cost that may be expected from vehicles constructed with kilndried timber is far more important. Compared with air-dried timber, economy will be effected in the milling process in the workshops, because with the kiln-dried article there will be less warping and shrinkage. A more regular product will be treated in the workshops and loss due to handling and milling timber that afterwards proves unserviceable 'will be cut out. LESS FOREIGN TIMBER. "As to the using of a higher proportion of New Zealand timber an approximate analysis of the two million feet to Tie used annually at the Otahuhu workshops indicates that without kilns it will include 300,000 feet of imported hardwoods. With kilns that figure will fall to 100,000 feet Without kilns the requirement of scarce and costly kauri will be 500,000 kilns kauri can be reduced to 100,000 feet, and riinu 600,000, but with the 1,000,000 feet. As rimu *is the timber in principal production in New Zealand, and a timber intimately wrapped up with the non-heart problem, these figures are very informative and will, I think, be widely noticed and appreciated. . - __ "Continuing the comparison, the use of kilns will, it is estimated, increase the use of totara from 150,000 feet to 200,000 feet, increase inatai from 100,000 feet to 200,000 feet, increase rata or maire from 100,000 feet to 200,000 feet, and will reduce the quantity of imported timber to a corresponding extent, as kilndrying should make not only for greater utilisation of the non-heart portion of a tree, but also the greater utilisation of the varieties of trees in a na^ tivo forest. Some New Zealand timbers are not suitable for the Railway Department's ■ purposes when air-sea-soned, but become so when kiln-dried. AIR-DRYING AND PESTS. "Comiug to the point, of salvage of non-heart timbers, it has to be borne in mind that tn~e time taken by airseasoning relative to kiln-drying not. only means money, but means also greater risk to such timbers from exposure, because sapwoods are susceptible to the attack of pests while being air-seasoned. It is expected that kiln-di'.ying will altogether overcome that difficulty and will provide a sufficiency of the standard finished product, while reducing timber stocks and storage space required for air-season-, ing, and will be both better and cheaper for the Department, besides assisting an important New Zealand industry." .