PRIMITIVE SAWMILLING

Evening Star, Issue 22459, 2 October 1936, Page 2

PRIMITIVE SAWMILLING

CAUSTIC COMMENT ON PROTECTED INDUSTRY EXCESSIVE OPERATING COSTS [From Oue Paruaucntakt Eepoetzb.] WELLINGTON, October 1. New Zealand’s sawn timber production last year, 300 million feet, was 50 million feet in excess of the previous year, and twice the total of the record low cut of 1932. A greater part of the increase is in riinu, but the annual report of the State Forest Service states that pinus insignis, which was the only to maintain a constant expansion of output during the depression, reached a new height with. 27,000.000 feet.' . The rapid expansion of domestic demand has caused an excessive amount of insufficiently dried" timber to be used for building, and the Director of Forestry suggests that an industry with a virtually protective tariff against well-dried imported timbers is under » heavy obligation to offer a better drying service to the community. Several increases in the wholesale prices occurred during the year, the additional mill realisation on rimu being Is per 100 ft, which (the report suggests) enables efficient producers to obtain a fair return on their investment. Discussing sawmilling methods, the report is exceedingly critical. “ Although the low prices of the depression period provided a strong incentive for cost reductions by improved sawmilling methods, and resulted in # the re-design of some plants and the installation of new machinery, little real progress has been achieved. The relatively high degree of efficiency so apparent in logging operations is far from paralleled in milling activities. This has been reflected more particularly in the rebuilding of mills recently destroyed by fire. Not infrequently the new mills are a copy book pattern of milling practices of 50 years ago. In some cases they do not include a single modern machine, and are in such ill-balanced operation that both fixed and operating costs are excessive. While numerous factors combine to perpetuate the use of such equipment, ranging from capitalisation difficulties to technical operating problems, there is little doubt that considerable room for exists, and under the shelter of a virtually' prohibitive tariff and exchange barrier the industry is under an obligation to * reduce costs accordingly.” With the exception of the Rotorua region, State tree planting on a largo scale has ceased throughout the Dominion, due to the fact that the existing areas available for afforestation have been completely planted except for blanking and miscellaneous planting. The total new area afforested during the year, 12,090 acres, was slightly lower than last year’s figure, and tha lowest for many years. The area of artificially created State forests in tha Dominion now approaches 420,000 acres. Planting on a reduced scale will ba continued in the Rotorua region.