The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. FRIDAY, NOV. 23, 1894.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 126, 23 November 1894, Page 2

The Feilding Star, Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. Published Daily. FRIDAY, NOV. 23, 1894.

THE TIMBER TRADE. «. Thk attentiou of busiuess meu iv tho Australian colonies as well as in New Zealaud, is closely directed at tho preseut time to the possibility which exists for creatiug au export trado iv timber to England and the continent of Europe, ln thiß connection tho Brisbane Courier (Queensland) makes a remark which is equally applicable to New Zealand and especially to this part of it whero so much forest land has been cleared and the timber wasted by burning in order to make room for settlement. Our contemporary says : — " Our forests have their value in the markets of the world — a value so groat when it is looked into that we are certainly inflicting on ourselves a heavy loss by our wholesale destruction of timber. It is true tbat for the immediate object of the settler, and iv the absence of available opportunity for disposal otherwise, his simplest course is to burn off his timber as an encumbrance ; yet no thoughtful man can fail to sco that the waste inflicted on the wealth of the colony by this summary method, which regards neither quantity nor quality, has been incalculable. Timber-getters themselves take only the trees most readily saleable in the Queensland market, and liko the elephants often destroy more than they consume." One prominent purpose to which modern experiment poiuts is that of wood paving, aud the Agent-General of Tasmania induced the Londou vestries to put iuto his bauds a largo order for bluegum blocks, whilo a firm iv Western Australia had secured largo orders from London for wood paving, it having been proved that the wooden roadway is much more serviceable than stone. Great Britain imports aunually ■120.000,000 worth of foreign timber, aud wby should not New Zealand have some share in this trade-? We have totara — fast diminishing however — puriri, and other woods which would, we feel certain, compare favorably with thoso from other parts of the world, for durability. A Melbourne architect has, after a visit to Europe, entered into a ten years contract with firms in Sydney and Brisbane for the export to the Old World of colouial timbers to bo used in tho laying of parquctted floors in important buildings, a practice which is said to be growing in favor on the Continent. The contract jcovers both hard and soft timbers. Our readers are aware that the Agent-General of this colony in London is doing good work, and his efforts to mako a market there for our beautiful woods are being loyally supported by the Ministry so that we may safely look forward to a cessation of tho wasto of valuable forest timber by indiscriminate burning which has been tho custom in the past. For cabinet making, in fact for all lunds of ornamental wood work, the mottled kauri, iotara knot, rimu, rewa rewa, and others stand unsurpassed for beauty of grain and coloring, so we have no fears of their failing to become popular once their remarkable fitness ior the purposes mentioned have been made manifest by experiment to English or Continental tradesmen. We hope that our local saw tuiilers will soon be favored with large orders to help to fill the new markets.