ARMY SAWMILLERS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20913, 13 October 1942, Page 4

ARMY SAWMILLERS

N.Z. UNIT IN BRITAIN TEN NEW PLANTS BUILT FELLING & MILLING WORK (By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) 12 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 12. The New Zealand Forestry Group in England began with one mill in September, 1940,' and is now operating 13 mills, 10 of which they designed and erected themselves. They are all of different types, some with Diesel engines and others with steam engines. Their total average weekly output is 400.000 super feet, the best week being 486.708 super feet. They are milling oak, chestnut, spruce, beech, larch, pine and elm, and all the wood is handed over to the Ministry of Supply to be used for aeroplane parts, and for the railway and navy’s requirements. Military forces are milling 85 per cent of the wood produced in England to-day. The Australians are turning out slightly less than the New Zealanders, the Canadians are operating 40 hulls, chiefly in Scotlancj, while English units also are milling. The New Zealand companies are working in three different districts directed by a headquarters commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel J. G. Eliott, of Hawera, Whose adjutant is Captain C. McManus, Auckland. The companies are commanded by Majors Courtney and Biggs, of the West Coast, Major G. A. Gamman, of Marnaku, and Major D. V. Thomas, of Hawke’s Bay. Thus Major Biggs, with four mills in Hampshire and Sussex, has a mill 120 miles from headquarters, adding to the problems of administration. Other companies have mills in Wiltshire, Gloucester and Hereford. Aliens Attached Some 500 friendly aliens are attached to the New Zealanders. There is a company of Spaniards, many of whom fought in the civil war and at Narvik. There are also German, Austrian, Czech. Lithuanian and Rumanian refugees, in addition to Italian prisoners. Girls from the Forestry Corps measure the timber. This New Zealand forestry group is confronted with different problems from . the ordinary run of timber millers’ work in the Dominion. For a start it is a military unit. Therefore, it arranges for the men’s food, quarters and medical service. There are 120 road vehicles to run and maintain, in addition to keeping the mills working and repaired. Members of the forestry group work under very different conditions from what they were accustomed t'o in New Zealand. They mainly are felling parkland or “gentlemen’s country,” compared with the razorbacks in the New Zealand bush. They do not use tramlines, for which Reason all the timber is hauled from the woods and carted by road to the ’mills, often as much as 10 miles, but the roading conditions are good and the loads, varying between 10 and 15 tons, are easily transported by lorry. In addition to cutting the timber in the woods, they are felling hedgerow timber and, for this reason, the men are .working in many scattered areas. Much hedgerow timber has been used for forming fences. As a result the saw often ripped on hidden nails and wire, giving the saw doctor a full-time job. Logs are also hauled over flinty country, thus gathering up stones and taking a toll of the saws, but the precaution is taken of hosing down the logs before milling. The New Zealanders use running water over the saws, a practice they alone adopt in England. This results in complications in winter, when the pipes must be emptied overnight to guard against the frost bursting them. Greater Loss of Time The English weather results in more lost time than in New Zealand. Millmen are often waiting while the machinery thaws out during the winter. Constant care must be taken to clear the yards from stacked timber and attention is paid to camouflage, for sawn timber and sawdust are easily discernible from the air. The disposal of sawdust is a problem here as in New Zealand. It is mostly carted and dumped into pits, Sometimes five miles from the mills. The New Zealanders must also clear up the woods as the trees are felled,’ instead of burning the top branches as in the Dominion. This reduces felling, but helps to provide pit props, while a proportion is burned for charcoal, which is used in the production of explosives. There is more millable timber in Britain than in New Zealand, while the royalties are higher. Thus oak fetches £1 2s pey 100 super feet. The latest mill that the New Zealanders have built was erected in five weeks. It was designed by Captains' TC. O. Tunnicliffe, of Rotorua, and A. M. Collier and J. O. Gough, of Manuimi. It is built alongside a railway siding, and is regarded as a model. It turns out an average of 36,000 super feet weekly. Local army groups collect slab or waste wood for firing. Thus the biggest four mills provide the, armv with 180 tons of slabs weekly, which is valuable in view of the coal shortage. There is no doubt that the New, Zealand group is- contributing materially to Britain’s war effort, although localities regret seeing the timber cut down. Thus one company is at present felling an oak forest planted at the time .of the battle of Waterloo to replace oak required for the British fleet at the time of Trafalgar. This forest, although over 100 years old, is not really ready for felling and should stand at least another 100 years, but in two months the New Zealanders have cut down an area a mile and a half by 200yds. It will be cleared and replanted by forestry girls. There is very close friendliness and co-opera-tion between the group find the Ministry of Supply and also the Forestry Commission, which acquires woods and supervises the disposal of the sawn timber.