THE TIMBER TRADE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2035, 21 March 1907, Page 1

THE TIMBER TRADE.

RESOURCES OF THE DISTRICT.

AA'ith n view to ascertaining wlmt was the present position in.connection with tlio timber trade in the Poverty Ray distict a Times reporter waited on Mr J. AVhinray, wlio lias been agitating in the matter for a very long time. Preparatorily Air AVhinray handed over a leaflet which ho had printed embodying figures supplied by the Government which showed that the 900,000,000 feet of timber on 20,000 acres in the Motu district would at I2s 6d per hundred feet be worth £.'5,025,000. If the timber were brought down by rail tlio railway would make a revenue of £SOO per week for 35 years if 500,000 feet per week wore sent down. These figures only dealt with 20.000 acres, but much more was available. PAST AGITATION.

Mr AVhinray stated that tlio agitation to open thoMotu forest was started twelve or fifteen years ago, when tlio Government was importuned to send an expert to report on the forest. The Government would not bo moved, however, and at last a number of interested residents got' a report from an outside expert at their own cost. This report was brought under the notice of the Government, and a year later an expert was sent up who spent three months in the district. A strong protest was also made against the Government selling some of the land some years ago. There was timber on the land worth millions of pounds and it was being burnt off and lost for ever. ' For years ho bad battled on the cp.iestioh in the Borough Council, but ho had always been told that it was not business of the Council. Despite that he had kept hammering at the subject, bolding that as representatives of the people the Council should make themselves heard on tlio matter. POSSIBILITIES Or THE FOREST

There'wore, said Mr AA’hinray, thousands of acres available besides the area mentioned in his leaflet, but the timber on the land was being ruthlessly destroyed every year. AA’itliout exaggeration, also, the timber was worth 25s per hundred feet. The forest was distant about 50 miles from Gisborne and there were no engineering difficulties to be encountered in building the railway. The timber in the forest was chiefly rimu and would neither rot nor burn. Mr AVhinray spent some time in the district a few years, ago in company with a photographer and showed the reporter photographs of land which had been burnt fifteen years ago, and which was nearly as encumbered as it would be before burning. The only thing to be done was to saw the timber out. After considerable trouble part of the forest had been set apart for a scenic reserve. In this reserve were the Motu Falls, which could easily supply enough energy to run the required railways. The timber was chiefly rimu, there was some matai, and a little white pine. AA’lien he had talked of the subject in previous years people had asked Mr AA’hinray if he wished to interfere with settlement. He held that sawmilling should precede settlement. Land that had been burnt out would certainly carry sheep and cattle, but would carry much more if the heavy timber were sawn off it, In some parts of Poverty Bay the timber rotted off in about 12 years, but in this locality the timber seemed to be everlasting. It had been suggested that the Government should put a wooden tramway through to the forest to enable sleepers to bo procured—at present sleepors were brought all the way from Greymouth. If the forest were opened up employment would bo provided for a large number of men, a very valuable asset would be utilised and the land would be mado more suitable for settlement. A Motu settler who recently interviewed the Govrnment on the matter found that they were now more favorable to the suggestion that a light line should be put through. THE PASSING QF THE ICAERt. Mr AVhinray said he had read the article entitled “The Life of the Kauri,” published in the Times of March 14th, and thoroughly recognised the important bearing it had on the timber industry of this district. As kauri became more scarce the timber in this district would haye to be fallen back on; but it was being destroyed year by year at a fearful rate. The timber in the Motu forest was of a superior kind. The district would be revolutionised if the timber industry was opened up. The charges were high for importing timber, and the timber-ships were charging the configuration of the place by taking away sand-ballast on return trips, which trips had to be paid for by the consumers of timber. The Motu timber could, Mr AVhinray thought, be landed in Gisborne at about 5s per hundred feet less than imported timber. It was too good for ordinary building purposes; but as kauri became scarcer the Motu rimu would take its place. The rimu at present imported from • awke’g Ray was fujlqf sap and knots, but at Motu there were abundance of fine trees up to six feet through. An anomaly which had existed for many years was that fencing posts from Hawke’s Bay were carried a hundred miles by rail, another hundred miles by sea, and taken to within a few miles of where there was unlimited suitable timber available. CONCLUSION.

• Tko facts and figures quoted by Mr Whinray prove conclusively that the district has a valuable asset in the Motu forest, and it behoves all those who have the interests of the district at heart to endeavor to have the forest opened up. Perhaps the facts above set out arc not entirely new to a number of residents; but it is well that they should be thus publicly set out to remind readers of things which they may have forgotten in connection with the forest. In the course of his interview Mr Whinray said he had been moving in the matter for a good many years and was beginning to feel very weary of the interminable struggle. It would seem fitting, therefore, that the Chamber of Commerce should set up a small subcommittee to especially look after the interests of the forest. It should not bo necessary to state the advantages that would accrue, to the district if the forest were opened up; and it should only be necessary to remind business men that at present bush the result of many decades of growth, which is practically irreplacable, is being improvidently destroyed, to ensure prompt and effective action being taken in the matter.