NEW ZEALAND TIMBER AND TREE PLANTING.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2236, 28 April 1881, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND TIMBER AND TREE PLANTING.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE PRESS. Sib, —Now that the great blaze of patriotism has somewhat became dimmed, and some of the lights are extinguished, please to allow an old settler to say a few words about New Zealand timber and wpode, not in a controversial spirit, but with the hope of inducing those who have the opportunity to plant trees. Thirty years ago one of those pecnliar tables manufactured of New Zealand fancy woods was exhibited in London. What I mean by peculiar is that the table was composed of a variety of woods arranged in a pattern so as to show the grain and colour of each wood. Well, in the thirty years that have followed, bow many shiploads of these woods have been sent to London ? It is stated that the first man who took a log of mahogany to London sold it readily for a considerable sum, and from that period to the present mahogany has never been a drug in the market, but rather a scramble is made for it. Ostensibly the object in exhibiting the New Zealand tables has been to show the exceeding beauty of the woods employed in making them. Probably tables made of European, North American, or South American woods would far exceed the New Zealand ones in variety of colour and quality, and it has always seemed to me to be an attempt to puff the colony by exhibiting specimens of the woods in this peculiar style, without onlightening the world as to their real separate qualities. Every country has its peculiarities, and if wo have not the variety of useful woods that are to be found in Europe and America, we must be content with what we have got. If we look around what do we perceive ? In cabinet-makers' shops we see superior chairs, couches, tables, and other articles made of Australian cedar ; commoner chairs and other things imported from America. Reckoning, at a moderate calculation, six American chairs to each house in New Zealand, and the houses at one hundred thousand, we have six hundred thousand American chairs; and say, most likely, a fourth of that number of Australian cedar chairs, or one hundred and fifty thousand; besides which we have tables, couches, and various other things. Also, we have a great variety of implements of wood imported. Is it not strange, with such a pertinacious exhibition of the superiority of New Zealand woods, that nearly all the large and new shop windows are made of Australian cedar ? By way of test, let ns analyse one of the New Zealand patterned or fancy tables. Well, here is a brown grained wood, called puriri, an excellent wood for posts, but unfit for the cabinet-maker, because you can hardly get a square foot of it without a large worm-hole. Then this wood with red streaks iu it close together—a beautiful tree, but wood of no known use, not even to burn ■ — it is named rewa”ewa ; looks pretty varnished over. Next, say, manuka, a good-looking brownish wood, but from the enormous waste of it and quantity burnt, evidently shunned by carpenter and cabinet maker ; fifty axehandles made of it would not be worth one made of white ash or hickory. Well, then, this good-looking reddish wood, with a nice grain, is pohutnkawa—an excellent wood for making ships’ knees and other purposes. Shipbuilders frequently establish themselves where there is a quantity of it. In a few years it will be nearly extinct. Then rata, a very similar wood to the last mentioned. Probably there is also in the table some mottled kauri ; likewise rimu, a handsomely grained wood of fair quality, but very brittle. We know totara to be excellent for posts j we have none to spare. Other woods, such as taraire, kowhai, and snob like, are hardly worth mentioning, at least for manufacturing purposes. Now, for building purposes, we have at present a good supply of kauri and other pines. It is hardly worth our while to export them, because in a few years’ time, with our present consumption, we should have to import wood at a great cost ; and, besides, we could not compete in the European markets with the enormous forests and cheap labor of Norway. Sir, without professing any extraordinary patriotism, I consider myself a well-wisher to New Zealand. I am not in favor of either protection or bonuses. If any man thinks it will pay him to make sulphuric acid, let him make it 5 but don’t tax the public for his benefit. Wherever there is a good opening for capital it will step in. There is no need to be in a great hurry in getting rid of our timber or in developing our resources. However, what I boldly assert everyone should do, who has the opportunity, is to plant trees. Let every piece of ground that cannot be otherwise utilised be planted with trees. We want wood for general manufacturing pur-

poses. In America, chairs of fair quality, painted by Sam Slick, are sold at 2s each. Plant oaks, for various purposes, especially for the cooper (now the cooper has to use up old imported casks) ; elm, for the wheelwright, ohairmaker and others ; ash, for oars, axe-handles, hay-rakes, and a variety of uses ; walnut (variety of), for cabinetmakers j box, for instruments and engraving ; cherry, a useful wood for cabinetmaker; chesnut, a strong and good wood ; maple, birch, beech (excellent for carpenters’ tools) ; various cedars, and other trees too numerous to mention. Canterbury has, I think, taken the lead in tree-planting, and I hope will continue such a patriotic course to its utmost limit.

Yours, &o.f Old Sbttlbe,