FRANCK’S NEED.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 June 1921, Page 3

FRANCK’S NEED.

V TIMBER PROPOSITION

(By A.C.AA’. in Sydney Herald)

During the war the armies required vast amounts of timber. Now that peace has come the devastated areas of northern France are sti’l making heavy demands on the forests -of the country—demands which it Is difficult to meet. This lias resulted in the exploitation of forest lands ljitlierto regarded as valueless, because of their inaccessibility. Stern necessity has now forced these lands to yield up tlieir resources of restore the towns and villages of the battle areas. The writer was privileged to come into close contact for a few days with such an enterprise, in charge of a Belgian officer an engineer who, prior to 1914, bad done good work in New South AA’nlcs and New Caledonia.

The peasants of the Basque country certainly live in France; but they are not truly French, nor are they Spanish although living on the very borders of Spain. They speak a language totally different from either French or Spanish. It would seem that centuries

ago they "had been driven ahead by more powerful races until lliey found a retreat amongst the valleys of the broken country which lies at the foot of the Pyrenees. Much time has neon given to try to trace with any degree of accuracy the origin of this people, but practically without result. Bv pressure of circumstances they arc pastoral J and until comparatively recent years their traffic with the outside world was very small. Conscription, which sent all young men into the army was not without its result. Conscripts are always drafted a considerable distance from their homes, and the enforced acquaintance with the other parts of France made its mark on tjie exclusive, ness of the Basque. But ttieir husbandry is distinctly primitive. A plot of maize serves for a living, with a few mongrel fowls and pigs that ream at large fending chiefly for themselves. Shoe]) are driven high on the nvuntains in summer and brought down to the valleys in winter. Cows do the heavy farm work and consequently milk !•

scarce. The yoke on a pair of such cows is heavy, and is placed immediately behind the horn, exactly where its weight would be most difficult to bear. Tn such valleys there should be an excellent crop of fruit, but nothing is known of grafting so that cherries are like peas, and peaches hardly worth eating* Tt is no uncommon thing on market days for those living in remote spots high up the valley to leave home at I a.m.. and not get hack till midnight, whilst accidents are not infrequent when too long a stay has been made at the cabaret, for the tracks are rough and in parts very narrow and dangerous. The inevitable umbrella accompanies the peasant to market. One is amused to see a string of nudes, eaeli with its rider with open umbrella, though tlie drizzle be. of the lightest. Tn one of these Basque valleys, lying south of Tardets. M. Pariongue. the husband of a ladv well-known in .Sydney, is grappling with the difficult problem of bringing timber from the.

higher slopes of tho mountains across gorges and torrents and along narrow valleys to the sawmill. It is a man’s job, presenting difficulties that only a sklled engineer with good business capacity and organising ability could possibly hope to overcome and at the same time deliter the goods to tho French Government at a cost whili will leave a profit to the company that has sunk eight million francs in tho venture.

I was fortunate enough to spend three days in early April in Tnrdets, and bail the opportunity of going ovei nearly the whole of the ground that 'is being exploited. We started at 7 o'clock in a light drizzle that continued most of the day, climbing y valley that narrowed gradually through which tossed and tumbled a stream fed from the snow fields of the Pi ( . d’Orhy. A light railway has been run along the side of the road, and after seven miles, as the car could no longerU-teyo, we travelled another four on the ■ ligine of the 2ft. gauge timber train f- St. En,grce. The character of the country can he measured somewhat by the fact that when ones* the valley has narrowed it, lifts been necessary to construct a mad for several miles to the village of St. Engraec. Up to now the only means of communicating with this village was along a narrow mule trade although the village has a church dating back to the eleventh century, and atone tilin' had an abhev adjoining it. From St. Engraec two aerial cables stretch away up the mountains, and it is in this way that 30-feet logs are ground down to the beginning of civilisation.

The inhabitants of St Engraec bear an evil reputation even amongst the Basques, and have done their host to hinder the work. Observation posts were shifted overnight, hut not enough to he detected except by new sights. We passed a telephone post that had been cut down the previous night. Every imaginable difficulty has been raised about the acquisition of the necessary land for workings, whilst the peasants decline to sell their farm produce to the timber-getters, preferring to take a lower price in the market at Tavdots. From St Engraec the mountain track is rough to a degree, and .it Hie time of my visit ankle-deep in mud. Mules carried us n mile or more; and let it he said at once, that without these animals the enterprise woukl he impossible. They carried or dragged up all th,. preliminary mat; Hal, machinery, and food over tracks full of boulders, and often at an incline that a horse would never face. At the top, 3500 ft above sea level, is the jumping-off point for the downward swing of the timber, and the camp of th„ wood-cutters. The general character of the men is in keeping with the wildness of the surroundings. One wonders at the women ancT pities the children who must pass their time in such isolation .and with only the barest necessities and decencies of life. The wood-cutters are either Swiss or Spaniards -the latter often tramping right over.the mountains in search of employment. They think nothing of walking 14 or 15 Hours a day. Their food Is the same morning, noon and night - neo irso kind of bean and fat bacon—rough fa rq for rough men, Dur-

ing my visit three Spaniards walked from 5 o’clock in the morning till 7 that night, for‘the greater part of the time over the roughest country; they started at o'the next morning, inspected contract work higher up the mountain and reached Tardets at 7 at night to sign up. The distance covered would be quite gbod for a seasoned walker, but consiering th e nature of the tracks and the mud the feat was one of remarkable endurance.

Oil the succeeding day my host took me to the other forest that is being worke. The weather was now perfect; and the picture of streams with the brightest of green meadow lands giving plac 0 to forest and the forest dwindling until it reached the sunlit slopes of the Pyrenees, is one well worth going a long way to see. Although the second forest is not at so great an altitude as the first, the difficulties of "access are greater. It is situated on a sort of elbow, with mountains on either side. Up to now it had been approachable through La-rrno by a long detour. But now enterprise and skill have cut a steep track along one of the containing walls and flung a suspension bridge where the gorge jvas narrowest. AA’bcn Eliis bridge comes into view tho first sensation is one of

surprise. How could such a work come into such a place? Then, when it is realised that every bag of cement, each foot of sawn timber, and the whole length of cable had to be dragged or carried by mules from the valley below. admiration succeeds for the men who conceived the idea and carried it to a successful conclusion. AA’bcn once the cables arc in full working order ,tho work of getting mnterial and food will bo much simplified, as the return cables can take back considerable

loads, though their weight is strictly limited by the fact that the force operating the cables is only gravitation. Since a breakdown even of a temporary nature is over possible, the mule tracks must always be available. The mountains are reported to be quite devoid of game.

In each of the forests it nas been necessary to lay considerable lengths of two feet gauge rails so that logs can be brought round to the point from which they can be swung down to the valley.

That the timber will be got down is dear. AA’bcthcr the undertaking can be made a commercial success is not yet certain, but if it< is not it will be the fault of the chief brain of the concern.

It is not without interest to learn that the' enterprise bad attracted notice in England, and a. party of thirty students from the Forestry School at Oxford, together with two professors, were due a fortnight after niy visit, to inspect the undertaking.