KANIERI SAWMILUNG COY

Hokitika Guardian, 23 March 1922, Page 2

KANIERI SAWMILUNG COY

BIG TIMBER ENTERPRISE. 1

The Kanieri Sawmilling Company, the head office of which is in- Hokitika, is developing a large timber enterprise in the district, thus evidencing vet again the future tliei-e is for Westland as its great timber asset is used up industrially. The Company has its milling areas off the Kanieri Lake road, teaching to-* wards the Gentle Annie Terrace, where a large belt of timber, mainly red pine, awaits the attention of the miller. The first mill of the Company is situated at Stoney Creek cm the Lake road, and has been in operation How for about a year, ' cutting timber in that vicinity. For the larger enterprise, the Company ' as freed a considerable outlay to tap the timber along Gentle Annie Terrace. The lyanieri river had to he bridged, and a viaduct constructed over its open river bed, which is subject to floods. There arc two large bridges on the route, one of which is about eleven chains in length, and lias cost the Company over £I,OOO. In another instance a heavy cutting had to lie made to secure a workable grade for t’me tramway. This cutting is 15 chains long, and at one point is some 28 feet deep. Hie cost of this section of the work was over £BOO. The Special feature iff this large milling venture is tlAs fact that the mill to operate the areas is to he stationed adjacent to Hokitika. Some freehold land at Kirkstall and adjoining thereto, has been purchased, about eight acres hi ail, and this fine area will be utilised as the main mill site of the Company. A start has bben made with the cifeiirilig itiid draining of the ground, arid the mill plant is now being, assembled. It "ill he a large mill —quite tilo largest ilorth of the Hokitika rivet; ahd will afford employment to a considerable working party of men. The mill will have a capacity of from twelve to fourteen thousand feet per day, and there will be stacking space at the mill for 400,000 to 500,000 feet of timber. The milling timber areas and the new sawmill are to bo linked up by a steam tramway. The tramway is now in course of construction, and is well advanced. It Will extend for a distance of some sOveit miles in all, and will be a useful line for gbnerai transport purposes. Tlifi formation is practically completed. The iiil§ will come down from the bush areas, past the Stoney Creek mill (which it will serve also) then cross Commissioner's Flat, and circ’.o at the back of the township of Kanieri, and. then pick up the old tramway route to Hokitika, hv which it wil reach the Kirkstall mill site. Ultimately the tram line will be continued down Gibson Quay to the proposed extension of the Government railway hive up Gibson’s Quay, where extensive stacking space will he available for

other millers who now are sore put to it for stacking space about the "bar and streets adjacent to the railway station: The! management of the Kanieri Sawiiiilllng Company has agreed to shunt witii thflif engide all other millers’ timber to be sent away by rail, which will be stacked above tie Government line terminus. The terminus of the lino will he in the vicinity of Davis’ hr ."very, so that above that paint to the Kirkstall mill there will lie over half a nii'|i of heavy line to lay to carry the rolling stock of the Railway Department, and which will be shunted alon-r the Company’s line by the Company’s own locomotive. The large venture, it is expected, will be ready and in operation early next year. It will mark an important

development in local milling, counting for an extended permanency of the industry in this immediate neighbourhood. It will he an important feeder to tie Midland railway, which will he operat-

ing next, year .and will afford a large amount of employment in this, vicinity. As already indicated, the chief produce of this Company will be red pi”', and the tram wav "ill tap some excellent bush, which hitherto has been considered beyond opera:ion. By working the busli on a large industrial scale, the economic results should be satisfactory It is interesting to into the route o f the tramway penetrates well towards Lake Kanieri, and suggests that some day it might he possible to reach that famous beauty spot by a light railway If expectations as regards electrical power development come to pass, the time will come no doubt when an oletrie tramway to Lake Kamori u'll be within the lioitntls of possibility. It is also interesting to note that the route of the former Kanieri tramway is to be utilised once again for a similar service, and it is not without interest to remark that Gibson Quay, which in the early days possessed sawmills in operation, and loading stages of timlier along the river bank, will again take on that phase of busy industrial activity. The Kanieri Sawmilling Company is now securing the plant for the new null about to be erected, and no time is to lost with the erection of the plant. .1 be Company is sinking a very large sum in the enterprise, which fact indicates t int the venture will he one of long duration, and a very important support to the town and'district industrially. The undertaking is one which will commend itself to the good wishes of the community, who will appreciate the solid evidence forthcoming as to the support the timber industry is going to be in the future of thei place. Looking to the future, the prospects are greatly brightened by the various large enterprises taking shape hereabouts In the milling industry, and the people should be. concerned in the material welfare 0 f this particular industry, which has grown to be so important a part in the general prosperity of the district. From time to time there are reports of restrictions placed upon the industry, but it is manifest if production is to be the salvation of the country s financial difficulties, great enterprises akin to the present should be fostered bv the authorities in every way, and not needlessly retarded, or saddled unnecessarily with burdensome charges, nor vet unduly hampered by administrative methods which have not in mind the special need to encourage industrial expansion at this critical stage m the Dominion’s fortune.