THE OLD AND THE NEW

Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1923, Page 3

THE OLD AND THE NEW

timber lugging. The progress made in timber logging in New Zealand sime its primitive beginning- was diseussed by Mr J. B“t----ler, in an address- delivered before the Auckland Rotary Club hist week. Foriy years ago the speaker had his first experience ni logging in the Nett Zealand hii-li. In those days the canthook was in general use, and logs were rolled out of the forest oil two rails of saplings. The axe. saw. and wedges (lien used had not been displace! even to-day. The introduction ~f limber kicks from I’riee’s loutidry a i Thames ’did much for the progress Ol logging, while the use of the ban 1 wheel p-rael icallv marked the end ol the manual si age of logging. Bullocks. and, after them, horses, began lo lie Used for hauling the logs to the mills, until finally came steam, which was humane in that it abolished the use of animals, and was also elfeetive. Mr Butler dwelt on the recent system known as sky-line logging, m which one end of a log was swung clear of the ground by means ol a wire and block stretched between near-by trees. He also spoke of tho wooden horse-drawn trams running on wooden rails, now displaced by locomotives. He gave what lie described as a, hushman's dream of the future of logging. It was veil bin the hounds of possihililv. he thought, that logs might he hoi-tod out of i lie forests by means ot airships, which he would call sky hook-, eliminating much of the toil at present -associated with the industry. He had little doubt that the electric motor would find a valued place in the industry at some future date. Even now the caterpillar traction engine was being experimented with in American

\ •■.Midnight express" was the term applied by Mr Butler to the improvised locomotives which were occasionally used by the hu-hmen to haul the jugs from the htlsli to the mill some 19 years ago. They were called ■•midnight expresses" because when they were taken out in the morning it was never known when they would come hack. One of these engines saw 15 years' continuous service, running into the depths of the hush each morning. employed to run the winches at the'scone of tree-felling, and used to haul hack tho logs to the mill at night.