MAKING PAPER.

Hokitika Guardian, 5 January 1924, Page 4

MAKING PAPER.

(•ROM MAY ZEALAND TIMBERS. RESELLS OK EXPERIMENTS. The no- tbdnie:, ot utili.-.iii ; New Zealand m i.liu niauufaeiiire cu-sod !: r.ii I tinu n tune, ai.d > i’lim tile past few months experilnellfs ill this eonnectioii have been (arried out by the New Zealand State Forest- Service, tlie investigations being Of a preliminary nature. Two u-sis have been lii.nle. the lirsi m ,v-v|-,ra-tion with the lllqierial Institute of Sci’entiiie and [ndustrial Research. London, to ascertain the suitability of red, black, silver, and mountain beech, kamfdii. tawa, pinii.- laricio. and pious radiata. for the manufueture of jiulp and ]-aper. and the second in co-operation with Roving and Co.. Ltd., of London, to determine tinpulping value ol rimu. white pine, red. black and silver beech, and tawa. Although lacking in technical cb-tail. both tests afforded much valuable information. ft i-: hoped that with the establishment of a Forest Products I.a horn tore the investigation will be completed, and lin'd tlie suitability of tile native woods for pulp and paper mini it fa r.-r ii r<s will be determined with-

in lines o! close accuracy. The material for tlie tests was selected by officers of the State Forest Service. and shipped in the log to London. M'itli the exception of the tawa, which came from the Rotorua Conservation Region, the whole of the' material was obtained from the Westland Conservation Region. A SrCCKSSECL TRIAL. Tlie “sulphate” process was used throughout the investigation. This process eonsits of boiling the chip-pod wood in a solution of caustic soda containing small amounts of sulphate and sulphide of soda. The same conditions of temperature, pressure, and strength of lye were used in all experiments. A trial “cook” was also made of a mixture of rimu and white pine to see whether they could lie treated together. or whether it would he necessary to treat them separately. In this experiment a rather higher pressure and longer cooking time were used with the object of obtaining an easy bleaching quality of pulp. This trial was sitecc csful, the pulp obtained being well and evenly cooked and bleaching with about .17 per cent, ol blenching powder. Til reporting on the results of the experiments. Air A. It. Entriean. engineer in lores!

products to the State- Forest Service, says that with a slightly increased proportion of alkali in the cooking liquor, and a longer time for treatment than was used in this trial, the pulp obtained from an admixture of rimu and white pine would bleach with considerably less chlorine. From this it follows that rimu and while pine are identical from a paper-making point, of view, and that, provided the mois-

t-iii'C* ill tb-’ chips from both sperms is somewhere al>out the same. there would bo no difficulty in cooking them together if so desired. The pulp obtained from ail the woods experimented with is staled to lie easy to ImmTle in washing, etc. The fibre obtained from riinu and white pine is long, strong, and of excellent- quality for making "Kraft paper, or for writing, or fine printing who n bleached. The red, black, and silver beech fibre is short and dark in colour, and although capable of manufacture into paper without admixture.

is really only lit to be used as “fillers when making papers of inferior quality from long-fibred pulps. Tawa fibre is even shorter than the beech fibres and is dark in colour. Samples of pulp and paper made from these woods are now in possession of the Forest’-Service. They are specimens made-on :r laboratory scale, and of -yse -simply to demonstrate the length and qualify o’f fibre v.-hirh may bo - obtained .from, the various woods. - j

ItI.MU AND WHITE. PINE THE BEST. The results of the investigation indicate, says Mr Eiitiieniu that while use may be made of all timbers examined as a soui'eo of wood j)i:!o and paper products, riinu and while pine are the most valunt !e . preset.', paper-inakinp. materials, , peeiniK ior Kraft-’ Cjaehtie f! *■ l b a's may

the iti:it!':'.isii.tcriov | j>:tp>■ rs such as ‘‘wraptK rs, ’ 1 The importance of t!-»- suci-ess'i t;i I Clint tl'eUtUlOl.l lit white l»le- a!»l I rimii lie- in tin l fact that lame tjuan* lities ef waste iroltl both spade-- are availahle in various parts rtf the 'he minion. A trrouj) ot •'>;! wm = ! l s mi 'Westland. for instance, has a total possible waste of lot cords per day lm disposal. Provided the wood can he obtained at a reasonable cost, and cheap transportation assured, there is m, doubt that a pulp and paper mill built, on modern lines io exploitt these timbers, would be a profitable scheme.