A POSSIBLE NEW INDUSTRY

Hokitika Guardian, 14 April 1930, Page 3

A POSSIBLE NEW INDUSTRY

RE IN FROM, PIN US TREES

EXPERIMENTS JJI STATE FuKEST SERVICE,

NELSON, April j-

Introducing a discussion at n. State j must leu aiuuiai confer erice on tapping of Linus radmta foi the production of naval s oivs, iiaiigoi o. Diggs, of the Auckland region, gie dieted that; though much had prfcvi ously been written and many c-xper* ments made with regard to the production of oleoresin irom the vario.. urns, a new field had been opened uj in the tapping of Pious radiata foi' the production of naval stores.

“There are no records, as far as cai be discovered, of previous tappings ot Pinus ra liata,” be said, “and this can possibly he explained by the fact th.T (be distribution of this tree in its "ntnrni habitat is limited to a vew small area of hilly ground near the sea, and is there of little commercial importance. It is only the com pa rat* vely recent years that this species has bneome an important timber tree in the countries where it has been introduced.

“In South Africa, Australia and in our own Dominion the timber of tlw Pinus radiata is superior to Pinus pinaster, and, as far as our experiments have gone, has shown itself capable of producing a greater amount of resin with a higher content of tur■’entinn nil. Experiments, which were started in September of last year, have been continued, but a report has not vet been made. “H has been found, however, that the flow of resin has been well main-f-nined, in fact, has increased during the past few weeks. Freshing and collections will bo continued until a derided falling off is noticed. It may bn found that, in the mild climate of North Auckland, as in the case of Pinus morkusii in Sumatra, bleeding can be carried out throughout the veer. 1 ‘f’The weather o ,: the s months at Eiverhead, where the exnerimenhs are being carried out, has been mild and moist, and it is onlv during the last throe weeks that warm moderately dry weather has been experienced. This fact may explain the iunreasnd yield, although the average temperature has not varied more Mom 4 o” .5 dngrnos. “For the Pinus ra/linu,, being exneri mented with an average yield of 611 b. for 31 collections is anticipated, which is practirallv equal to Pinus pinaster, ■o' sl\f.wn in Professor Schlicks’s ‘Manual of Forestry.’ One small tree of 11 inches d.b.b.. with only on*" face tapped, will probably yield 91b of resin for a year, while the best producer is expected to yield over 181 b fnf a similar period. The trees were not selected,- but were a mixture of planted and self-sown chosen for this work on account of their proximity to existing operations at Riverhead. From the above it will be seen that there is every reason to be lof tfu! that the yield in New Zealand will be equal to, if not superior, to ’hat in other parts of the world. Analysis show that resin produced from Pupil radiata yields 22.4 per cent of tur pontine oil and 71.7 per cent of resin, ns against 20.6 per cent t.f turpentine and 68 per cent of resin from Pin us pinaster. The latter species in France also yields about 20 per cent of turpentine from crude resin. It remains- to bq proved that the collection of crude resin and its separation into turpentine oil and resin can be performed economically enough in New Zealand to allow the two latter to compete with the imported produce. New Zealand imported in 1927 £10,299 worth of turpentine and £9,432 worth of turpentine substitutes from the United State of America, and only £2 worth from within the Empire. The United Kingdom value per gallon of turpentine was 4s Id and the substitute Is Id. To-day the value of turpentine is approximately twice that of the substitue.

Groat advantage to New Zealand will noorue ii' we can make our ourselves self-supporting in this matter, and experiments in Auckland will be shaped in' an* endeavour to show that collection can? be performed as economically ns in the United States, as the major portion of the production costs is made no of labour. Tt remains for the service to continue the work and evolve an <-eonomical system of distillation and marketing.

The question of labour costs may however, have an important bearing upon the question from the commercial or primary viewpoint, but. if these objectives can be accomplished, an ideal industry may be established whereby the Maoris of North Auckland can he made self-supporting on their own lands’, no expensive plant being required.