A GOVERNMENT SAWMILL.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 2, 2 November 1906, Page 2

A GOVERNMENT SAWMILL.

Visit to Kakahi. Some two years ago, that is in November, 1904, the Public Works' Department started, in a small way, a sawmill at Kakahi, ten miles from' Taumarunui (about mid-way on the section of railway between the lastmentioned township and Oio), the terminus of the working portion of the line. This mill is, with the exception of a small one running for a time on the West Coast of the South Island, the only State-owned sawmill in the colony. The scope of the operations at the mill has been gradually increased, and, under the efficient management of Mr G. Weir, is now proving a valuable asset to the Department owning it. The daily output of the mill in sawn timber, averages 11,000 feet; the chief timbers handled being totara, kahikataea, rimu and matai. From forty to fortyfive hands are kept in regular employment, and it says much for the credit of all concerned, that there has never Tjeen a breakdown, or a stoppage from this reason, since the mill commenced operations. The Roads Department gets its principal supply of timber from the Kakahi mill, which also supplies the sleepers for this end of the Main Trunk Railway Works. Considering that every mile of new railway requires 2600 sleepers, each equalling ' over twenty-three superficial feet of picked timber, this branch alone of mill's work is no light one. The timber for the Hamilton Court House, and also supplies for the Kaipara line and other Government works, has come from this mill. Horse tramways and steam haulers, provide an ample supply of timber from the bushes adjacent, and a northern sawmiller who recently visited Kakahi, was much struck with the fine quality of the totara and rimu timber which was being turned out. The disposal of the sawdust and shavings is often a source of expense and trouble to a mill-owner, and to get over this difficulty, the manager at Kakahi has brought to his aid, the carrying powers of water, a constant stream of which, running in a trough under the mill, quickly carries these away and deposits them at any desired spot, by extending or altering the direction of the trough.