TURNING THEM INTO TIMBER

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 241, 13 October 1942, Page 5

TURNING THEM INTO TIMBER

WORK OF N.Z. FORESTRY GROUP CONTRAST IN CONDITIONS.

P.A. Special.

LONDON, Oct. 12.

The New Zealand Forestry Group in England began with one mill in September, 1940, and is now operating 13 mills, ten of which they designed and ereeted themselves. They are all different. types. Some are Dieselpowered, others by steam. Their total average weekly output is 400,000 super. feet, the best v/eek being 486,708. They are rnilling oak, chestnut, spruce beech, larch, pine and elm, and all the wood is handed over to the Ministry of Supply and used for aeroplane iparts, for railways, and the Navy's requirements. The military forces are rnilling 85 per cent. of the wood produced in England to-day. The Australians are turning out slightly less than the New Zealanders. The Canadians are operating 40 mills, chiefiy in Scotland, while Ehglish units are also rnilling. The New Zealand companies are working in three different districts, directed by a headquarters commanded by Lieut.Colonel J. G. Elliott, of Hawera, whose adjutant is Captain C. McManus, of Auckland. The companies are commanded by Majors Courtney Biggs, of the West Coast, G. A. Gamman,\ of Mamaku and D. V. Tomas, of Hawkes Bay. Thus Major Biggs, with four mills in Hampshire and Sussex has a mill 120 miles from headquarters, adding to the problems of administration. The other companies' mills are in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Hereford. Some 500 friendly aliens are attached to the New Zealanders, There is a company of Spaniards, many of whom fought in the civil war and at Narvik. There are also German, Austrian, Czech, Lithuanian, and Rumanian refugees, in addition to Italian prisoners. Girls from thfc Forestry Corps measure the timber. This New Zealand forestry group is confronted with different problems from the ordinary run of timber rnillers' work in the Dominion. For a start it is a military unit and therefore it arranges for the men's food, quarters and medical service There are 120 road vehicles to run and maintain in addition to keeping the mills working and repaired. The members of the forestry unit work under very different conditions from what they were accustomed to in New Zealand. They are mainly felling parkland or "gentlemen's country" compared with the razorbacks of the New Zealand bush. They do not use tramlines, for which reason all timber is hauled from the woods and carted ,by road to the mills often as much as 10 miles, but roading conditions are good and loads vary between 10 and 15 tons are easily lorried. In addition to cutting timber in the woods they are felling hedgerow timber, and for this reason the men are working in many seattered areas. TROUBLE WITH SAWS. Much hedgerow timber has been used for forming fences., as a result, the saws^are often ripped on hidden nails and wire, giving the "saw doctor" a full-time job. Logs are1 also hauled over flinty country, thus gathering up stones which take toll of the saws, but the precautions is taken of hosing down ihe logs before rnilling. The New Zealanders use running water over the saws, a practice they alone adopt in England. This results in complications in winter when the pipes must be emptied over night, to guard against frost bursting them. The Englisli weather results in more lost time than in New Zealand and the mills are often waiting while the machinery thaws out during the winter. Constant ©are must be taken to clear the vards from stacked timber, and attention is paid to camouflage for sawn timber and sawdust are easily discernible from the air. The disposal of sawdust is a problern here as in, New Zealand. It is mostly carted and dumped in pits, sometimes five miles from the mills. The New Zealanders must also clear up the woods as the trees are felled. Instead of being burned the top branches provide pit props, while a proportion are burned foi charcoal which is used in the production of explosives, HISTORIC OAKS. There is more millable timber in Britain than in New Zealand, while royalties are higher. Thus. oak ■ fetches 22/'- per 100 super feet, The latest mill the New Zealanders built was ereeted in five weeks. It; was designed by Captains K. O. Tunnicliffe, of Rotorua, and A. M. Collier and J. O. Gough, of Manunui, and is built alongside a railway sdding. Regarded as a model, it turns out an average of 36,000 super feet a week. Local army groups collect the ,slabs or waste wood for firing. Thus. Major Biggs,' four mills provide the Army with 180 tons of slabs a week, which is valuable in view of the coal shortage. There is no doubt that the New 'Zealand Group is contributing materially to Britain's war effort, although the local people regret seeing the timber cut down. One company is at present felling an oak forest planted at the time of the Battle of Waterloo to> repia, ce oak requirecl for the British fleet at the time of Trafalgar. This forest, although. over a hundred years old, is not really ready for felling and

should stand at least another hundred years, but, in, two months the New Zealanders have cut down an area a mile and a half by 200 yards. It will be eleared and re planted by forestry girls. There is very close friendliness and co-operation between the Group and the Ministry of Supply and the Forestry Commission, which aoquires ihe woods and supervises the disposal of sawn timbor.