OUR LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 58, 19 July 1879, Page 3

OUR LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

In resuming our notice of the various saw-, mills m the; Manawatu .District) we may remark thatithe proprietors, one and all, with whom we conversed represented 'the' remisaipri of the duty on foreign timber as> ablight that; was seriously affecting their in-. ;dußtry, and checking its profitable development, i This blight affects sorne^inore than others, according to..thenatpre,:pf; the bush ihev respaefpirely * possess. In some ' easea white pine— the timber principally affected by Jh^jenjias^Qp pf Wy^W^MlpteS a.

large portion, while ii* others it forms but comparatively small part. In others, agaii the position of the white pine bush with iv spoct to the mill—as at the Makino — sine, the duty has been taken off, interferes witl the economical working of the plant, en tailing m this case an 'additional cost o threepence per hundred feet m the cutting . Before the duty was remitted, many of th< mills had carte blanche for as much whit<. pine as they could supply, for the Southermarkets, and with such extensive orders > paid them to sell at a minimum of profit and unless the duty be re-imposed, a larg< quantity of magnificent bush will have t- - be burned off, instead of being" turned tprofitable account. In our notices, bo fa" we have only visited the mills m actiw operation along the .line. There are other? at the present time m course of erection and others again some distance away, but before we have finished with the subject we hope to be able to notice each. We haye already given a description of those between Palmerston and Feilding, and we now go on a step further, and givo detaih of those between *"Feilding and Halcomb* j THE MAKIN 0 MILL. About two miles • along the railway line from Feilding we come to the Makino mill, erected by Messrs. Malcolm, Russell, & Co. at the^latter end of last year. The. shed, is 80 x 100, and m addition to a travelling Hitching bench, is furnished with two breast ripping benches. The steam power is furnished by three portable engines (imported) with combined action of 32 horse power. In addition to the travelling benches m the shed, the engines drive a planiDg and matching machine m another, capable of turning out 7000 feet of tongued and grooved boards per day. The out-put from ' the mill, when m ..'full work, is about 40,000 ■; feet per week. ""The bush consists of 3500 acres of mixed timber— totara, rimu, white pine, and matai, m fair proportions — partly leasehold and pavtly freehold. 'Where now working the bush is principally white p'ne, and this— owing to the remission of the duty— is an unmarketable commodity. The consequence is that the cost of cutting tbe other timber is increased by threepence per hundred feet. In connection with the mill work 24 men are employed, who mostly live m the cottages erected by the Corporation some yeaas ago. For those from a distance six cottages have been erected. The wooden tramways are about a mile m length, and 40 bullocks are employed m bringing m the logs. The coßt of the plant; exclusive of ' the land, has not been less than £6000. The logging and cutting is • let by contract for the whole.