THE TIMBER TRADE OF NEW ZEALAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 129, 2 June 1877, Page 4

THE TIMBER TRADE OF NEW ZEALAND.

(New Zealand Herald.) The following table, which is gathered from official returns, shows the

approximated produce of the sawn timber from the different Provincial districts, of tbe colony for the year ending 31st December last, and also the number of saw-mills: — No. of Approximate Mills. SuperflclalFeet. Auckland " 25 .. 46,000,000 Taranaki 3 ... 1,049,471 Wellington lo ... 7,569 954 Hawke's Bay ... I ... 561,747 Marlborough ... 16 ... 15,465,379 Nelson 20 ... 1,583,fi59 Canterbury ... 30 ... 15,716,733 Westlaud 10 ... 6,824,500 Otago _ -#> Southland 10 ... 8 267,594 Total 125 ..." 103,050,(;37 From Hawke'a Bay the reiu.-us are incomplete; from Nelson the turn out of twenty mills have made no return, Otago no returns have been received at all, while in Southland there is a reduction in the return compared with that for 1875, of 4£ ■' millions of feet. The sawmills in Southland are capable, when in full work, of turning out 90,000 square feet of timber daily. Adding to the 103 millions of square fact the quantities produced in districts and mills for which no return has been furnished and the amount of timber sawn by the old saw-pit system, it will be within the mark if we reckon that the total amount very considerably exceeds 120 millions of superficial feet as the product. Indeed we believe these figures are an under estimate, even for a year which has been properly described as one of depression and low prices in the timber trade. It is impossible by any available process to arrive' at the quantity of timber consumed for fencing purposes and for firewood throughout the colony; but in firewood alone the approximate estimates roughly supplied will show what a large consumption goes on. We have only the returns of three places as examples — Auckland^ is reckoned as consuming 25,000 tons of firewood annually, Taranaki province tons, and tbe province of Otego about 480,000 tous; the price of which by tbe time it reaches the consumer amounts to a considerable figure, not unfrequoatly in some districts of Otago as high as 60s per cord.