NATIVE v. FOREIGN TIMBER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4134, 20 June 1874, Page 3

NATIVE v. FOREIGN TIMBER.

[From the Oreymouth Star.'] The Grey Gorge Bridge is the second contract lot in the immediate vicinity of Greymouth that will require the large importation of foreign timber, it being distinctly specified that the wood used in certain parts of the construction shall be iron bark and jarrah. That the Government have acted wisely in deciding that the public works shall be built of the most durable timber known to exist in the Southern Hemisphere, there can bo no possible doubt. But in connection with the great and growing demand for serviceable timber that now exists in New Zealand, the question may he asked are the qualities of the New Zealand woods really known ? We are well aware that the. climate of New Zealand, more especially on the West Coast, is against production of durable timber, the denseness of the forests and the humidity of the climate tending to promote the rapid growth of trees, but acting most detrimentally to the hardness and durability of the wood grown. Another fact militates seriously against our timber for extraordinary works, such as wharves and bridges. This is that our commonest trees arc those that are sustained by water, and that require little or no soil for their support. Such timber is not calculated to compete, as far as durability is concerned, with the alow-growing, well-nourished trees of dry Australia. Still, all these facts taken into consideration, there is great reason to suppose that New Zealand timber lias never yet had a fair trial on our public works. In the first place, the reputation of New Zealand wood has been seriously impaired by the ignorance of the Government inspectors. It requires an expert to discriminate between the various species of either birch or pine. It requires an experienced buslunan to point out the difference between a mero and a black pine pole after the foliage has been removed ; yet the former will be rotten in a fourth of the time required to render the latter carious or unfit for use. Again, with the birches very few Government inspectors could tell the difference between a black birch plank and one cut from red or silver birch ; yet the black is good for thirty years’ wear, the other kinds are useless in ten years. Now, these facts have for years been known to lumberers, and advantage taken of them by unprincipled men, and the consequence is that New Zealand timber is falling into sad disrepute. Whereas if inspectors of works had been chosen for their ability, rather than from the fact of their social position, this deception on the part of bushmen would have been checked long since, and the timber of New Zealand properly classified would have been fairly tried and judged according to its merits. This, however, has not been done, and now we think the timber of the country is being somewhat unfairly condemned.