DURABILITY OF TOTARA.

Putaruru Press, Volume II, Issue 55, 6 November 1924, Page 4

DURABILITY OF TOTARA.

RESISTANCE TO BORER. The ravages of the borer in New Zealand comprises a problem to which close study is being given by timber experts. However, so far the only sure safeguard against this destructive pest is the use of timber which which it will not attack. Totara is generally considered the borer-proof timber of New Zealand, but a recent report that borer has been found in totara has caused some anxiety as to whether or not it is totally immune. Experts find the report difficult to believe, and it is pointed out that a typical example of the durability of totara has been provided this month by renovation work at the Wanganui Public Library, which reveals that heart of totara put in the building 48 yeai's ago is perfectly sound, without any trace of worm, but some rimu is perished. Commenting on this, Mr. A. G. Bignell, who is a member of a prominent building firm of very longstanding- at Wanganui, Vy rites: “I have verified the statement as to the condition of totara and o.b. rimu in the Wanganui Library building, and this bears out my own experience when recently dismantling an old building- erected of part white pine and totara, the former, owing to the borer, being- Ijttle better than powder, while the totara was quite sound, without any trace of worm or decay.” With the main supplies of totara coming from the Upper Waikato this matter is of considerable import to these parts.