FROM WASTE TO WEALTH

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 226, 1 March 1928, Page 1

FROM WASTE TO WEALTH

World’s Greatest Tree-Planting Effor

Details of the Survey Organisation

Work of Road-Making Gangs

VI. In last week’s article a detailed description of the land being planted by New Zealand Perpetual Forests, Ltd., was given. These areas, as was stated, were nothing but vast desolate wastes until acquired by this company as the site of the greatest effort in afforestation that the world has ever seen. Having acquired the requisite land for planting, the next step is to have a survey made of it, and to lay out a system of roads and fire-breaks, dividing the area into suitable blocks and compartments. In arranging this subdivision, the layout is made such that so far as possible every individual compartment shall have actual road frontage. On the Maraetal block, for instance, of 43,000 acres, there are 132 compartments, of which only three are without surveyed road frontage. This system has obvious advantages with regard to the transport of men, trees, provisions and stores during the planting season, and with regard to subsequent protection, maintenance and supervision after the planting has been completed. Organisation of Areas. The large blocks are first divided into sections. In 1926 these sections were made of roughly 3000 acres each, and formed the working units. A camp was established on each, and the men from that camp carried all the necessary work of clearing and planting on their own section. They did not of course carry out the survey work, which is done by qualified surveyors; nor do they carry out the road work, for which purpose a special road-making staff is employed.

In 1927 this system was considerably modified, the sections averaging ! some 5000 acres each, and the scope of the men’s activities not being coterminous with the boundaries of the section. These sections are again subdivided into compartments, of which the average size approximate 250-300 acres, and which are separated from each other by roads or fire-breaks. The sections are given numbers, and the compartments are designated by letters, e.g., 9C. Each main block, or, where the main blocks are not of sufficient size, each group of blocks, is in charge of a head foreman, with a foreman in command of each individual camp. Access Essential. A vital point in the conduct of plantation work on a large scale consists in having ready means of access to all portions of the areas, and for that purpose it is necessary to carry out a considerable amount of road construction. As the heaviest traffic on these roads is during wint-jifcer,-which is the season when the actual planting work is in progress, the roads must be capable of carrying motor transport throughout the winter months, and their gradients and surface must be such as to comply with these requirements. In 1925 the road work was done by contract, but this did not prove satisfactory, so that the company installed its own road-making plant, and now carries out all its own roadwork.

Where necessary navvy gangs and horse teams are employed to break through rough country, but the bulk of the work is carried out by modern mechanical appliances, a considerable number of tractors, of both wheeled . and caterpillar type, together with scops, graders, ploughs and so on, -4 employed for the purpose. / m

The road construction work on the whole is of a give and take nature. Where the country is fairly level and of a pumiscous nature the work is comparatively easy, as the pumice is not difficult to handle and forms a good road surface provided the water is kept out of it. Clay Amongst Pumice. There are, however, extensive areas of clay soil, where The roads have to be metalled or given a good covering of pumice, and there is a considerable proportion of hilly country, involving numerous cuttings and fillings, and the bridging of streams and ravines, often of considerable size. The extent of this branch of the operations may be judged from the fact that on the Maraetai block alone there are over 60 miles of roads, and that up to the present time the company has some 150 miles of road in actual use. The bulk of this road work is carried out during the summer, as it is not found to be economical to attempt it during the winter months, in which efforts are devoted mainly to maintaining existing roads in good order for traffic by clearing slips, clearing out water tables and culverts," and metalling any patches which show signs of breaking up under the continuous lorry traffic. The magnitude of the road work at present entailed may be further guaged from the fact that during the present summer months alone some 300 men have been engaged solely in this occupation. * Half-a-million Daily.

That great efficiency is demanded of the road gangs goes without saying. Their work has to be as near perfection under the circumstances as it is possible to attain, and above all the gradients giving access to the high lands of many compartments have to be carefully chosen. It w ill be seen that the road work is by no means the least important of the operations when it is mentioned that during the busiest period of planting last season half-a-million trees were required daily by the planters. On top of this a multifarious assortment of duties, such as the carriage of timber, iron, bricks, maxwell board, and other requisites for buildings, tents, flys and floor boards for the camps; chaff, metal, pumice, benzine and oil for the road and fire break gangs; an immense quantity of stores and eatables for the men, as well as the carriage of the men themselves has to be arranged for.

The organisation of the above is somewhat intricate, and to ensure constant and prompt supplies of trees, food and building materials as the work proceeds nothing has to be left to chance, and thus above all the road gangs have to see that access to the very remotest corner of the eighty odd thousand acres already planted is kept free and in good order.

With wol'k . proceeding on such a scale, a great deal of attention has to be paid to ensuring that the men are comfortable and contented, for it his long been realised that the best results are to‘be obtained only where there is mutual confidence and esteem between employer and employee. That the efforts of the company have been successful in this direction is proved by the fact that there have been no labour troubles of any kind. The housing and other arrangements for the men, however, must be the subject for another article. mas.. ~