EX-SERVICEMEN SET UP SAWMILL

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5307, 21 January 1947, Page 3

EX-SERVICEMEN SET UP SAWMILL

EI.KVES PAUTXER8 IX TK WHAITI I'!!().)KCT. Ten thousand superlkial feet of timbor a day is the taryet (,f 11 ex- : ervieemon who, as owners an l opeixitors, wiil begin i-unning a timber mill at Te Whaiti next April, staies the iP.liabilltation Department. 'Ihey have so far been p-ranted a ioun of £7000 by the Rehabiiitation Board: eonsidevation is novv heing given to inereasiiut this amouiit to purchase additional equijjment. With one exception, Messrs. C. J. Merrylees, S. J., G. and A. K. Newland, J. P,. (i. Haigreaves, A. J. Chttrch, J. R. Bvannigan, W. J. Mcla'an, J. and R. J. Hayes and A. Ii. Do Lisle are all experienced timher- | men and they are bnilding their own mill on the most modern iines. Into the 84 by 40 feet building will go the breaking-down and breast benches which are at present being built in Wellington. So will the new die-el eng'ine which the eompany iias ; i.ecm fortunate to purchase. The eonstruction thvoug'hout is that of a permanent mill, whicli is how the men thought it out when they tirst talked J over the project in the front lines. All the log'ging at Te Whaiti, 50 miles front Rotorua and 64 from Whakatane, is done by the State Forest Service, which delivers Ihe log's to the mills. Thero is sufficient j rimu, totara, white pine and matai to ! give ait assurance of 18 years' cut- ! ting. Offers have already been rnade 1 to buy the whole output of the mill i for years ahead. . j The eo-operative mill will be one of j five planned by the State Forest Service to work the native 'bush at Te Whaiti, and the partners have called their eompany "Long Fern," after the lovely valley in which it is to he situated. By the time they have .built j the mill, they hope to receive eig'ht prefabricated houses for the married men, who will then board the sing'le ones. Meanwhile, they are camping. At first they thought of forming a villag'e by themselves, hut now hope j to live in the model villag'e planned j for the workers of all the district's , mills. This will have a ■eommunity hall, J tennis courts and all the amenities ot civilisation. As a tribute to the Minister of Rehabiiitation and Forestry, Mr. Skinner, who personally su'ggested Te Whaiti, they intend inviting him to cut the first flitch when the big saws start running ,in April.