THE NEW ZEALAND BUSH.

Shannon News, 31 August 1926, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALAND BUSH.

* PROPERTIES AND USES OP ITS PRODUCTS. A very interesting paper was read by Mr. Hugh Patterson, of Mangahao, be fore the Mangahao Literary and Debating Society recently. It contains so much matter of interest that we reprint it as follows: — New Zealand has lately been visited by a scientist of world-wide repute in the person of Sir Prank Heath, who has been investigating problems connected with the co-ordination of science and industry in this Dominion. In his report to the Government he has pointed out that we have a very fine Department of Forestry and that we ought to have a forest population without which much of the benefit will be lost. The Department of Forestry has cleared the way for the starting and maintenance of a great forestry population, living comfortably on a new department_ of industrial production, viz., the utilisation of the products of, the plantations of timber and of the native bush with which this land was so richly endowed. In my opinion the recruiting ground for - this community of forest workers b.ei the Public jWjorks camps scattered throughout the length of this fairyland. In those camps men have the opportunity to become acquainted in a practical manner with the bush, and its resources. Here at least, is one instance where a policy of self reliance is commendable, and the country has reached a stage where we do not require further expensive guidance from bbrohd. All that is required is practical whole-hearted help at home without further delays and this help the Departments of Forestry and Lands should be able to afford. By the forestry regulations the way is open for the organised development of a body of expert bush workers whose work would be the systematic conservation and renewal of the forests. To awaken an interest in this matter of forestry conservation,.! am taking as my subject the “N-Z: Bush; properties and uses of its products." * The writer was born in a bush township on the West Coast of the South Island, and spent his boyhood days .there. One of his most vivid recollections is of the majestic sight of a bush fire sweeping over the hills and devouring all that was burnable leaving tiehind it a waste of blackened trunks. To improve the land, then, was to get the bush cut down and burnt off. The aim was to make two blades of grass grow where one tree grew before.. There was no one thought of conserving the forest wealth that nature had so lavishly provided. The result is that the native bush lias all but vanished from the hills, and in its stead has sprung up a wilderness of the three B’s, bracken, bioom and blackberry. A perusal of that poem by Pcmbcr Reeves, “The Passing of the Forest," will indicate what has .been lost from a sentimental pomt or view. - From a practical standpoint the less may be roughly gauged when we consider ■jjlic uses tlmt tlie fousii cpujcl oc put to were it available to-day, Soipc of these I will enumerate later,. In any discussion on the N.Z, bus.i trees the name ‘ ‘ hire i " is bovuui to crop up. As long since as thirty-six years ago an effort was made to eliminate this name from use. At that* time, at least a dozen small-leaved trees were termed “birch" with the adjective black, white, red, brown, grey or vellow applied as the imagination ot the bushman suggested, scarcely any two bushmen being agreed as to Lie correct colour name to apply m any particular case. The brown birch 0-*, Otago was white biveU Sxi ifelson} the white birch in Westland being a totally different tree. The black birch ot Auckland was called red birch m Wellington; brown birch in Nelson while in Otago it was sometimes black and sometimes red, depending on whether the bushman was looking at the bai k or at the timber. The Maori called all the species Tawhai so that this name was adopted by the Pakclia in different localities for different trees. The cream of the joke is that the botanist says none of these trees are birches at all, but should be called “beech;" silverbeech, etc,, but this has not been acted upon in general practice. The present custom appears to be to/call them all birch and if it is a young tree with a fresh looking bfti'k say “silver birch, if its an old stager, with rough .black looking bark, call it bull birch, black birch or any birch you like and you 11 be as correct as the man that contiadicts you. - , , -i . This confusion of names has led to timbers being used in works where they should not have been ..used. The loss arising from such misuse of terms and timber is incalculable. . The. older Maoris were very precise in their application pf names to plants and other natural objects, but the later genera tion of Natives lost interest in such, to them, needless lore; the consequence being that many Maori names have been lost. In a great majority of cases the Maori name is preferable to the Palcelia one such as rimu for red pine; matai for black pine; kahikatea foi white pine. ' , The botanists nomenclature * s n< ? doubt appreciated by the learned, but what is required is some esperantist or the bush to take the matter up and classify the names in some language un derstandable by the knights of the axe and crosscut. In this .paper the names as adopted bv Kirk will be used. The New Zealand bush lias in the past, provided timber for most of " 10 buildings of this country, including house blocks, framing, flooring, weathetc. -It has supplied timber for construction works; piles for bridges; sleepers for railways; posts, rails and battens for fencing; bedlogs and foundations for machinery; teeth for .gears; machine bearings; wheelwrights work; ship building, framing, and planking, spars and masts; ornamental wood.foi cabinetmakers work and inlaying; three ply work, bark for tanning; wood for charcoal-making for the manufacture qf gunpowder; and last, but not least, .firewood to keep the home fires burning. . . In considering whether a certain tim-

ber is suitable for building 'or construction works we ask is it strong enough and is it durable, whether it will stand up to the job and whether it null last a reasonable time. I give a list of timbers arranged in order of strength. This classification was carried out mainly by Mr. W. N. Blair, when Assistant Engineer in the Public Works Department, in Otago. These tests can only be taken as a-rough guide as specimens of similar timbers from different trees give varying results. Contributing factors to these variations would be the difference in age- of the trees experimented on; the time of the year when tree was felled; the nature of the soil where it grew, whether rocky or swampy, sandy or clayey. Timber taken from the base, middle or upper portion of the same tree and from various places in the same log, gave different results under test. The timbers listed in order of strength are puriri, maire-rau-nui, tarata, kowhai, karo, tawa, silver-beech, | entire leaved beech tooth leaved beech, pohutukawa, northern rata, southern rata, mapou, toro (Myrsine Salicina), matai, maire-tawhake, fuchsia, maire, tanekaha, toatoa, kauri, kamahi, papuma, towai, rewarewa, mange'ao, rimu, toro (Persoonia Toro), Westland pine, ngaio, yellow silver ■ pine, kahikatea, totara, Halls totara, hinau, pokaka, makomako, kawaka, pahautea, kohekohe, taraire. There &re 44 trees in the list, and I will later give a few notes on some of them. Durability of N-Z. Timbers. Investigations have been made to as certain the lasting properties of various timbers. As an example of the results of these enquiries I will quote some of the evidence regarding matai (or black pine). An Otago settler stated that the heartwood of 12-inch piles at Port Molyneux jetty were perfectly sound above and below high-water after 20 years. At) Pucrua heart wood was fairly sound after 24 years. Another settler stated that matai from tapanui lasted 20 years in beams, while that from Southland would only last 12 vears. A railway inspector stated that matai survey pegs showed no do-, cav after 35 years in the ground. A railway engineer reported matai sleepers at Bluff were sound after 17 years. A Nelson architect says heart matai in bottom plates of Nelson Institute were sound after 25 years. Gate posts, heart, sound after 31 years. A Nelson resifiont says tramway sleepers sound aftof 22 years. A Public Works engineer iu Dunedin says matai in bridges would last six to sixteen years. Sills and cattle stops deoajr from five to fifteen years. If tarred or painted while green matai .would decay in a year of two A railway inspector at Dunedin say’s 10 x 10 matai piles in Dunedin goods shed were rotten in eleven years. The District Manager of, Railways at Nelson says railway sleepers were deeay ed in nine years also bridge sills, and cattle stop beams were done for in the same period. A Public Works engineer at Blenheim says crossing baulks were badly decayed after four years and railway sleepers were useless after the same period. A settle}' of Westland says matai .spiles in Ityipo bridge wore rotten iu five years. A Nelson settler pays niatai used for a footbridge was rotten in five years. Another resident at Nelson reckoned matai a useless timber and in no instance had been found to stand any length of time. The Clutha County Engineer stated that in a bridge at Waiwera examined after 24 years the matai was as good as the totara in the same structure. From, the evidence tendered regarding matai it will bc-secn that it is a difficult task to classify our timbers with respect to durability. Kirk gives a list of most durable timbers with puriri at the head of the I list, but these I will not enumerate here.

The first recorded use of a N.Z. bush product was for the manufacture of beer and the first attempt at this industry no doubt is interesting to disciples of Staples and Speight' who may be present. In his journal of his first voyage to N.Z. Capt. Cook records that one of his first endeavours on landing in Dusky Sound was to find a tree from the leaves of ivhieh he coiild brew beer. Tills with the object of combating scui'vv whieh had broken out amongst his crew. Because the rimu resembled a tree he had used in North Amcriea for fe a similar purpose he- chose the vimvi or red pine. On trial the “beer" proved too astringent so an equal quantity of manuka was added to the brew. Manuka leaves, wc are told, were used by the early whalers 'to make tea. The drinking of this,. according to Shortland,- was an acquired taste.

Cook’s recipe is as follows:- —Make a strong decoction of the small branches of the spruce and tea plant by boiling them for three hours, then take them out of the copper and put in the proper quantity of molasses, 10 gallons of which is sufficient to make 240 gallons of beer. Let the mixture first boil then put into the casks and to it add er-boarding, inside joinery, furniture or less according to the strength of the decoction or your taste. When the whole is milk warm, put in a little grounds of beer (or yeist if you have it) or anything else that will cause fermentation and in a few days the beer will be fit to drink. Cook says this beer was very palatable and esteemed by everyone. He was the recipient of a’ medal from the Royal Society for his researches. (To be continued).