Paper-Making Possible

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 422, 2 August 1928, Page 8

Paper-Making Possible

New Zealand Wood Tests Complete Success

EXPERIMENTS with New Zealand woods for the manufacture of paper-pulp have been attended with conspicuous success, and the engineer to the State Forest Service, Mr. A. R. Entrican, is to devote six months of special study to its commercial possibilities here. A word of warning against over-enthusiasm is issued by the Government, however for the establishment of a suitable mill in this country would cost about £1,000,000. Moreover. the paper-pulp market is in a parlous condition the world over.

The report of Mr. Entrican’s experiments in North America, made with the assistance of the Government laboratories there, is an encouraging document, and denotes a bright possibility of commercialising the huge waste wood products from New Zealand's 136,000 acres of State trees, and the forest domains of seven million acres under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service. Trials over a wide held proved that commercial grades of newsprint may be produced from insignis pine and tawa, and of wrapping paper from I'inni, insignis pine, and a number of other woods. Other classes of paper,

laboratory tests, as well as mill scale tests under commercial operating conditions, were undertaken with gratifying success. The experiments went further, and when paper was manufactured from New Zealand woods, its strength and durability were tested in printing presses travelling at reasonably low speed. Here, too, the result was decidedly pleasing. Later, it is suggested, tests will have to be made on fast-running machines with full size newsprint paper. Of the woods used in the experiments, tawa and insignis pine, both of which grow prolifically in this country. produced pulp of a very serviceable nature, the yield per cord from tawa being about 10 per cent, above that produced from spruce. Rimu was found too dark, and larch and other pines too patchy to yield a satisfactory grade of pulp. Trials Justified Three major objectives were established and worked for in the tests: —- 1. To produce a pulp or pulps suitable for newsprint. 2. To produce a satisfactory kraft pulp for wrappings. 3. To produce bleached chemical pulps for fine papers. The commercial trial fully justified itself, not only in producing a newsprint whose colour, strength, cleanliness and finish was equivalent to that of standard news, but in solving many practical pulping and paper-making problems which had not been apparent in the laboratory tests, and which will he reflected in the design and operation of any pulp and paper mill which may he found feasible in this country. So encouraged is the Government by the result of the experiments that Mr. Entrican will devote special study to the question with a view to establishing a paper and pulp industry in New Zealand. This study will cover wood supplies, transportation, chemical supplies, water power and fuel, manufacturing and other facilities, and labour conditions, and will occupy Mr. Entrican for six months. Caution Urged

such as book, fine printings, etc., may also be manufactured from some of these woods, but since they are consumed in comparatively small quantities, they do not command the same attention as do newsprints and wrappings, which lead all papers in quantities used. i Seeking a Market It was partly a recognition of the fact that it is not enough to know how to grow trees, but that it becomes necessary to know how to use them effectively, which set the Government moving upon its experiments overseas. The plantations of the State, it is anticipated, will be increased this year by 63,000 acres, and the development of profitable markets is essential. An agreement was entered into with the Government of the United States early last year for co-ordinate experiments on behalf of both countries, and

Care is taken by the State to ensure against precipitate failure through over-enthusiasm in establishing the industry in this country. To achieve economical results the mills must produce about 100 short tons daily, and this would cost approximately a million sterling. The report, however, sums up the position thus: “New Zealand’s consumption of paper is small, and, further than that, the world market for both pulp and paper is in a parlous condition, and unlikely to recover for at least five years. Clearly we must proceed cautiously, and lay a sure foundation for the permanent wellbeing of the industry, relying in the early stages on our domestic and near-by markets, and leaving the development of world markets to a more favourable opportunity.”