Building Timbers.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 249, 18 November 1903, Page 4

Building Timbers.

Mr F. de J. Clere, F.R.l.B.A.,writes as follows All those interested in the matter must thank the New Zealand Times for touching on the question of building timbers in a recent fcstie. For over twenty-five vears 1 have had to do with Xew Zen Laird timbers and it has appenreu to me to lie a matter of most serious importance to the country that we should make provision for the future supply of timber. That we hate bun .sinfully wasfi.-i'iil it «i>parer.t to anyone who has live I in tlis colony for any length of lime. The destruction of our forests has I'-ca in many cases absolutely without any commensurate gain. Take, for instance, the black-birch-covered hills and the mountainous country about the Sounds. They are i.ow denuded of forest and produce in many cai.es insutlicient pasturage to feed a goat on ten acres. Whether the Government can stop the wholsale destruction I cannot say, but I think that an effort should be made iu that direction. Of course a good ■deal of our New Zealand bush is valuehss as building timber, but ly speaking the poorest f-oil produces the best timber, so a system oi replanting should le carried on in those districts wherein the land is not valuable for pasturage. I note the remark that "before the trees (kauri) would mature, the i.ecessity for using timber for building purposes will doubtless havo passed away." I cannot help thinking that there is some misprint here, for as far as I can see the demand for timber both for building and other purposes will always be with us. As long as timber is procurable there will be, 1 think, no substitute, for its advantages are so great. (>i couise, our wooden walls may become a thing of the past, but timber enters so largely into nearly all building construction that V/eu with the increase of stone antl brick walls there will be a steadily increasing demand for it for roofs, floors, and joinery. The matter is receiving great attention in the Old Country, for it is seen that the timl«r supply of the worl-d is coming within measurable distance of "giving out.'' The number of millions 111 feet required for railway sleepers alone is simply appalling. A generation ago the forests pf Canada and the Inited States seemed to give an imlimilcd supply. Now is is seen J. hat there are not inexhaustible and thinking men are casting round to liitd new reserves, wnile the counflfies round the Baltic are encourage ing planting in every possible manner.

With regard to Mr Freyberg , 'g Bug 1 - gestion about white pine, 1 would sa»- Ir.'iat I'rom my experienee there is ••something in it," but unfortunately I have always found it to be most diilicult to get reliable information regarding the timber. Very much 01 it lias been grown in moist, swampy ground, which seklom produces good lasting material. Other trews have Ixvn grown on ridges ami tlio heart wood has proved most lasting. Pickling white pine sleepers was one of the late Air Snelson's wlimi Ik- was a cairdida'o for ila- House about twestyUute .\rars ago; and the idea of drying out the natftral fermentable juice:- of ['i/or timbers and charging the cells with creosote oil has been put into practice for many years past ; an.l 110 doubt saline matter woifkl also prevent the larva of the weevil from carrying on its boring operations, for the insect is exceedingly delicate, and has a strong dislike for kerosene or turpentine or other nasty things. '[•he practical dillicultie.s of immersing tinilwr in the »i uro considerable, and as the penetration of the salt by mere soaking (i.e., not under pressure as in the creosote system) would not In* very deep, as soon as the basulk was cut up the benefit would disappear. I suppose that as soon as the price of timber is sufficiently high to warrant it a creosoting or srimilar plant will be elected, and we shall lie supplied with the treated timbar.