MAIN TRUNK TIMBER MILLS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 168, 3 December 1912, Page 7

MAIN TRUNK TIMBER MILLS.

ENORMOUSLY INCREASED OUTPUT,

The Taihape correspondent of the Auckland Herald, writing on the timber industry,,9>i the J lain Trunk line, says: lii the district between Taihape and Tc Kuiti a large number of mills are working, over 40 of which are operating in the Wnimariuo electorate (from Taihape to Taumarunui). To give a reasonably adequate idea of the extent of the industry on the Main Trunk railway it is only necessary to deal with the Waimarino area. The forest belt extends from Rangataua to Taumarunui, a distance of between 40 and 50 miles, and penetrates eastward and westward of the railway for a considerable distance. in this vast area of forest land steel and muscle are working day after day. Axes and saws are slashing down the forest giants, miles of steel hawsers are continually winding and unwinding, and numerous engines, aggregating tremendous power, are in constant use hauling the logs from the stump to the "bank." Men and horses are being worn out in the strenuous toil of procuring logs for the mills. Circular saws are ripping the trunks into ribbons and rafters and scantling. From the railway sidings train-load after train-load of timber is being conveyed for distribution over a wide area, and day after day, the !)ig "X" engines are called on to exert their full strength on the up-grades. Places with , w(ii<'h the white man waS> unacquainted eight years ago are now a litter of logs and stumps, and eight years hence the litter will cover more than three times the,present area. The output has enormously increased each year since the .industry was established, and the number of mills is still being added to. The bush is alive with them, and they rip and roar from morning till night. If anyone needs convincing proof that the forests of New Zealand are doomed let him pay a visit of inspection to the area served by, the Main Trunk railway. When his eyes have rested on the timberless miles between Marton and Taihape he will, have had his first lesson, and the rapidity of forest denudation will be borne home to him. lie will probably be struck- with the number of sawdust heaps and tottering, idle millsheds that he sees; he will probably be surprised when he is informed that the Manawatu Company's sawmill (two miles away) is the last of the lailuipe mills- his spirits may rise somewhat when he finds the industry still alive at Bennett's Siding and Mataroa, but even there lie will be surprised at the extent of the clearing: at Rangataua and Ohakunc he may be cheered by the apparent prosperity of the industry, but he will be informed that each of these places export several million feet of timber annually, and the yearly output is increasing enormously. At every turn ho will meet half-cleared areas, some with the bush not suited for milling still standing, and others on which all the bush has been felled. Let him journey eastward or westward of the railway, and he will still hear the ringing of the axes and the buzz of the saws which are disposing of more timber every minute than could be grown in a century. Let him see the scows, the barques and the steamers heading away from Wanganui and other ports with the product and conveying it to Australia. "Some day," he will think, "all timber-laden vessels will be inward-bound"; and the thought may also occur to him that houses will be very costly to build twenty years hence.