A NEW TIMBER ENTERPRISE.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 July 1920, Page 7

A NEW TIMBER ENTERPRISE.

The question of timber supplies is one of pressing public importance, and therefore considerable interest will be awakened by the abridged prospectus of the Great Western Timber Company, Ltd., which is published in this issue. Tlie new company ia being formed with a capital of £ 123,000, divided Into 1'25,000 shares of £1 each, to open up and work, a large area of forest in the vicinity of the port of Okarito, South Westland.

The prospectus states that there are 10,000 acres over which the vendors have the milling rights; 4000 acres on the shores of the Okarito lagoon; '2OOO acres just on the ouutli side of the little township, while 40(10 acres are further north, near the Wangamii (south of Hokitika). With regard to the 0000 acres adjacent to Okarito, Mr. Gideon Anderson, Crown Lands Ranger, now Forestry Inspector, estimates' that there is 80 per cent, nmu, 17 per cent, white pine, the balance being silver pine, totara and matai. •' Th> further, estimates that this area will average ;io,ooo feet to the acre. The ranger has given permission to state that lie considers there is no bush in Westland that will compare with this, both as to the length of the bole and the number of trees to the acre. The average length of the bole of the trees in the forest inspected was estimated to be not less than 80 feet, while some of them were 120 feet.

Mr. ,T. Blair Mason, M. Inst. C.E., M, Inst. Mech. E., M.N.Z. Soc. C.E., the well-known marine engineer, visited Okarito and hifi reports theveon are an I interesting account of the possibilities of working the port. I-lis conclusion is that with boats to suit the port in its present state getting the timber out is certain. The timber content of the forest areas over which the vendors hold milling rights is estimated at 300 million feet. Computed at £\ per hundred this means that the company will start out with an asset that should be worth £3,000,000. Full particulars of the new enterprise are given in an.illustrated booklet, entitled 'New Zealand Monarch!) of the Forest," which can be obtained from any branch of the Bank bf New Zealand. For the convenience of intending investors, an application form is being published in this issue, at the foot of the abridged prospectus.