Timber Production.

Turning for a moment to our timber production, you are aware that the foreign exports of kauri pine record but a small portion of the result of this most important branch of industry as compared with the quantity produced, manufactured locally, or shipped coastwise. What little information can be gleaned from the Customs returns is gratifying from an industrial point of view, in that it shows a considerable increase in the quantity and value of dressed timber exported last year, being nearly equal in value to page 20 that of sawn timber (together valued at £130,000). The total production of sawn kauri has been estimated for the year at about 75 million feet or upwards, representing 115 million feet of logs. Of this quantity about one-half is used locally, the balance shipped southward or exported. The wages expended is estimated at £220,000 annually, there being 2200 men employed. The capital invested is variously valued at £700,000 to £1,000,000 sterling. From the abundant supply of logs floated down the creeks by recent rainfalls, and the satisfactory demand existing, it is supposed that the production for the next twelve months will be on a still larger scale.