Greater Use of Local Timber.

It was well known that the New Zealand timber industry in its attempts to secure higher utilisation of the tree, and, therefore, better economies, had in some cases found a difficult problem in the comparatively small percentage of heart. Any conditioning process that would secure higher results from non-heart timber, the profitable disposal of which had been a longstanding trouble with sawmillers, would therefore be of vital help to the industry, and he hoped the two kilns would become of national importance, in that they would provide the constructional shops of the Railway Department with better timber at less seasoning cost, make available for them a greater proportion of New Zealand timber, and inspire the timber industry and all wood users with the idea of higher utilisation and greater economy through the medium of artificial drying.

Evidence of the success of kiln-drying abroad was complete. The evidence of its success as applied to New Zealand timbers was not as complete as it might be. He hoped that that would no longer be the case when the Railway Department's kiln-drying was in full operation. He wished to emphasise that in this enterprise the Department had the valuable co-operation of the Department of Forestry.