The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 69
Timber
Timber.
The timber trade from New Zealand is older than the century, although there is no record of machinery being erected for its manipulation until after the arrival of Captain Hobson. Timber was exported in bulk from the Thames before the end of the last century, but as it was described as different from the Norfolk pines in having the turpentine in the centre of the tree instead of between the bark and the wood, Mr. Cheese-man was led to conclude that the spars shipped by the Fancy, as the vessel was called, were other than those of kauri. The Fancy was the first vessel that is recorded as having taken timber from the Northern Island to India, though that cut from Dusky Bay had previously obtained commendation at Port Jackson.
After Mr. Marsden's time (1814), the timber of the North, handcut by the natives into junk and boards, was common in Sydney. In 1820 the navy sent two store ships to New Zealand to load with spars for topmasts; and after Captain Delöitte—subsequently Lloyd's agent at Port Jackson—came to the Hokianga in 1825, the timber trade between New Zealand and New South Wales expanded into large dimensions.
1853—1855 | £148,373 |
1856—1860 | 101,154 |
1861—1865 | 91,411 |
1866—1870 | 96,742 |
1871—1875 | 176,022 |
1876—1880 | 226,782 |
1881—1885 | 645,135 |
1886—1889 | 441,018 |