lo March, 1910.] The Siifply of Buiter Bo.xcs. 1 7,5 



THE SUPPLY OF BUTTER BOXES. 



The producers of Victoria, considering the present price for butter boxes 

 made of New Zealand pine to be unreasonably high, recently waited upon 

 the Hon. the Minister for Agriculture (Hon. Geo. Graham, M.L.A.), and 

 asked that steps be taken to secure a supply at lower rates. They sug- 

 gested that an officer should be sent to Queensland to ascertain whether 

 there was sufficient timber of suitable quality a\ailable, so as to admit of 

 boxes being obtained at prices satisfactory to the producing community. 

 The Minister acquiesced, and deputed Mr. R. V. Billis to furnish a report 

 which is published below. For the photographs, we are indebted to the 

 Queensland Department of Agriculture. — Editor. 



Sir, Melbourne, 18th Januar\, 1910. 



i have the honour to report having visited Queensland, under instruc- 

 tions from you, for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is sufficient 

 hoop pine {Araucaria Cunmnghamii) available m (Queensland to supply the 

 butter box requirements in \ ictoria for some time to come ; and it so, to 

 find out if it is practicable for the producers here to obtain an adequate 

 supply. 



The Honorable the Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Paget, requested his 

 officers to furnish me with all the information O'U the subject available. 

 Mr. Scriven, Under Secretary for Agriculture, greatly facilitated mv 

 inquiries, and I also obtained information from Mr. Phillip MacMahon, 

 Director of Forests, from Mr. Peter McLean, late Under-Secretary for 

 Agriculture, and from various gentlemen connected with the timber in- 

 dustry. 



Timber Avmlabu'. — Mr. MacMahon informed me that he considers there 

 are about 3,000,000.000 superficial feet of hoop pine ready to be cut, that 

 is, available timlDer, in the State. I understand he refers to State 

 reserves, and confines his estimate, to the popular pine country, namelv, 

 from Brisbane to Gladstone. The following statistics, from a report bv 

 Mr. MacMahon, issued in 1909, will be of interest : — 



.Some of the Timbek Reserves ix Qieexslaxd at 31ST December, iqo8. 

 District. Area of Reserve. 



Acres. 

 Brisbane ... ... . . ... ... 211,336 



Bundaberg ... ... ... ... ... 165,946 



Gayndah ... ... ... ... ... 210 



Gladstone ... ... ... ... ... 211,178 



Gympie . . ... ... ... ... 338873 



Ipswich ... ... ... ... ... 107,228 



Maryborough ... ... ... ... 112,274 



Nanango ... ... ... ... ... 140,410 



Stanthorpe ... ... ... ... 14,800 



Toowoomba ... ... .•• ... •.- 30,522 



Warwick ... ... ... ... ... 46,700 



Tolnl ... ... ... ... 1,388,697 



It will be seen that the counties dealt with in this table are those from 

 Brisbane to Gladstone. It was not easy to approximate the average quan- 

 tity of pine to the acre. The Departmental estimate is slightly under 

 2,000 superficial feet in certain forests, but one merchant told me that 

 there were about 8.000 feet in a good forest. I also heard of other esti- 

 mates ranging from 2,000 tn 8,000 feet to the acre. Taking, however, 

 2,000 feet to the acre, it will he seen that there should be. approximatelv, 

 3,000.000.000 fppt in the reserves referred to aI)Ove. There is also n large 



