AMERICAN LUMBER IN FOREIGN MARKETS. 215 



Useful woods for building, furniture, or mechanical purposes are 

 numerous, but being mostly situated in places difficult of access form 

 but a small item in the local industries. The coniferous sorts, which 

 are to a small extent worked, are the kaori (Dammara moorea), which 

 is the giant tree of the colony; the Araucaria cookii^ which give straight 

 but knotty spars from 30 to 40 meters; the Araucaria Ruleii, which are 

 found in the southern part of the island, and attain about the same 

 size as the Araucaria cooTcii, the Storckellia prancheri, white, rosy- 

 grained, used for joinery work; the Intzia melibcei of the Isle of Pines, 

 very good for furniture. 



The hard wood kinds, used in ship and house buildings, are numerous; 

 the Melaleuca glaberrima, and Malaleuca leucodendron are examples. 



The principal hard redwood trees are as follows: The Pleurocalyptus 

 deplancheij good heavy wood of a density of 1.165; the Spermolepis 

 tannifera, the Grevillea gillivragi; the Stenocarpus haurifolius, a beau- 

 tiful furniture wood; the Weinmannia parviflora, denominated white 

 oa.k its bark is rich in tannic principles; the Calophyllum montanum 

 (tamauon), one of the most useful trees here, is used in cabinet-making. 



There are numerous other species, but they are of little importance 

 in a commercial sense. 



IMPORTS OF LUMBER. 



The lumber preferred is that from the United States Oregon and 

 Washington, from which the largest quantity of wood employed in this 

 colony is imported, say 2,000 tons yearly.* In 1893, however, there 

 was no direct importation from the United States, as the stock on hand 

 at the end of 1892 was considerable. 



New Zealand supplies about 200 tons of kouri annually, and New 

 South Wales about the same quantity of hard wood (blue and red gum). 



PRICES AND CLIMATE. 



The different sorts of lumber from all countries are sold here at from 

 90 to 120 francs ($17.37 to $23.16) per ton. 



The climate of New Caledonia is tropical, but moderate and healthy, 

 resembling the climate of the Hawaiian Islands. 



GENERAL BUILDING. 



The colony is making fair progress in housebuilding, bnt very little 

 in shipbuilding. There are no railroads yet. 



EXTENSION OF LUMBER TRADE. 



The only method left to be tried here for the extension of the trade 

 of this colony with the United States in lumber, as well as in other Amer- 

 ican goods, is the establishment of an American house of business at 



* The ton mentioned in tMs report is the French cubic meter=35.3 cubic feet. 



