NEW ZEALAND TIMBERS 239 



and inside work, it is especially adapted and much used 

 fqr church work. As sleepers it is stated to have a life of 

 fifteen years on the track. There is a good deal of resin 

 in the wood ; it is very inflammable and very durable. 

 Kauri pine brings a good price in the London market, and 

 owing to the great use made of this timber locally, the 

 amount exported, and still more the amount destroyed by 

 lire, the kauri forest will probably be extinct in from ten to 

 fifteen years. 



Weight 30 to 39 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Totara (Podocarpus totara), one of the most durable of 

 New Zealand timbers, is a tree of rapid growth. The 

 timber is useful in marine work, resisting the teredo much 

 better than jarrah in Auckland Harbour. Used largely for 

 bridge work ; straight, smooth, close and silky in grain, it 

 resembles pencil cedar. The colour varies from brown to 

 rich red. There is a good deal of sap wood of a straw colour 

 in most trees. It is considered equally durable as kauri 

 pine in house construction, but more difficult to work ; it is 

 usually employed in the colony for patterns. It is also said 

 to make good paving blocks, as it is not slippery and wears 

 down evenly, and is admirable for heavy construction work 

 and for railway sleepers, furniture, etc. The heart of totara 

 is exclusively used for telegraph poles in New Zealand, 

 which have an average life of about twenty years. The 

 Maoris used it for dug-out canoes. Some of the timber 

 has beautiful markings, and a large trade is done in 

 veneers. Its price in the colony is a little more than 

 that of kauri. A good deal of this timber, in planks, is 

 now being imported into Great Britain. 



Weight about 35 Ibs. per cubic foot. 



Black Maire (Olca cunningliainii) is a hard, dense, tough, 

 close-grained, and very heavy timber of a deep brown colour 



