174U 



Lanadian Forestry Journal, June, Ji>hs 



while specimens varying in color from 

 light amber to brandy, no larger than 

 a teacup, have sold for SIOO. 



The swamps yield the dark colored 

 resin, which is cheap. The average 

 value of all the gum is about S300 a 

 ton. In 1913, when 9596 tons were 

 produced and 8780 tons exported, the 

 average value of the exported article 

 was S3 15 a ton, a dozen times its 

 worth when its export to the United 

 States began in the early sixties. 



Better grades of the gum are used 

 as a substitute for amber in the 

 manufacture of mouth-pieces for cigar 

 holders and pipes. The great bulk 

 of it is used in making oil varnishes 

 and linoleum. The most recent use is 

 believed to have been in the manu- 

 facture of explosives by the Germans, 

 who are known to have bought 

 thousands of tons of it in the years 

 preceding the declaration of war in 

 1914. 



Equipment is Simple 



The digger's ecjuipment usually is a 

 light pointed iron rod which is used 

 to test the ground, and a spade. 

 Many diggers, however, notably a 

 large number of Austrians who have 

 gone to New Zealand expressly to 

 gather kauri gum, do not use the 

 spear but turn the soil completely 

 over with a spade. As a rule they 

 work in gangs of 20 to 30, passing the 

 winter on the highland and the 

 summer in the swamps and lowlands. 

 They work long hours in the fields 

 and other hours night and morning 

 scrapping gum in their camps. 



The earnings of the gum digger 

 vary greatly. Some earn from S3 to 

 $5 a day; others make as much as 

 $40 or 350 in a week, but the higher 

 figures are not realized long. In 

 exceptional cases diggers have secured 

 $250 wortli of gum in six weeks or a 

 few Maoris have obtained half a ton 

 in a week from a small patch. 



Including Maoris and aliens, prin- 

 cipally Austrians, gum digging has 

 employed 10,000 persons at a time, 

 although, as many of these are youth- 

 ful or aged natives, the labor was 

 equivalent to 7000 able-bodied per- 

 sons. Many of the Austrians were 

 recalled to their native country prior 



to the war. Those who remained 

 petitioned Premier Massey to be sent 

 as soldiers in the Allied cause, but 

 their petitions were refused. 



Gum digging is a standing resource 

 for the industrious unemployed in 

 New Zealand and has enabled Auck- 

 land to tide over periods of serious 

 commercial depression with com- 

 paratively little difficulty. It has 

 also been of vast benefit to hundreds 

 of settlers with small capital. 



Kauri Forests 



Valuable kauri forests of the pre- 

 sent day have been burned purposely 

 to make way for settlement, against 

 the advice of forestry experts that it 

 would have been better to have kept 

 the area as national or state forests. 

 Kauri timber is nearly vanished from 

 the islands. 



It is stated that kauri timber 

 burned in the Puhipuhi forest would 

 have had a value of £3,000,000 had 

 it been worked into lumber. As late 

 as 12 years ago it was reported that 

 there were 160,000 acres of kauri 

 forest standing in its natural state. 

 Most of this has been burned to do 

 away with alleged fire hazard and to 

 clear land, and kauri timber has 

 doubled in price in the last 15 years. 



Besides these direct losses, New 

 Zealand is suffering from the squan- 

 dering of some of its most beautiful 

 scenery because of the destruction of 

 the forests. 



RANGERS MUST REGISTER 



Toronto, June 10. — Unless repre- 

 sentations that are being made to the 

 authorities at Ottawa, by the De- 

 partment of Lands, Forests and 

 Mines are successful, vast stretches 

 of Northern Ontario are going to be 

 left unpatrolled by fire rangers for 

 several days, because of national 

 registration on June 22. The regu- 

 lations declare that each man must 

 personally register at the headquar- 

 ters of the registrar for the area, 

 which would mean that all the fire 

 rangers would have to leave their 

 posts and journey to the registration 

 point. Some of the men would have 

 to be away several days to make the 

 return journey to the headquarters. 



