145 



The following statement was published in the Press in January, 1905, 

 under the authority of the Minister for Lands : — 



SUPPLY OF ROSEWOOD IN yEW SOUTH WALES. 



The Minister for Lands liavins observed tlaat tlie Commercial Agent In 

 Ijondon had been informed that it would take New South Wales twelve months 

 to supply an order for 200,000 feet of Rosewood, Red and Black Bean mixed, 

 iind having regard to the fact that the supply of Rosewood — a timber eminently 

 suitable for furniture work — is stated in Maiden's " Commercial Timbers of 

 New South Wales " to be " practically unlimited," the Jlinister has caused 

 inquiry to be made, with the result that one saw-miller in the Bellingen disti-ict 

 has intimated that he will undertake to supply 30,000 feet of Rosewood a 

 month, while another offers to supply 250,000 feet of this timber per annum. 

 One forest officer in the northeri) district says an order for 200.000 feet of 

 Rosewood could be execu1;ed in his district in a very short time ; and yet 

 another one reports that in three places alone in his district there are about 

 15,000,000 feet available. 



The Jlinister has directed that this information shall be at once conveyed 

 to the Commercial Agent. 



The fol]o\-\ing extracts from a report are interesting: — 



" Referring to your circular letter dated. 26th November. lfn)4, asking to 

 be furnished with a report on the statement made to the Commercial 

 Agent in London that it would take twelve months to supply an order 

 of 200,000 feet of Rosewood, Black Bean, &c., I have the honour to 

 report that ■ the statement is not correct, as on Forest Reserve No. 

 32,130, county of Buller, there is an area of 4 miles by 3 densely 

 covered with the best kinds of Rosewood, containing at the very lowest 

 e.stimate 3,000,000 superficial feet of matured timber. 



" In the parishes of Gore, Acacia, and Koreela, county of Buller, there is 

 an estimated rtuantity of matured Rosewood of 0.000,000 superficial 

 feet, and in the parish of Beaury, county of Buller, 3,500,000 superficial 

 feet, to say nothing of numbers of other parishes all along the Eastern 

 Fall that contain quantities of this timber. 



" I forward an offer from the manager of the Federal Sawmill Company 



of Ne\^- South Wales to deliver, f.o.li., at Brisbane, 250,000 feet per 



annum, and if any inducement were offered, two further mills could 



be erected and each supply the same annual output near the Queens- 



. land border at a railway station named Dugandan, in Queensland. 



" In addition to Rosewood, I estimate that 20,000,000 feet of the following 

 matured timbers could be supplied for export purposes at the Queens- 

 land border, viz. : — Silky Oak, Tulipwood, Red and Black Bean, Native 

 Guava, White Cherry, Bonewood, Onionwood, Maiden's Blush, Tama- 

 rind, Cudgerie, Teak, Yellow-wood, Stavewood, Coachwood, &c., to say 

 nothing of Cedar and Hoop Pine. 



" It only requires some inducement to open up an enormous trade T\ith the 

 world in these excessively valuable timbers, which would find 

 enormous employment and revenue to the State." 



The following letter is written by a well-known timber expert : — 



I have pleasure In assuring you that the supply of this particular orna- 

 mental and valuable timber (Rosewood) is practically unlimited, extending 

 over almost all the high land in the Eastern Division of this State, and I have 

 little doubt when its undoubted value becomes known abroad. Rosewood will 

 be found to be one of the largest exported of softwoods from New South 

 Wales. At present the price given for Rosewood is too low to pay teamsters 

 to haul it; but I can assure you there is a plentiful supply to be got, and no 

 <loubt the price will be given later on, when it has proved its great value 

 abroad. 



Following is the opinion of a Forest Officer: — 



All that is required to find custom for this lovely wood is to dispatch a 

 million or so of superficial feet of thoroughly matured timber to London or 

 Germany; no other introduction is required. Its fame will soon be established 



