52 AN AUSTRALIAN STUDY OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 
&c., from the bark, and records the measurements, as they move. Another 
man standing at a lever diverts the logs on to one or other of the slanting 
platforms alongside the travelling benches, ‘Thence they roll to the bench, 
which moves quickly up and down, carrying the log to be sawn past the huge 
double-edged band saw which cuts it coming and going. At the middle of the 
bench stands the ratchet man, who adjusts the log so that various width pieces 
are sawn from it. On-either side of him are labourers whose duty is to 
“stick” and clamp the logs into position as they fall on the bench from the 
platform. 
The sawyer stands near the travelling bench beside the band saw holding 
the levers, one operating a giant steel “nigger” which prods the logs into 
position as they are rolled from the platform to the bench, the other controlling 
the travelling bench as it goes to and fro past the band saw at his will. ‘The 
three men on the bench sway violently with its motion, which achieves a 
lightning rate as the bench is returned empty for another log. 
On the other side of the band saw stands a man who diverts the sawn 
planks on to a rollway, along which they swiftly pass to a point where the 
waste is diverted one way, and the good planks travel through an edger which 
at touch of a lever sets the width as desired. The plank and its two edges 
proceed upon the travelling rollway to a point where stands the only man who 
touches the timber from the time the log leaves the water to that when it 
emerges from the other end of the mill completely manufactured ! 
His duty is to seize the edges and divert them from the rollway to other 
ways. 
A little further on the edged timber is diverted on to a travelling way at 
right angles, above which, in a slung chair, sits a man before many levers, 
which he pulls as the planks pass beneath him, causing small circular saws to 
rise at desired distances so as to cut the boards to various lengtlis. 
After which, they travel along a wide and lengthy grading table before a 
grader who marks them according to their quality, and from thence are taken 
to stacks, which are moved bodily on other rollways into carts also fitted with 
rollers, and taken to the seasoning yards and ultimately to the planing mill. 
The waste, after it is diverted, is sawed automatically into lengths, and 
passes into a chute past sorters who divert the better pieces to the lathe mill 
or the firewood stack. Finally the absolutely useless pieces fall into a furnace 
and are burnt. 
All sawdust. and shavings are sucked into huge pipes through which- they 
are taken to the boiler-room, where they are used as the fuel for running the 
mill. The stoking is automatic. The sawdust is damped by a water spray 
as it passes, to prevent dust. 
Throughout is order, system, cleanliness, and utmost. utilisation. 
In view of the intention of various Australian States to establish State 
sawmills, I venture to commend to the notice of the Governments concerned 
the very efficient methods of sawmilling adopted in the United States of 
America. : 
The “American Timberman ” of February, 1916, in commenting on the 
Australian market for American lumber, remarks that “ probably 70 per cent. 
of the machines in the Sydney joineries are American types and have been 
bought because of their higher efficiency as compared with the machines of 
other nations.” It adds, that “possibly the chief objection to American wood- 
working machinery in Australia may be said to be the necessity of employing 
more intelligent and adaptable labour.” (!) 
I think, however, that the intense concentration required in handling 
it as the American does is the prime objection of the Australian workman. 
