THE TIMBER OF TASMANIA. — BLUE GUM. 99 



ought to feel as interested in the question of railway supply as we are in 

 that of supplying the timber. If we get the Indian contract — and it is not 

 clear that we shall not — other nations will be as anxious to secure their 

 turn as they are now apparently indifferent. It is only a question of time. 

 That they will have to come to us eventually we are persuaded. At the 

 rate timber is now being consumed, our vast forests of splendid hard wood 

 must attract attention before long. Great Britain has undoubtedly the best 

 right to it ; but if she won't deal with one of her own babes, when 

 we can serve her with a better and a cheaper article than any one else 

 in the same trade, she cannot blame us for casting about for some other 

 customer. 



"With reference to the claims of the timber of this colony to the attention 

 of the contractors for works in which hard wood is largely used, we have 

 the opportunity of referring to an extensive shipment of blue gum, in the 

 shape of piles and sawn timber, for the construction of the Government 

 Railway Pier at Williamstown — the port terminus of the Victorian Railway 

 system. It is the design of the Victorian Government to carry the railway 

 jetty far into Hobson's Bay, to enable ships of heavy tonnage to unload 

 direct into the railway trucks. This work has necessitated the use of timber 

 of great size and length, and capable of resisting the destructive agency of 

 both air and water. The Melbourne contractors had their attention directed 

 to the timbers of Tasmania, and from our forests obtained their supply. To 

 complete this one contract alone, piles to the value of nearly £7,000, and 

 sawn timber to the value of nearly <£11,000, have been exported to 

 Williamstown. The order comprised upwards of 650,000 feet of blue gum, 

 in the shape of beams, planks, and joists, and 1,450 piles, ranging in length 

 from 45 feet to 86 feet, and 16 inches and upwards in diameter in the 

 centre. The timber was for the most part cut from trees of large dimen- 

 sions, many of them being upwards of eight feet in diameter. The com- 

 pletion of this order has given the highest satisfaction to the Melbourne 

 contractors and engineers, who have not hesitated to describe the timber 

 that has been delivered as of the very finest quality, and the best fitted for 

 the use it is designed for which they had ever seen. They speak of it as 

 certain to resist the action of the dry rot. In fact the size of our trees 

 enables the splitter to select the heart of the timber, whatever the dimen- 

 sions of the pieces required. The blue gum of Tasmania has been ascer- 

 tained by abundant experiments to be one of the most enduring of all 

 timbers, and to have claims, therefore, above all others for employment in 

 those particular works which are specially exposed to destructive influences. 

 Like all timbers, it is found to be best in quality when it is cut at the 

 proper season, But the most conclusive testimony to its value is the strong 

 commendation bestowed upon it by the contractors for the great work we 

 have adverted to. The length to which the Williamstown pier had to be 

 carried out into deep water, required the use of piles of great size and 

 strength ; and when we repeat that an abundance of blue gum trees were 

 felled from which piles have been cut, from 86 feet in length downwards, 



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