Frcu. 1007.] 



09 



Timber ft. 



ways. The small pieces of wood were then fur her reduced by mechanical means, 

 having first been subjected to the action of a stamping mill, and eventually were 

 put into the Hollander, and I am told that a very decent class of brown boards or 

 stout wrapping papers could be made in this way, and it is stated that boards and 

 paper especially suitable for roofing purposes made by this process had special 

 advantages. Some of such boards, impregnated with coal tar, were said to be 

 specially adapted for resisting the action of the weather, and are described as 

 "perfectly indifferent to water as well as to changes of temperature." Attempts 

 have been made to bleach the pulp made from steamed wood, but so far as I can 

 learn the results were not commercially successful. 



Although it may possibly, strictly speaking, be somewhat beyond the 

 natural scope of a brief paper of this kind to go into the commercial 

 details of wood pulp making as regards cost, I have been favoured by 

 a gentleman who is in a special position to obtain information of this 

 kind with some very interesting figures. I am told that it inquires. 



Although it may possibly, strictly speaking, be somewhat beyond the nature 

 and scope of a brief paper of this kind to go into the commercial details of wood 

 pulp-making as regards cost, I have been favoured by a gentleman who is in a special 

 position to obtain information of this kind with some very interesting figures. I am 

 told that it requires 80 h. -p., to make one short dry ton per day, or say 90 h. -p., to 

 make one long dry ton per day, so that a mill developing 1,800 h.-p., on the turbines 

 should produce 20 tons of dry mechauical pulp per day, or say, 12,000 tons per year 

 of 300 working days. Some Norwegian mills have very small horse power on the 

 stones, but the latest and the most modern mills have at leat 250 h.-p., whilst the 

 Canadian mills are calculated on a basis of 300-350 h.-p., per stone, and very large 

 stones are used. On the subject of the actual cost of producing mechanical pulp, 

 I am told that a pretty reliable estimate of the cost of the wood necessary to make a 

 ton of dry pulp is approximately : — 



Dry Pulp. 



In East Norway ... ... from 25s. to 30s. 



In North Sweden ... ... „ 22s. to 25s. 



Canada : Lake St. John and portions 

 of Nova Scotia ... ... ,, 13s. 6d. to 15s. 



St. Maurice River and other districts ,, 15s. to 22s. 



Wet Pulp. 



The net cost, allowing for depreciation, is given approximately as follows :— 



Per Ton Dry Weight. 

 £ s. d. 



Modern Mills in Norway, C/a ... ... ... 3 



,, ., in Sweeden, C/a... ... ... 2 15 



Lake St. John ... ... ... ... 1 17 6 



St. Maurice District ... ... .. ... 2 10 



On this subject, it should be borne in mind that the capitalisation of a 

 modern pulp mill is very high, and for a mill making, say, in Scandinavia 6,000 tons 

 wet, and 3,000 tons dry, f.o.b. value (roughly) £10,800, the mill capitalisation would 

 necessarily be from £20,000 to £25,000 ; and hence it follows that to make ten per cent 

 on the capital a net profit on the produce of from 20 to 25 per cent is necessary. 



Small mills such as these form the majority in Scandinavia ; but mills of 

 this class could not be made to pay in Canada, where the biggest mill (Chicoutimi) 

 made 48,000 tons of short wet pulp in six months. The entire capitalisation on this 

 basis is 27 dols. per short ton dry per annum, or say, £6 5s. per ton dry wet (2,240 lbs 

 per year), making the value of a short dry ton to be 13'50 dols. f.o.b. On this basis, 

 a good return will be shown, viz., a net profit of 20 per cent on the article yielding 

 ten per cent for the purposes of dividend, 



