KAuRI ‘‘ GuM.’’ 33 
Up to twenty years ago “‘bled gum’’ had no value. Then, about 
1909, on an ill-starred day, the Government started ‘‘ gum-bleeding,’’ 
giving, it is said, one Dysart the right to bleed 300—and he bled 3,000 
—trees. A lawsuit followed, but the bad practice of unregulated ‘‘ gum- 
bleeding ’’ was started, and has continued ever since. 
Good average ‘* bled gum ’”’ was worth from 6d. to ls. a pound when 
the war started. Present quotations for good ‘‘ bush gum’”’ free from 
the dirty ‘‘ bled gum’’ are £125 per ton, or Is. 14d. per pound. It 
is in good demand, say the Auckland ‘“‘gum’’ merchants. Prices 
quoted at Waipoua are: Tree ‘“‘gum,”’ from Id. per pound (for the 
dirty “‘gum’’ picked off the ground) to Ils. 7d. per pound (for the 
hard old clear ‘‘gum’’ found in the forks of old trees). Tree “‘ gum ”’ 
has an acidity from which the earth ‘‘ gum ”’ is free. 
Value of Kauri “‘ Gum.’’—1 hear of first-class white, clear, fossil 
“coum ’’? worth £600 per ton—say, 4s. 6d. per pound. (Trounson and 
Carroll). Ordinary earth ‘‘ gum’’ varies in price from 1d. to 2s. per. 
pound. These are prices on the gumfields. The “‘ gum’’ varies greatly 
in value: a ‘‘ gum-digger ’’ may get ten or more grades in a week’s work, 
The export figures for the last year before the war show that the average 
value of all the *‘gum’’ exported was only 7d. per pound. Thus care- 
fully tapped and cupped tree ‘‘ gum ”’ should average a higher price than 
the general average for the ‘‘gum’’ now exported. Prepared as at 
-present, Kauri tree resin is said to average only about half the price 
of mineralized resin on the Auckland market. 
Putting the timber out of the question, it is difficult to see how Kauri 
resiu-tapping can be otherwise than a very profitable industry. Com- 
pare it, for instance, with sugar. That takes a great deal of labour 
(some half of it in a climate that is exhausting for a white man), costly 
milling, and then refining, which is an art in itself. The product is 
worth 1$d. or 24d. per pound, pre-war, wholesale; Kauri ‘‘ gum,’’ with 
little more than light work for women and children, Is. per pound. 
Sugar grows on the best soils, Kauri trees on the worst. 
Or Kauri resin-tapping may be compared with hop-growing; its 
risk and expense, with the ease and certainty of resin-collection. Hop- 
picking is one of the very few healthy outdoor industries left to women 
and children in England. It is prized highly in the rural districts of 
Kent, and described as ‘‘ £15 in pocket and health for a year.”’ 
Opinions on Kauri * Gum-bleeding.”’ 
As regards the effect of Kauri ‘‘ gum-bleeding ’”’ on the timber 1 have 
received many opinions. ‘‘ With precautions’’ the Hon, E. Mitchelson 
is not afraid of it. Naturally, official opinion just now in Auck- 
land is not favourable to resin-tapping, but it must be remembered 
that a roving commission to a professional ‘‘ gum-bleeder’’ is quite a 
different matter from departmental work under skilled supervision. 
Too little distinction has been made between gemmage & mort, or death 
tapping, and gemmage @ vie, or life tapping. This is literally a matter 
of life and death for the whole process. The conclusion arrived at in the 
Lands Department, Auckland, influenced no doubt by the advice of its 
late timber expert (Mr. H. P. Kavanagh), is that the resin-tapping of 
Kauri is destructive to the timber, even when the tapping is done with 
narrow slits, and using all practical precautions possible. It is con- 
sidered that once the bark is eut through and the living sapwood reached, 
the resin (‘gum ’’) runs out like water from a sieve! If, on the other 
2— Forestry 
