‘ ~ ne 
76 OUTLINE OF GENERAL ‘* WORKING-PLAN. 
of nearly din. of sawdust in cutting a lin. plank. Small sawmills 
cannot be avoided where the stand of millable timber is low or scattered, 
but the penalty in wasteful working is often high. . ta 
The secretary of the Kauri Timber Company (‘Timber Commission of 
1909, p. 565) and the manager of the large Ruatapu Mills on the West 
Coast (Forest Commission, p. 57) both estimate their sawing-waste at 
25 per cent. Forbes, the well-known Irish forester, has estimated the 
general sawing-waste in England at one-quarter; the sawmills (as, 
indeed, in Europe generally) are often small and wasteful. 
With band-saw sawing, and the much more complete utilization of 
Kauri timber now and in the future, I shall take one-fifth as a liberal 
allowance for Kauri sawing-waste in the future. This then gives twice 
one-fifth as the total deduction from the volume of sound timber of logs 
in the round—viz., Squaring as given in Hoppus’s, Maw’s, or other 
English tables, really 21:5 per cent., say one-fifth loss; sawing-waste on 
sound squared logs, less utilizable branch-wood in the crown, again 
one-fifth, so that the total two-fifths comes very near the common general 
rule of one-half waste. 
Into the “‘ welter of American log rules’’ it is not necessary to enter 
here. They are convenient millers’ rules used in sawing-practice. 
They express for the various classes of logs the number of board feet 
the log will yield when well sawn up. 
3 
True Cubte Content.—Those who defend ‘‘ quarter-girth ’’ cubic foot 
say, Why trouble about the true volume when all logs have to be squared? 
But all logs have not to be squared; and where valuable timbers are 
concerned the true cubic contents have to be taken into account. 
In Australia, in the cabinetmakers’ shops they use up every scrap 
of their valuable timbers—Kauri, Blackwood, and Cedar. Again, as 
timber gets scarcer in New Zealand half-round sleepers may economically 
come into use, particularly in sidings and branch lines. They are used 
to a large extent on the Continent of Europe (not in England—they pack 
wastefully on board ship) and to some extent in Australia, particularly 
Queensland. (See ‘‘ Australian Forestry,’ p. 295: Perth, 1916.) The 
half-round sapwood sleeper is the best for antiseptic treatment. TI have 
not seen them in New Zealand. 
In the huge limbs of Kauri there are large quantities of good figured 
furniture-wood, but in selling a tree it is very difficult to estimate that. 
Under wasteful methods of working and low prices it has been usually 
burnt, With higher prices for timber, and haulage on good roads, it 
1s certain to be used (instead of wasted) in the future. 
{ am of opinion that the fairest way to sell trees is on the true cubic 
content of the bole withthe crown thrown in, That is the practice with 
the New Zealand class of tree in South Africa. What the miller gets 
out of this will depend on markets and his own equipment and skill. 
Government milling, with its wide command of markets and good mill 
equipment, should be the most economical under good management , 
and I hope will be more largely followed in New Zealand. State saw- 
mills should deal only with the true cubic content of a log and show 
what they get out of it, relegating the hoary Hoppus and quarter-girth 
naa to what it really is—a trade trick, like the 14 oz. pot 
of jam 
_ Paper and For m-factors.—As above, the allowance for taper in Kauri 
is usually from 6in. to 12in. of girth per 20 ft. length of log; 12 in. 
