Forest conservation and the reciprocal timber trade between New Zealand and New South Wales, 1880s-1920s

Environment and History

Volumn 14, Issue 4, 2008, Pages 497-522

  Stubbs, Brett J ^a  

^a SOUTHERN CROSS UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Butter boxes; Forest conservation; Hoop pine; Ironbank; Kahikatea; New South Wales; New Zealand; Timber trade

Indexed keywords

CONSERVATION; FOREST MANAGEMENT; NINETEENTH CENTURY; TIMBER TRADE;

AUSTRALASIA; AUSTRALIA; NEW SOUTH WALES; NEW ZEALAND;

ARAUCARIA CUNNINGHAMII; DACRYCARPUS DACRYDIOIDES; EUCALYPTUS; EUCALYPTUS CREBRA; EUCALYPTUS PANICULATA; EUCALYPTUS SIDEROPHLOIA;

EID: 57249083997     PISSN: 09673407     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3197/096734008X368411     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (94)

1. For example: B.J. Stubbs, 'Land Improvement or Institutionalised Destruction? The Ring-barking Controversy, 1879-1884, and the Emergence of a Conservation Ethic in New South Wales', Environment and History 4 (1998): 145-67, doi: 10.3197/096734098779555628;
2. W. Frost, 'Australia Unlimited? Environmental Debate in the Age of Catastrophe, 1910-1939', Environment and History 10 (2004): 285-303, doi:10.3197/0967340041794295;
3. G. Wynn, 'Destruction under the Guise of Improvement? The Forest, 1840-1920', in E. Pawson and T. Brooking (eds.), Environmental Histories of New Zealand (South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2002), 100-16.
4. R. Dalrymple-Hay, 'The Timber Trade of New South Wales', Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 10, 9 (1899): 865-6.
5. Botanical names and common names are those current in the period, although some have changed subsequently. Imperial units are used throughout. One superficial foot (Sft) refers to the volume of a piece of timber 12x12x1 inches (304.8004.8x24.5mm). One million Sft of sawn timber = 2360 cubic metres.
6. A fourth species, E. sideroxylon (Mugga, or red ironbark) was considered inferior to the others.
7. J.H. Maiden, 'Useful Australian Plants. No. 3. Ironbarks', Agricultural Gazette of few South Wales 4 (1894): 751-61;
8. New South Wales (hereinafter NSW), Department of Lands, 'Report of the Forestry Branch for the period I st January 1904, to 30 June 1905', Parliamentary Papers, 1905, vol. 3: 10.
9. J.H. Maiden, 'Notes on the Commercial Timbers of New South Wales', Agricultural Gazette offew South Wales 6 (1895): 815-43;
10. R.T. Baker, The Hardwoods of Australia and their Economics (Sydney: Technological Museum, 1919);
11. D.J. Boland,M.I.H. Brooker, G.M. Chippendale, N. Hall, B.P.M. Hyland, R.D. Johnston, D.A. Kleinig and J.D. Turner, Forest Trees of Australia (Melbourne: Nelson Wadsworth and CSIRO, 1984).
12. J.H. Maiden,'Useful Australian Plants. No. 10. The Tallow-wood', Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 5 (1894): 289-97.
13. J.H. Maiden, 'Useful Australian Plants. No. 13. The Blackbutt', Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 5 (1894): 681-8.
14. J.H. Maiden 'Useful Australian Plants. No. 12. The Turpentine-tree', Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 5 (1894): 463-7;
15. J.H. Maiden and J.V. de Coque, 'Report on Turpentine Timber, with Especial Reference to its Resistance to Cobra (Teredo)', Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 6 (1895): 735-43;
16. Anon, 'Turpentine Timber for Wharf Piles', Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, 3 January 1905, 79-82.
17. J.C. Beaglehole (ed.), The Journals of Captain James Cook on his Voyages of Discovery, I. The Voyage of the Endeavour, 1768-1771 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1955), 393.
18. Town and Country Journal, 8 April 1871, 426.
19. 'Principal exports from the Clarence River by sea in the years 1857-1867 to July 1, 1886 (from shipping reports)', Appendix to evidence on northern rivers, NSW, 'Royal Commission - Conservation of Water, Third and Final Report of the Commissioners', Legislative Council, Journal 42 (1887): 186.
20. 'Royal Commission - Conservation of Water', 139, evidence of William Goodyer, 26 October 1886.
21. Town and Country Journal, 22 January 1887, 185.
22. 'Royal Commission - Conservation of Water', Appendix 2 to evidence on Northern Rivers. The available statistics are ambiguous on this point, so this is a tentative interpretation only.
23. Sydney Morning Herald, 27 November 1880, 7.
24. NSW, Department of Mines, 'Forest Branch Annual Report [for 1886]', Legislative Council, Journal 43 (1887-88): 47. Monetary values have been rounded.
25. Northern Star (Lismore), 1 June 1887, citing Sydney Morning Herald, 23 and 24 May 1887.
26. NSW, Department of Mines,'Annual Report of the Forest Branch [for 1882 and 18831', Legislative Council, Journal 36 (1883-84): 25, 28-31.
27. 'The Strength and Elasticity of New South Wales Timbers of Commercial Value', by W. H. Warren (Whitworth Scholar; Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London; Professor of Engineering at the University of Sydney) in 'Forest Branch Annual Report [for 1886]', 2-16. Warren's report was prepared to accompany the timber exhibits in the New South Wales Courts at the Adelaide Jubilee Exhibition (1887) and the Melbourne Centenary Exhibition (1888).
28. The statistical reporting period changed from calendar years in 1889, and no data are available for the first six months of that year. After 1889, years referred to herein are years ending 30 June.
29. NSW, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, 1890, 'Report... relating to the proposed improvements to the entrance of the Clarence River', Legislative Council, Journal 47 (1890), 'Summaries of Clarence River shipping', Appendix A. A separate summary of the Clarence River trade for the year 1888-9 has 2,287,690 feet of sawn hardwood timber, 3,000 piles and girders, and 43,000 sleepers leaving the Clarence River by sailing vessels, i.e. to New Zealand and to Victoria.
30. See 'Report... relating to the proposed improvements to the entrance of the Clarence River', evidence of Richard Cooke, Secretary to the Clarence, Richmond, and Macleay Rivers Steam Navigation Company Limited, 30 October 1889.
31. 'Report... relating to the proposed improvements to the entrance of the Clarence River', evidence of John See, 29 October 1889.
32. NSW, 'Annual Progress Report of State Forest Administration in New South Wales for the year 1891', Legislative Council, Journal 50 (1892-3): 33.
33. NSW, 'Annual Progress Report of State Forest Administration in New South Wales for the year 1890', Legislative Council, Journal 49 (1891-2): 40.
34. NSW, 'Annual Progress Report of State Forest Administration in New South Wales for the year 1892', Legislative Council, Journal 50 (1892-3): 10.
35. NSW, Department of Agriculture and Forests, 'First Report [for 1893]', Legislative Council, Journal 52 (1894): 17.
36. NSW,'Report on Agriculture and Forestry to 31st December 1897. Legislative Council', Journal 57 (1898): 37-9, 49-50.
37. 'Report on Agriculture and Forestry to 31st December 1897', 49-50.
38. NSW, Department of Lands, 'Eighteenth Annual Report of the Department of Lands being for the year 1897 [incl. Forest Branch report for half year ended 31 December 1897]', Legislative Council, Journal, 57 (1898): 13.
39. 'Report on Agriculture and Forestry to 31st December 1897', 5.
40. 'Forest Branch', in NSW, Department of Lands, 'Twentieth Annual Report of the Department of Lands being for the year 1899', Legislative Assembly, Votes and Proceedings, 1900, vol. 3: 15.
41. A total of 16.8 million Sft of this was rough timber, representing nearly 86 per cent of the value of the 1902 timber export trade.
42. NSW, Department of Lands, 'Report of the Forestry Branch for the year 1902', Legislative Council, Journal 65 (1903): 8-9.
43. The principal item was rough timber - 73,129,539 Sft, valued at £375,953. Of this, some 23.7 million Sft came from New Zealand; 3.6 million Sft from Canada; and 23.7 million Sft from the United States of America.
44. 'Report of the Forestry Branch for the year 1902', 8-9.
45. NSW, Department of Lands, Forestry Conference, Friday 26th October, 1900 (Sydney: 1901), 57-8.
46. Forestry Conference, 34.
47. 'Report on Agriculture and Forestry to 31 December 1897', 5.
48. NSW, Government Gazette, 16 May 1900, 3781;
49. Sydney Morning Herald, 18 May 1900, 8. Australia, New Zealand, Canada and western USA are unusual in that much of the forest was on Crown/State not private or communal land. In New South Wales, the colonial government first reserved areas of Crown land for timber supply in the early 1870s, and in 1878 first charged royalty on some timber removed from some reserves.
50. Sydney Morning Herald, 29 June 1900, 7.
51. A notice to that effect appeared in NSW, Government Gazette, 30 June 1900, 5087.
52. Sydney Morning Herald, 29 June 1900, 7.
53. Forestry Conference, 49-51.
54. NSW, Government Gazette, 17 November 1900, 9012.
55. Timber and Quarry Regulations, NSW, Government Gazette, 2 April 1902, 2591-6.
56. Forestry Conference, 6, 50, 53. Henry Deane, whose department (Public Works) was the largest user of ironbark of any, thought another reason for the depletion of the timber might be that no opportunity was given for young trees to grow up and replace those cut down. He blamed the conditions under which the forests were leased for pastoral purposes, and the practice of burning the undergrowth to promote the growth of grass.
57. W. L. Vernon, 'Preservation of New South Wales Timbers', Appendix G, 'Report of conference on conservation and supply of timbers in the state of New South Wales'; Appendix A, NSW, Department of Lands, 'Report of the Forestry Branch for the period 1 July 1906 to 30 June 1907', Parliamentary Papers, 1907 (2nd session), vol. 1.
58. New Zealand, 'Report of the Commission on the timber and timber-building industries', AJHR 1909, H24, xiv.
59. Sydney Morning Herald, 6 June 1903, 7.
60. Beaglehole, The Voyage of the Endeavour, 1768-1771, 205-7.
61. See also G. Park, Nga Uruora: Groves of Life (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 1995), chapter 1.
62. Queensland, 'Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture and Stock for 1905-06', Parliamentary Papers 1906, vol. 2, 103.
63. These regulations also applied to cheese, but cheese production in NSW, mainly confined to the south coast, was insignificant compared to butter, and little was exported.
64. 'Report on Agriculture and Forestry to 31 December 1897', 37, 40-1.
65. Forestry Conference, 31.
66. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed on 1 January 1901 by the federation of six self-governing colonies. Among the many colonial responsibilities transferred to the Commonwealth under the Australian Constitution was trade and commerce with other countries, including the imposition of customs duties.
67. This maintained the status quo in New South Wales and Victoria where under the Colonial tariffs such timber had been imported free of duty. In Queensland, however, there had been a duty of 4 shillings per 100 super. feet upon New Zealand pine, and Queensland timber industry interests strongly opposed the exemption.
68. Australia, 'Royal Commission on Customs and Excise Tariffs', Commonwealth Parliamentary Papers 1906, vol. 5, Minutes of Evidence, 541-7.
69. 'Royal Commission on Customs and Excise Tariffs', Minutes of Evidence, 561, 570-2.
70. Queensland, 'Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture and Stock for 1904-05', Parliamentary Papers 1905, vol. 2, 8. 'Richmond pine' refers to A. cunninghamii growing in the Richmond River district of northern New South Wales.
71. NSW, Department of Lands, 'Report of the Forestry Branch for the period 1st July 1905 to 30th June 1906', Parliamentary Papers, 1906, vol. 1, 6. In the year 1905-06, for example, about 22 million sft of undressed oregon, mainly from Canada, was imported into New South Wales. This represented 18 per cent of the total value of timber imports to the State from all sources. By comparison, about 38 million sft of undressed New Zealand pine was imported in the same year, representing 29 per cent of the total value of timber imports.
72. 'Royal Commission on Customs and Excise Tariffs', Minutes of Evidence, 567, 571 and 575. Estimates of the proportion of imported New Zealand white pine used for butter boxes varied from 'a little more than half' to 'about 65 per cent'. Evidence to the New Zealand Royal Commission in 1913 suggested that it may have been as little as 40 per cent.
73. Anon., 'Timber for Butter Boxes', Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 13 (1902): 314-315;
74. F. B. Guthrie, 'Timber for Butter-boxes, Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, 2 March 1906, 290-1.
75. 'Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture and Stock for 1904-05', 8- 10;
76. 'Royal Commission on Customs and Excise Tariffs', Minutes of Evidence, 548-9;
77. Richmond River Express, 6 March 1906.
78. NSW, 'Royal Commission of Inquiry on Forestry, Interim report, 26 November 1907', Parliamentary Papers, 1907 (2nd session), vol. 1.
79. NSW, Forestry Commission, 'Report of the Forestry Commission for the year ended 31 December 1928', Parliamentary Papers, 1928-29, vol. 1, 4.
80. Others were ringbarking, the opening of timber reserves to settlement, and the lack of a separate department to manage forestry.
81. 'Our timbers', Sydney Morning Herald, 15 March 1905, 5.
82. 'Royal Commission of Inquiry on Forestry, Interim report'.
83. During the ten years from 1894 to 1903 inclusive, 2,302,378 sleepers were used for renewals on New South Wales Government railways, an average of 230,238 sleepers per annum, on an average mileage of open lines of 2,703 miles, that is, about 85 sleepers per mile of line, or about 4 per cent of the sleepers on the road. This gave an average life of twenty-five years for the whole. A considerable proportion of the sleepers replaced were originally 'first class Ironbark', however, giving an average life somewhat higher than could be expected in the future as less durable timbers were used in place of increasingly scarce ironbark. Report by Mr James Fraser, Engineer-in-Chief for Existing Lines, New South Wales Government Railways, under date 5th January, 1905, on Timbers used for railway Construction, in NSW, Department of Lands, 'Report of the Forestry Branch for the period 1st January, 1904, to 30 June 1905', Parliamentary Papers, 1905, vol. 3, 13.
84. 'Royal Commission of Inquiry on Forestry, Interim report'.
85. See Victoria, Legislative Assembly, Parliamentary Debates, No. 6, 562.
86. Forestry Conference, 31.
87. T.A. Coghlan, Wealth and progress of New South Wales 1900-1901, 13th issue (Sydney: NSW Government Printer, 1902), 651.
88. New South Wales, Legislative Assembly, Parliamentary Debates, 29 July and 5 August 1909, 915, 1079.
89. 'Royal Commission on Customs and Excise Tariffs', Minutes of Evidence, 547, 571.
90. New Zealand 'The timber industry in New Zealand in 1907', Annual Journal of the House of Representatives 1907, C4, 1-2. Sawn, undressed timber exports from New Zealand are aggregated until 1913. In that year, white pine constituted 70 per cent of exports of this class of timber. The same is assumed here to have applied in 1906 when total sawn, undressed exports were 74 million super. feet.
91. New Zealand, Report of the Royal Commission on Forestry together with minutes of proceedings and of evidence (1913).
92. New Zealand 'Third annual report of the Board of Trade', AJHR 1919, H4, 5-6.
93. W. C. Ward, Dominion Sawmillers Federation Incorporated, 1917-1967: 50 Years A History (Wellington: Dominion Sawmillers Federation, 1967), 102-110;
94. M. M. Roche, '"New Zealand Timber for the New Zealanders": Regulatory Controls and the Dislocation of the Pacific Rim Timber Trade in the 1920s and 1930s', in R. Le Heron, M. Roche and M. Shepherd, Geography and Society in a Global Context, New Zealand Geographical Society Conference Series no. 14 (1987).