N.G. Timber
p. 36 · Read in the full issue
Fine Samples From Bulolo
A REMARKABLY fine range of timbers has been brought to Syd ney from the Bulolo, by Mr. Chas.
Booth, one of the pioneers of the Mor obe Goldfield.
Mr. Booth has settled down on rich land on a hillside overlooking She Bulolo River, in New Guinea, and is building for himself a large new house.
On his holding he has planted all kinds of fruit trees and vegetables be longing to the temperate and sub-trop ical zones, and they are flourishing amazingly. This is an indication that up on this high plateau, where the Morobe Goldfield is situated, the clim atic conditions are temperate, and com fortable for Europeans.
All down the Bulolo River, where gold is now being intensively sought, there are good forests of valuable timber, and Mr. Booth has made a plan to float this timber down the Bulolo, Watut and Markham Rivers to the coast, where it will be prepared for shipment to the available markets by a saw-mill located near the mouth of the Markham.
Mr. Booth and his associates intend to form a company, but are being held up because the timber leases covering the area in question, which were ap plied for about the end of 1926, have not yet been supported by the issue of the official license. No reason for the delay has been given. The ap proval of the Administrator was ad vised in a formal letter from the Sec retary of the Lands and Mines De partment at Rabaul. dated December 23, 1930; but since then all efforts to secure the licenses have been in vain.
Mr. Booth and his friends, however, are still hopeful.
The timber in greatest abundance along the Bulolo is hoop pine and bunya pine, which are quite suitable for the making of butter boxes and for similar purposes. There is a fair quan tity of beautiful cedar and a good deal of Pacific maple—both timbers very suitable for fine cabinet-making. There is also a quantity of a timber called pometia pinnata, and an oak that closely resembles English oak.
Mr. Booth’s display of these timber samples in Sydney was examined with much interest by various people.