[?]e Went Where The

Was "Do It Yourself" [?]e Went Where The Walnut Grows

\th the American people clam ig for furniture made of New uea Blue Walnut, timber buyer Edmondson, of Oregon, USA, Jaced with a big problem.

MONDSON had already used up a trial shipment and the •esponse from buyers had been ood that he had ordered more. :no more was coming, and the omers were waiting, xere was nowhere else he could for supplies because New aea is the only known place •e the Blue Walnut grows, xat was the story behind londson’s arrival in Rabaul re ly, and the discovery that heavy s and bad weather have hit the Guinea timber industry more ily than many people imagine, mondson found that the delay upplies was mainly caused by fact that rain-soaked timber ;ts in New Britain presented in xountable difficulties to the local s which were trying to log the <er. ■actors were bogged and other pment rendered useless by the i of the ground, me of the local timber men also led the position somewhat on Administration’s timber lease ;y. Things were so slow in mov they said, that it was often dif t to reach finality in logging ngements.

He Went After It ie upshot of the matter was Edmondson spent hours in s, in jeeps and on foot chasing areas of Blue Walnut where he could find them and mak what arrangements he could to the timber out. me of the new supplies have ady been brought into Rabaul loading overseas, lid Edmondson: “The trip has i worthwhile. The people in ;rica want this wood for their ial furniture, and arrangements j been made with your people ) to maintain as steady a supply )ossible.” ost of the timber is used in ;er form. It is sent to America litches, steam-heated and sliced. of the interesting features it the processing is that if the perature of the wood is raised rapidly the sap sets into a ent-like compound which defies ing and makes the wood useless, ause of this it is raised to well • 200 degrees at a controlled in ise of only about a degree an r.