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indigenous timber continuing to exceed supply, there is naturally an increasing field of buyers eager to secure bush or log supplies. This is reflected in the higher tenders now frequently received for areas or logs advertised for sale. 65. Rotorua Exotic Forest Log Production. —To provide supplies for the new Kaingaroa Sawmill and for an increase in output at the Waipa Sawmill, the total output of the logging operations in the Eotorua exotic forests was expanded and totalled 3,067,477 cubic feet (2,582,138). Details of the species produced are as follows :

In accordance with the working plan for Whakarewarewa Forest, the output of larch was increased and that of Corsican pine reduced ; the operations in these larch areas will be continued during the current year. Of the total sawlog production, 14 per cent: (19) came from thinning operations. Logs obtained from Whakarewarewa and Waiotapu Forests included 337,500 cubic feet (192,587) unsuitable for sawing, and this quantity was sold either as mine props or as firewood or was delivered to the creosoting plant for treatment as fencing-materials or poles. The wage-incentive plan, which has proved successful in stimulating production, was continued during the year in both Kaingaroa and Whakarewarewa clear-felling and thinning operations. A total of £1,779 (£1,681) in bonuses was earned by the gangs, an average increase in wages of 54 per cent. (6-8). 66. Milling Operations. —Waipa Sawmill: During the year, the Waipa Sawmill continued to operate on a forty-eight-hour-week basis. The four log-frames operating on 258 days produced 12,649,000 board feet of sawn timber, and the circular rig, working both a day and a night shift on 258 days, produced 4,132,000 board feet. The total cut of the mill was 16,781,000 board feet (16,139,000), again a record for the plant. Logs received for sawing were insignis pine, 73 per cent. (76); Corsican pine, 5 per cent. (16); and larch, 22 per cent. The circular rig was again utilized for the production of scantling from the larger and rougher logs for the building industry. The total production in widths 6 in. and under amounted to 88 per cent. (86) and in widths over 9 in. to 2 per cent. (4). In the log-frame mill, which supplies the box-factory with as much wide timber as possible, the proportion of widths up to 6 in. was 57 per cent. (55) and 8-5 per cent. (9) was sawn in widths exceeding 9 in. The increased amount of timber cut in the narrower widths was due to the smaller average diameter of the logs supplied.

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Species. Whakarewarewa Forest. Waiotapu Forest. Kaingaroa Forest. Totals. Percentages. 1947-48. 1946-47. Insignia pine Corsican pine Larch Eucalyptus Douglas fir Other species .. .. 1947^8— Totals Percentages 1946-47— Totals Percentages Cu. ft. 945,789 125,686 545,820 50,656 394 455 Cu. ft. 13,474 68,138 611 Cu. ft. 1,306,047 6,856 3,551 Cu. ft. 2,251,836 146,016 613,958 51,267 3,945 455 73 77 5 16 20 5 2 1 1 1,668,800 54 82,223 3 1,316,454 43 3.067,477 1,503,000 57 255,000 10 855,000 1 33 ! i 2,613,000 i