Books - New Zealand - History | |
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Price | 90.00 NZD |
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SKU | 601430 |
Kauri to Radiata - Hardback, 442 Pages - Published: 1973 - Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, Auckland - Used condition, Book itself very fine, dust jacket has faults Kauri to Radiata - "I have nothing but admiration for the enterprise, ingenuity and vigour of the timber men of New Zealand. Who better to write their story than one who started logging the kauris of Coromandel and finished with the radiata of the Kaingaroa Forest." - These words from Lord Porritt's foreword to Kauri to Radiata give an indication of Thomas Simpson's personal knowledge of an industry that is even more important today than at any other stage of its long and colourful history. Mr Simpson writes not only from his own experience, although that provides a stimulating background. With enthusiasm and devotion he has delved back to the earliest days of the industry, interviewed old bushmen, analysed a host of statistics, traced the story of companies and men who have made their mark in forestry and associated commerce. - His book is a remarkable factual miscellany. Where was New Zealand's first sawmill? How do you work a bullock team or build a timber dam? What is a skidded road or a skyline hauler? The author tells you this and much more. He describes the days when kauri was king, when rimu was scorned and radiata was considered boxwood. He traces, in great detail, the decline and depletion of our native forests and the emergence of the exotic radiata pine as the cornerstone of a wide ranging industry. He tells of the men who worked in the bush and the mills from the North Auckland peninsula to the King Country and the Wairarapa, to Southland and the West Coast. He describes with equal enthusiasm the machines that, today as in the past, have made possible the harvest of the forests. - All those who have been concerned in any way with the timber industry will find plenty to interest them in Kauri to Radiata. And it will have much for the general reader who wants to know more about an integral part of our life and national story. - Tom Simpson was born at Kuaotunu, on the Coromandel Peninsula, one of a family of nine, and was brought up in a farming, cartage (horse) and later butchery business environment. When he volunteered for service in World War I at the age of nineteen he was the fourth in his family to serve abroad. He began his fourteen-year stint in indigenous logging in 1920 as teamster for Hamilton and Jones who were contracting in the Mercury Bay district. After seven years as logging manager for Wm Casey Ltd, the Auckland sawmillers, he farmed at Kuaotunu for twelve years. He was active in sporting and local affairs and was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1946. - He began a sixteen-year association with logging exotic timber in 1947 when he sold his farm and joined the New Zealand Forest Service at Kaingaroa Forest. In 1954 he was logging superintendent, commercial division (Waipa) and in 1958 was appointed to head office, Wellington, as New Zealand Forest Service logging superintendent, from which position he retired in June 1963. Mr Simpson is married, with two children and six grand children. Author: Thomas Simpson ISBN: 0340177381