WAIPARI TIMBER COMPANY LIMITED

1961 - 1970


CHAPTER TWENTY ONE (from Arthur Jewell's book 'History of the Fletcher Timber Company)

Although Fletcher timber purchased all Waipari's shares in late 1969 for most of its short life it was owned by Fletchers (2/3rds) and Ellis and Burnands (1/3rd). The records of its activities are included in this history as Fletcher Timber was involved in the Company throughout the whole decade.

In the late 1950s the Kauri Timber company began its belated attempts to obtain increased indigenous resources. One of the results of this drive was the offer of cutting rights over Puketapu 3A a block owned by the Maori Incorporation of that name. The Incorporation had logged all the easy country during the 1950s and had developed some good farms on the cut-over land. The deal was really too big for Kauri's Melbourne Directors so Howard Johnson the chairman of Kauri Sawmills (an New Zealand subsidiary of Kauri Timber Company Melbourne) discussed the possibility of a joint-venture with an associated company, Ellis and Burnand. They were very interested because they were running out of indigenous resources themselves and at that time were negotiating the sale of their Manunui Plywood Factory and Sawmill to New Zealand Plywoods (South Island) Limited, a company owned equally by Fletchers and KTC. The would be purchasers wanted an assurance of a good peeler log supply and the Puketapu resource gave Ellis and Burnand the possibilities of such a supply.

The Puketapu Incorporation would only sell its cutting rights if the purchaser brought their sawmill at Taringamotu, their joinery factories at Taumarunui and Eltham and their timber yards at Hawera, Eltham and Taumarunui. Their assets other than their joinery factories were all very second hand - small and were well run down, and the markets they served were small. Kauri Sawmills were desperate for indigenous timber supplies and were prepared to accept such a deal.

In January 1960 the Manunui Plywood Factory was sold to New Zealand Plywoods (South Island) and Fletcher Industries became its managers. Terry Barrett the General Manager of Kauri New Zealand was now able to bring Fletchers into the deal. Kauri Sawmill's Directors Minute Book records on 24 May 1960 that "a joint venture of Fletchers, Ellis and Burnand and Kauri Sawmills had been established" and that "discussions on the question of valuations etc with the owners of Puketapu were underway".

It was not until the Kauri Timber Company (NZ) Board meeting of 20 April 1961 that Terry Barrett could report that Fletcher Industries had agreed to sign the joint agreement. Fletcher Holding's purchase in June 1961 of Kauri Timber Company's interests in New Zealand changed the whole pattern of the joint venture. Fletcher now had a 57% interest in Ellis and Burnand Limited, and they had 100% ownership in Manunui Plywood Factory and in Kauri Sawmills. J.C. Fletcher decided to change the proposed joint venture into a company. So Waipari Timber Company Limited was formed with Fletcher Timber holding 2/3rds of the shares and Ellis and Burnand the rest.

On the 20 April 1961 Kauri signed the agreement for the Sale and Purchase of Puketapu assets, having signed the agreement for the timber cutting rights the previous day. The principals of the Puketapu Incorporation were Pat Hura (Chairman), Tori Jones, Wally Jones and Brian Jones (Secretary). The local name for the block was Moerangi and there was a logging settlement in a bush clearing of that name. The companies controlled by the Incorporation included Puketapu Sawmilling Co. Tamaiwhana Timber Co and the Moerangi Timber Co.

Payment of the deposit of £154,717 [$4.8 million in 1994 values] was made by Fletcher Holdings on 31 July 1961. The first appointments to the Waipari Board were J.L.Hahn, John Gray (Ellis and Burnand), T.C.B. Cooper and K.A Civil. Laurie McDowell from Kauri Sawmills, Edgecumbe was appointed Area Manager, stationed at Taumarunui.

Kauri's cutting rights over Puketapu were assigned to Waipari in October 1961. At this stage the opportunity was taken to include the Manunui Sawmill and at a later stage the ex Kauri Hawera business in the Waipari Timber Company's which now covered these activities.

Taumarunui Area - Sawmills Taringamotu ex Puketapu
Manunui ex Fletcher Industries
- Joinery Factory Taitua St ex Puketapu
- Retail Yard Taitua St ex Puketapu




Taranaki Area - Sawmill Eltham ex Puketapu
- Joinery Factory Eltham ex Puketapu
- Retail Yard Eltham ex Puketapu
- Joinery Factory Hawera ex Kauri
- Retail Yard Hawera ex Kauri
- Retail Yard Hawera ex Puketapu

When the Company first started operations all activities, logging, sawmilling, processing and retailing were under the control of L.R. McDowell. The logging operations were proving very difficult, the country was very broken and the roading system in place at the time of purchase was not suitable for the whole block. Fletcher Timber loaned experience bush supervisors Geoff Transon and Wally Milligan to Waipari to run the logging. In 1964 Fletcher Timber took over the bush operations and their most experienced man Les Cann took charge and was stationed at Moerangi. Pat Sullivan who had been running Fletcher's Taranaki logging moved to the Puketapu bush in early 1966 as the emphasis of log haulage moved from tractor to hauler operations. A major move was made when a Westminster Hauler was purchased and used in the bush. Brian Henry as a Director of Waipari masterminded the construction of this three drum hauler which carried over 800 metres of main cable of 1 3/4" (445mm) wire rope and was mounted on an Athey Track Assembly to give it mobility.

Until the Caterpillar tractor took over log haulage in the 1940s and 1950s almost all the logging had been done by stationery hauler units. Butler Bros had pioneered these haulers in the South Island in the early 1900's. This Waipari hauler was really a modern diesel powered mobile unit and enabled a lot of country to be worked which would have been uneconomic and in some cases impossible for tractor hauling. Roading was a real problem and under the guidance of Wally Milligan a major road was constructed from the bed of the Waipari stream to the Turangi - Manunui road and so reducing the log cartage by some 10 miles. It was a great achievement as much of the formation was through wet papa mudstone. A small cutting on the road was featured on the cover page of the Winter 1964 issue of Arrowhead. Throughout the life of the bush great emphasis was placed on the extraction of the maximum volumes of peeler logs.

Waipari took over three sawmills, the largest was located at Taringamotu just north of Taumarunui. it was a very old unit which had been closed down in 1956 when the resources of the original owners had been cut-out. The Puketapu Incorporation had purchased it in 1958 and when the 1961 agreement was reached it was under the control of Stan Dawson who ran the mill until 1970. Jack McIndoe followed Stan and he ran the mill until it was closed on the 31 August 1971. At that time it was estimated that the mill had cut over 200 million board feet of timber. The second mill had been purchased from Fletcher Industries. Ellis and Burnand built it possibly in the late 1940s after they had closed down their large sawmill on that site. Waipari ran the mill until the mid 1960s after which it concentrated it sawmilling at Taringamotu. The third sawmill was at Eltham. It was a small mill which had been built by Henry Clement in 1947 on land he had purchased from the Egmont Box Company who had operated a large sawmill and box factory on the site from 1899 to 1946. This was the era when butter and cheese was exported in wooden boxes and crates. In 1948 Puketapu Incorporation purchased Henry Clement's mill and operated it until 1961 when the Waipari purchase took place. This mill cut indigenous and exotic logs on a very small scale until it was finally closed in December 1975.

The outputs of the three sawmills were first allocated for Waipari's use (approximately 50%). The residue was sold to Fletcher Timber and Ellis Burnand in the same proportion as their shareholding.

The Waipari Joinery and Timber retail business was directed mainly to local markets but under the aggressive management of Russell McKain, the Eltham Joinery Factory sold products in Auckland and Wellington areas. In 1964, a very small retail branch was opened in Stratford. The practicability of starting up in New Plymouth was investigated and a suitable site purchased but the branch was never built.

Waipari was involved in exporting logs from New Plymouth in 1968 but due to a down turn in the Japanese market these operations were short lived. In May 1968 Fletcher Timber offered its interests in Waipari to Ellis and Burnand Limited but the offer was withdrawn in September of that year. Soon after, Fletchers purchased Ellis and Burnand interests. In June 1969 the Fletcher Timber Company's Board decided that Waipari should be sold if a buyer could be found. In the meantime the Grey Street Hawera operations were closed and in 1969 the land was sold to the Egmont Power Board.

The bush resources were now causing concern. In the early 1960s the Waipari Board had materially reduced the original estimates of bush volumes but in October 1969 John Groome, a Forestry Consultant from Taupo did a detailed appraisal and reported that only two years' supply remained, not four as had been estimated.

In February 1969 Fletcher Timber purchased all the timber stocks at Waipari and in September their plant and smaller vehicles. On the 22 May 1970 Taumarunui Joinery Factory was closed down.

On the 17 February 1970 the Fletcher Timber Board decided to phase out the Waipari Timber Company and at having this done by September of that year. The move took place on time. Newsletter of 4 November 1970 reported that "Waipari Timber operations are under the auspices of Ken Civil, Executive Director of the North Island Timber Division, and in a recent re-organisation all the Taranaki operations, plus Taumarunui retail, will be managed by Morrie Peters as from 1 December, and the logging and sawmilling operations at Taumarunui will be under the control of Jack Butterworth, General Production Manager, Ngongotaha. Further appointments are: David Dewar - Manager, Hawera Branch; Stan Dawson - Sawmill Manager, Taumarunui, and Bob Lewis - Office Manager, Taumarunui".

In effect Waipari was now phased out, nine years after its formation.