Logs by the Hundred

Hundreds of logs totalling some 960,000 feet were loaded on to the Kaiyo Maru for shipment to Japan. This was the first load to be shipped out of Gisborne and was made possible by the new wharf.

The sale to Japan was negotiated by Holts Ltd., while sub-contracts for the supply of logs were let to Dick Twisleton Ltd. and Des Phelps, both cartage contractors. Dick Twisleton and his staff were also in charge of the measuring and stacking of the logs on the Kaiti foreshore (prior to loading from the main wharf), where they were assisted by Shozi Nagasako, a representative of Toyomenka Ltd., one of the purchasing companies.

Logs are supplied from bush and plantation areas at'Matawai, Tauwhareparae (at the back of Tolaga Bay), the back of Tokomaru Bay and Cape Runaway.

On these first and second pages we have pictures of the loading operations at the wharf, and on the third and fourth pages are pictures taken in the Tauwhareparae area where Des Phelps's gang is cutting out logs from a plantation containing an estimated 25,000,000 feet.

Incidentally, here is an interesting fact about the Kaiyo Maru. It was only six months from the time the keel was laid till it arrived at Mt. Maunganui to load its first cargo of logs. It has since made thirteen more trips and this call to Gisborne was the first to another port other than Mt. Maunganui.

From the superstructure of the Kaiyo Maru, logs are seen being loaded on board where all the logs from Gisborne were stacked on deck. The other part of the cargo, also logs, had been loaded at Mt. Maunganui.