The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1913-11-18
Philippine FORESTS IN
WIFE AMERICAN ENTERPRISES

Philippine FORESTS IN
WIFE AMERICAN ENTERPRISES
The first big sale of Philippine
timber, offering opportunities for lum.
bermen in the United States, has
just been announced by the bureau of
ment.
While there are American firms op-
Grating in the Philippines, it is point
ed out by the officials of the bureau
that the Philippine Islands offer to
prospective lumbermen chances for
most improved machinery Methods
in the world. The forest officers of
the Philippines state that the Islands
contain 200 billion feet of merchan-
table timber for which there is a
large present demand and that prac-
tically all of it is owned by the gov
ernment and is available under favor
able terms. In almost all cases the
forests can be easily logged by the
most improved machinery are meth
| ods
The timber, itself, it is pointed out,
includes structural material of great
value, in addition to many fine hard
woods particularly suited to cabinet
| work. In this latter class some of
| the most plentiful woods may be sold
| in competition with mahogany, such
| is their beauty of grain and richness
of color. Manila is only two days
| distance from Hongkong and China,
which has largely exhausted it's tim
Der, furnishes a ready market. Japan,
Australia, and even the United
States, will take Philippine lumber,
| which is admitted free to this coun-
try. One of the commonest Philip
| pine timbers, red laan, which works
and finishes we'll, has been sold on the
| Pacific coast where it serves the
same purpose as the finest redwood,
| which it somewhat resembles, as
high as $50 per thousand board feet
Government timber in the Philip
pines is offered at very low. rate and
| it is stated that the labor problem lis
| m no sense difficult. Investments by
| Americans are not only invited, but
are encouraged.
+ The Philippine bureau of forestry
in this first sale which is being call
| ed to the attention of American tim
Der operators, is offering a twenty
year concession which gives exclu-
sive rights to tract comprising
about $4,000 acres, which contains
nearly 2 billion board feet of tim
Der. 1t is required that the success
full bidder shall keep up a certain
minimum output which starts with Is
million board feet during the first
years and increase to an ultimate out
put of at least 21 million per year.
A
ment must be established and also
a patrol system for the prevention of
I fires and tresspass.
1 A complete report on this body of
timber, which can be had at the Office
of the director of forests in Manila
or at the Bureau of Insular Affairs in
Washington, shows that the region
occupied by the main body of the
tract presents Ideal conditions This
report shows that railroads can be
built easily and cheaply and that the
entire timber belt can be logged at
minimum of expense and trouble.
The amount of timber per acre varies
from $4,000 up to 10000 board feet
and more. In the four principal types
of forest embraced in the area, much
valuable material can be secured
from even the least desirable type,
and the most valuable types will, &C
cording to figures of the bureau, pro-
vide a handsome profit for an outlay
/ comparatively small in relation to the
value of the timber which is to be
exploited.
The principal kinds of wood are
| the lauans, excellent construction
timbers and somewhat comparable, in
mechanical properties, to the Pacific
coast red-woods; yacal, one of the
most valuable because of it's great
| strength, and it's resistance to de-
structiOn by white ants; apitong,
quite comparable to the hard pines Of
the United States, and various other
hardwoods which have already found
| a place as substitutes for mahogany.
1t is required that the successful
applicant shall furnish a capital suffl-
cient for the immediate prosecution
of the work, the amount in. this case
being placed at not less than 100000
pesos, PHILIPPINE currency, equivalent
to $4,000.
1t is proposed that all bids for this
timber shall be opened in Manila on
December 10. For the benefit of pros
1 pective purchasers in America, how
ever, unable to prepare their appli-
cations and have them received in
Manila on or before that date, the
bureau of insular affairs in Washing
ton will on notification before the
final day send cablegram and have
the time extended until the actual
bids can be received in Manila.
Two shipments of shad fry, the first