Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/212

192 on the subject of Jarrah timber, and also between the Governor of Western Australia and the leading ship-builders and ship-owners, including Lloyds' surveyor at Freemantle, who had been severally asked to report upon the merits of the Jarrah, with a view to getting it recognised at Lloyds'.

Most of the ship-builders and ship-owners have reported very favourably, and speak of it as a good description of wood. They say that, when used with iron fastenings, neither material is in any way injured by the other, and, also, what is a little remarkable, that it bends well without steaming. In speaking of its merits, however, they nearly all do so under some reserve, such as insisting on the felling being done at a certain time of the year; getting it from some particular district, and so forth. Lloyds' agent at Freemantle, however, does not report quite so favourably of it; indeed, he differs so widely from the rest, that perhaps it would be well to quote his report in extenso:—

"In reply to your letter relative to the qualities of the Jarrah of this country as a ship-building timber, I consider it valuable wood for planking purposes as high as the wales, and I also consider it especially excellent wood for small craft which are not intended to be sheathed with metal, inasmuch as it resists the sea-worm better than almost any other wood, and is less liable to foul; but I do not consider it suitable timber for top-sides, or deck work, where it must necessarily be much exposed to the effects of the sun, it being, in such positions, more than ordinarily subject to shrink and warp; and it is rather deficient in tenacity of fibre, so that in situations where eccentric or sudden bends occur it cannot generally be employed with advantage. It is probable you may have heard of the Honourable East