Tales of the Tall Timber

Series

Series Name

Rhodesian Spotlight

Issue

Issue No.

45

Length of issue (in feet)

769

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1Harnessing The Shire River
2. 2Tales of the Tall Timber
3. 3Flashes from far and near

Story

Story No. within this Issue

2 / 3

Summary

Rhodesian Spotlight synopsis: Two uses of Blue Gum in Nyasaland are for poles to carry power and telephone lines, and by the Tobacco Industry in housing and making barrels for the export of tobacco.
Rhodesian Spotlight Commentary - Nyasaland’s fine Blue Gums are being put to more and more productive uses and assisting in various fields of expansion. Blue Gums are used extensively for mine props and smaller pieces for firewood, but the bigger straighter trees are dragged out of the plantations for a special purpose.
Fifty foot trunks are utilised as poles for carrying power and telephone lines. Mounted on cars they are run into a pressure cyclinder to be thoroughly impregnated with a creosote compound.
The creosote is forced into the wood under high temperature and pressure and several hours later the poles emerge ready to withstand the ravages of even the most ravenous termites and beetles. Thousands of these poles are constantly going into the expanding network of communications and power, which is criss-crossing the Federation and speeding its full development. The humble Blue Gum is bringing the benefits of Hydro Electric power to an ever widening area and providing a valuable source of revenue.
Further uses of Blue Gum are being exploited by the Tobacco Industry in Nyasaland. Between 2 and 4 hundred acres of 15 years old trees are needed for the annual export of Tobacco. The Imperial Tobacco Company maintains its own forestry department and saw mills. From the stacks the logs are put through the saws. Much of the planking produced is used in building housing for the Company, some of it going into the manufacture of simple furniture.
None of the Blue Gum is wasted, off cuts and saw dust are sent as fuel to the furnaces, where having served a useful purpose it goes up in smoke. But its most important use is in the making of barrels in which the separate types and grades of tobacco are shipped to overseas markets. There manufacture has been reduced to its simplest form.
The finished barrels toll into the tobacco packing plant. They are comparatively light and easy to handle, yet strong enough to keep their contents in perfect condition and withstand the buffetings of transportation. There is little need to stress the place tobacco holds in the Federation’s economy not the vital source of foreign currency its export provides. But it is generally known that the Blue Gum is a valuable component in this trade - a readily available item of even greater utility than beauty.

Keywords

Buildings and structures; Communications; Industry and manufacture; Mining; Forestry

Written sources

Movietone boxfile no.1   Used for synopsis

Credits:

Production Co.

Central African Film Unit

Length of story (in feet)

261

This series is held by:

Film Archive

Name

British Film Institute (BFI)

Email

For BFI National Archive enquiries:
nonfictioncurators@bfi.org.uk
For commercial/footage reuse enquiries:
footage.films@bfi.org.uk

Web

http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web

Phone

020 7255 1444

Fax

020 7580 7503

Address

21 Stephen Street
London W1T 1LN

Notes

The BFI National Archive also preserves the original nitrate film copies of British Movietone News, British Paramount News, Empire News Bulletin, Gaumont British News, Gaumont Graphic, Gaumont Sound News and Universal News (the World War II years are covered by the Imperial War Museum).

Series held

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