PIONEER INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 31, 6 February 1925, Page 8

PIONEER INDUSTRY.

\JEW ZEALAND"S TIMBER. ! ENOUGH FOR ALL NEEDS." ".RI '1 ,;1 XMIIII'- Ml I-' iRTF.IV .... . j ' New 7,i aiaiid H"t mill I.- -nib' i-ih , ■ i-ll- r |~r be, ou a i ,■."!- I. ill sb- li..- j -~ übirb ll :- l-l. --, ibi- .-.'.11.:.x. I. | J - ~0,0,,,,0!. - ',',','.,- 1.-r'limber "-npidx I ' , '~.„., rued. :'.,, all li 'nil -be -iii ' .-.idily be o,„, .i ~,,.-:,!. ruble in, in I .'- " - luniillc,.-' .\..s,„.ialioii. :,-,,,1„,i to .1 I If porter a- to I lie I'll I 111 c prn.-pl'cl ■ I I •lie tin,!.. , iniliislr.l . Fad of the Public. Askcl mlp . if New Zealand gicw j siifbciciii timber io meet all her oxvn , requirement.-, ii \\u.- neccssui'v m import . any, Mr. -- I said: -Timber is , imported inlo ibis couniry '" j>len<- a 'fad' of Ibe buying public. X- all , example, almost every housewife ui-hes '~ liax-c nn oak dining room or bedroom . -uitc. ijintc imlicedliil of the lact thai ■-be i- emit i ibi it, no materially lo ibe suppmi of the .lap >«c iigaiusl lur own kith end kin who proline.. <„ir nun New 'aland linibir. Moreover. I ho man or xrumnii -bo buys Japanese ~ak is ii.lixi.ii-i to ihe iacl i l.ai it is almost .is susceptible tn (lie Inner as is our .-.in white pine, the use ni which has long been prohibited iii the construction nf houses. Much nf the Japanese oak enmes ilirm.-b Australia. "People think of oak in the light of th- Kngiish type, bm if they think they n-c buying the Kngiish limber they arc acting under a delusion. The only Kngiish ~ak in New Zealand is what yon xvill find in articles of furniture imported from Britain in the manufactured state or furniture that was brought out to Nexv Zealand by the original pioneers." "The Largest Employer." Turning bis attention to the timber indii-try in Nexv Zealand. Mr. Seed supplied some interesting information. ■The industry.-' be said, "is the largest employer and xvagc distributor in the Dominion. In ]p-__-_.'l, Kil.'tss people were employed and the xvages paid to them totalled 0,803,464; in fact the employees in the timber industry include a greater percentage of bre.ad-xvinners than is the ease, in any other industry. "I have no hesitation in saying that, by buying foreign timbers people are directly supporting .Americans, Japanese, Swedes and many other types of cheap foreign labour. In America and Canada where Oregon comes from 26 per cent of Asiatic and black labour is employed. They work 58 hours a xveek as compared wi( h 48 hours in Nexv Zealand. "In the timber industry in Canada the, loxve.st wage is Si/ per week of .~>S hours ax-eragc, and ill America the lowest wage is 40/6 for an average, week of o7i hours. The lowest wage paid in Sxveden is 43/6 per week of 60 hours, whereas in New Zealand the. lowest wage paid is 88/ for a 48-hour week. I have no figures available respecting Japan where, most of the borer-susceptible 'oak" comes from, but considering the teeming millions of population of that country it can easily be imagined how loxv the xvage xvould he."

Value of Imports. Dealing xvith the imports of timber into New Zealand, Mr. r-eed gave some arresting figures. "During 1924," be remarked, "no less a sum than £1,043,87.5 was sent out of the country for timber supplies, mostly to foreign countries largely employing coloured labour. This was quite unnecessary as we have superior timbers within the Dominion to suppiy every need. The freight on these timber imports xvd_ld also go mostly to foreign countries and would amount to fully £)00,000. Why should Nexv 2ealimd pay this hug", annual subsidy of £1,500.000 to O'lt--idcrs when the money could as easily be kept xvithin the. Dominion by using our oxvn timbers'/ Every 100 super, feet of timber imported into New Zei-.1.-ind puts out of employment, one Nexv Zealander for one day. During one year no less than -ITii.OOO xvas sent out of ihis country to Japan tor tin, . ber . M , r'"^ was used mainly in tho Ot furniture. One thing about Nexv /ea land furniture timbers is that they are borcrresistant, and our New Zealand plywood is. borer proof, hut the same cannot hi said of pome, of the. imported lines. What Nexv Zealand Produces. This Dominion produces annually ,00,000,000 super, feet of timber and we liave no fear of any shortage, provided, of course, a policy is followed in regard to planting and tho other phases of the industry."'