Harbour Timber Short After Licence Delay

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30482, 2 July 1964, Page 6

Harbour Timber Short After Licence Delay

A protest to the Minister of Marine (Mr Scott), against delays in granting an import licence for hardwood timber for Wharf development work was approved by the Lyttelton Harbour Board yesterday.

The board had been told by its engineer-in-chief (Mr J. A. Cashin) that there was a shortage of timber. The board had waited three months for an import licence which had just come to hand. In anticipation, some timber had been cut and sent to Sydney, but in the meantime because of the delay it had been sold.

Mr. A. E. Armstrong proposed the protest; saying that the board’s development programme was of vital importance to the. whole South Island. Mr F. T. Sutton said the timber supplier might have used up his 1963-64 licence, and it took time for a special licence to be issued, as it was against the Customs Department’s policy. In reply, Mr Cashin said suppliers rarely, if ever, got quantities of the order required by the board from' existing licences. They must get a special licence, and they all knew that. The board was not ordering early enough or carrying sufficient stocks of timber, Mr J. Brand complained. While it was not economic to carry large stocks, the board could expect licensing delays and should order timber well in advance, because development work would continue for years.

“We should be pushing on

with No. 7 wharf, but at present it is at a standstill,” Mr Brand said.

“The wheels of government turn very slowly, and even when a licence is granted there are demands all round the world for the hardwood timber, and we may have to wait for it.”

The board always ordered in plenty of time—perhaps a year in advance, Mr Cashin said. When the board instructed reconstruction of No. 7 wharf the timber was ordered immediately. The board kept good stocks of timber for ordinary maintenance and repair work and had about £30,000 worth on hand,. Mr Cashin said. For new wharf work, the timber was ordered to the exact size required. If stocks on hand had to be cut it cost about £1 for every foot cut off. The Australian Trade Commissioner in the South Island (Mr M. G. B. Coultar) had

offered help In getting Aus-, tralian Supplies, Mr Cashin said, “but I fear' there areolder heads in the Australian timber industry. “When trade is not booming in Australia droves of people from the industry come over here begging us to order timber, almost with tears in their eyes. When we come to order timber, things may have boomed in Australia, prices have gone up, and we are left,” he said. “We have considerable trouble in getting timber from Australia,” the chairman (Mr A. A. Macfarlane) said, when supporting Mr Armstrong’s motion. “When on .top of that we get three months’ delay in import licences that is making life just too darned difficult.”

Shed Behind Schedule

The transit shed on the eastern harbour extension was about two months and a half behind schedule, the engineer-in-chief (Mr J. A. Cashin) reported to the Lyttelton Harbour Board yesterday. The contractors blamed most of their difficulties oh the delivery of materials, he said.