THE TIMBER CRISIS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 416, 27 January 1909, Page 8

THE TIMBER CRISIS.

RAILWAY ASSISTANCE .WANTED. DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER. - A NON-COMMTTTAIi REPLY. '■ A deputation of North Inland sawmillors waited on;■ the Hon. J. A: 'Millar, • Minister for, Railways, yesterday, to ask for more substantial concessions in timber; freights 'on tho railways, and protection against imported ' timbers, andthe immediate setting up of thopromised Royal Commission. - • The Whole Island Represented. 1 Mr. W. H. Field, M.P.,in introducing tho ;, • deputation, said that it included representatives of- all the- sawmilling districts of the North Island, except , Wairarapa and Taranaki. They would, liowever, speak for all the- ■■■;. millers and for the employees as well. .They .: felt .that the promised ■/ Royal Commission ; should •: be set up; at .once, if the industry was: to be. saved.' In regard to railway freights . they . had asked for, bread, and the Prime: Minister had promised them half-a loaf," but . had them a stone. In regard to the question of royalties, Mr. Field declared that in no case yore European owners of mixed timber country taking more 1 than Is; all round, and it was calculated that to take less would be less profitable than to- destroy the timber and grass the. land. The Government and, the _.Native Land. Boards, however, charged higher royalties. In ono instant, the. • Government charged. £20 an acre for timber royalties at'Raetihi. Ho would also urgo'the necessity forincreased duties on foreign timber. ...He believed the timber sold as Oregon pine was not the', genuine; thing, but, an in- . .lerior kind of timber, that would not last. Ho .wis particularly, sorry , that this;timber, was being used for the Otaki Maori College, . evenforthe rusticated,boards, for. which purposo it was vastly inferioVto rimu. Tho la£ tor was, the best, building. timber iff,' tho' -.\yojld, ':witli . the :sole .;esceptjioh; ; bf ' English •oak. He had examined a shipment of Oregon . .on tho wharf, and -. found' that . one , :-could - push •a . nail -into some parts with one's thumb. He also regretted to hear a : rumour * that .Australian tirnber , was, to bei: used, for tho new 1 Government •••• House. . There should be differential railway rates sent-tho freight for timber, from Shannon'to Wellington (60 mile's)' was equal to the freigHt' across the .Pacific. At present only onethird of tho mills were working, and most'of thoso wero : not working full'time. The output lasti month was less than one-half of what ,it •. was : for .tho corresponding period l . of.- the : previous •: year. He approved of the Minister's intention to make the he '; 'contended that <; timber'-had always had-'less favourable treatment than other classes of merchandise: Bo pointed out that-tho timber was not handled by the railway employees, and did not need .:--J protection-from weather, nor involve claims for damages. Mr. AV. T. Jennings, M.P., spoke of the languishing condition of the timber industry along the Main Trunk line.- He<sent a letter to tho Primo Minister,a few weeks ago on behalf of the sawmillors, but had had no , reply.: .The present position was one of crisis," -.-and jhe hoped ' that the Royal Commission wonld he set up without delay.

Oregon Competition.. ; Mr. Walter L. Bailey, of Foilding, urged " -: the .early appointment of-the Royal; Commission. • ; He strenuously-' repelled ■ the' charge s that .mills- had' been closed, for 1 the purpose \ of getting a duty on Oregon. They did' not place all the-blame for the depression cn Oregon,.; but it'had made ■: matters worse. ' -They ...wished- to'have ,the. railway rates to the ports in particular reduced,- as the industry was now chiefly sustained by the export ,of white pine to Australia.; They asked for : . a dnty on the smaller sizes of Oregon only; which competed' with their ; own • oread-ana- ■■■■.-■, butter; lines. . The late' railway 'concessions' had been quite -Valueless'to the industry

Anomalous Rates. / i. - Mr. J. W. Ellis, representing the South :Auckland sawmillers,. said-.the"'-deputation :• - w&s asking:for -moderate concessions; which; , ; while giving • relief, .. would not prove a hardship : to the . Department, He produced ' a table showing the large , percentage of railway freight: that timber paid in propor- • : tion to., its value,, compared with other of the .country products. ' At 100' miles ' tho freight on timber, was rather over 37 per cent, of, its value, to be exact, 37.25 per i cent.at 150, 42.90 per cent:: and.jat; 200; 49.00 per ceiit., taking the value'.'of ithe'tim-", ' ber at Bs. 6d. per. 100, .which was well'over ;: "the; average that: the timber - netted';the saw-; • miller on-trucks- at the- shipping ; stations, except in;pbssibly.one or. two favoured.locali-* ; ties. Tho other goods only' paid from 5 to 11 :per : cent.'of,their value! point ' was': that labour was tho big cost in the production of timber, ; and. the - proportion of labour employed to produce - timber -.was far in 1 excess of that expended. oii the other ordi- ': nary country , productions.' -Many anomalies -. that existed in the timber rates dated from the dark ages when, the: Now»Zealand Railways. were a . lot of disconnected and short - u ' opening: of tho Main Trunk the-time had come to. have thetimber rates-thoroughly gone into, and put on , : a logical, and business-like basis. Their first • suggestion was the- most ; important : one, and that was. that concession .of .Is; per 100 ft. - bo- aUowtd.on all 'maximum: loads''of timber ■ ; sent, to any station .within .ten- milesof Wellington, and of Auckland, and the ports of ;. Wanganui, Napier;; and Now. Plymouth, after having travelled 100 miles ;by : rail, minimiiin . freight ,-s. 9d., per '100 ft. Concessions' on ■ itimber, sent '- to Tthe three'chief ports- of tho .Dominion, Dunedin; Wellington, and Auck,land,: had -been the-.policy for 'many 'years, but the concessions had been, irregular;-" In ' Dunedin,: Is..'per 100 ft. had been, allowed, w|th a lesser concession to-stations north: of Dunedin. , In Wellington, concessions on the ; - VVairarapa:: line ranged from 3d. to 7d. for I ;wmuv'-while for ithe sawmills;:on the' same : line further away, and all . the sawmills on the Mam Trunk, the concession was only .ad. On the.Auckland-lines-there were many / ■. concessions, no doubt because Auckland was the largest sawmilling- town:'in . New Zea- ■ land, and the logs, and: timber came' almost " ®j. ? r . e 'y 'by soa, but there were mills getting r- , 'd. and t 9d. .per 100 ft. concession oh timber stations, while .other- mills .-,i farther away, only got a. concession- of 4d., andi iV further, away ,still;:, onlyi-3d.:. - There ™ shipping stations -in the / w n- ' about the same - distance from . Wellington or .Auckland; : one at 158 miles got 9d., another, 160 .miles; got 4d and the other, at 161 miles, got only, 3d. ■i: .y Ihey lasked .tnat all be pnt on ihe :one .basis, . only asked for. the concession on' . maximum loads.'--This would mean that tho . . Department- would .get the same money for a truck of timber, but would have to carrv a ton or .so more. ; White Pine. :N •Tho sccon'd. suggestion .was in. regard' to , white pine, which was almost always shipped > in a .seasoned . state and was carried 'at a v, : - lower rate than other/timber up to 80 miles.. • No rdoubt whenthis ■ concession, was ' given it was hot thought that it would ever bo carried over that distaiice, and' so from that • . on the rate was fixed at one-sixth of a ... : . penny per'mile,: which was 50 per. cent."-more than the heavier and moro expensive tim- 1 ber paid. In the' Gazotte dated Deoember 23 last, tho -rate had been brought down'to the;.same as other timbora from 180-"miles on ; but from 80 to 180 miles this cheap and light timber had . still to pay Is; sd. «per . 100 ft. j while kauri, totara, matai; and rimu only paid lid. for the same distance. It was suggested that after -having been carried 80 miles,; white pino should then, be carried at the same rate as the heavier timbers. • ; A Waste Product. The third; and last suggestion. referred ;to ft business that did not practically exist, but which had big possibilities, namely,' the conversion of the waste of. the country , saw-: .. : mills into matenal. for ' cases, .--casks, . and crates. The consumption of this material was almogt entirely confined to the'.cities,' and at present they had to pay full-timber rates for it, which tirevented, them compete' ing for the trc»de. They would l suggest that ; class F.. be extended so as to include' "timbor for cases, casks, -and cratca not exceed-

ing 4ft...in. length."- The heavier classes of sawmill waste such as slabs, mining r and fencing timbers wore;now carried under'that class. Tho deputation trusted that these suggestions would have the Minister's earnest personal consideration, and .that. tho. timber rates would be'put on a business-like and logical foundation, as outlined. ; / The Royalties. Mr. H. D; Bennett, of Taihape, also denied that excessivo royalties were being paid: . The royalties .were a matter of supply and. deihahd. The factors included the prices freed by the Government and tho Maori Land Boards for-' timber on Crown and Native lands, but.tho principal one was the comparative profits of timber and grass, and he and others had worked it out and found that Is. a hundred was no more than a'fair thing for ordinary ."rimu. The owner had to wait some ten-years'for. the miller to cut out thpbushj and'in .the;meantime he: lost the gfass;he-might-.haye>had. Mr. W. T. Irvine, of Dannevirko, said that if 'tho - concessions asked, for wero granted, thenbenefit { would be'passed on to the consumers. • • Mr. -Field corroborated this statement, and said millers were willing to show their books bo as to prove that thoy wero not getting .excessive,- profits; or: they would be willing for the Government to fix fair prices. He declared: that :n any small men had ruin staring them-in thoiface, and had no alternative but to sell l 'out. > . - The Minister's Reply, ■Mr. Millar, in reply, said that ho had been looking intb'the records, and found that there had; been":-; agitation" for reduced freights on timber for 25 years past. Numerous different concessions. had been-.- granted.' in different localities,'- and' it was very difficult to make a i genera! statement as to what the rates' were.; He, was trying to get the. whole .of; them .' together . and ovolve one uniform system.,-'lt would be' impracticable to assess tho rates according to the value of the product; as suggested by Mr. Ellis., The late' readjustment ;of,-.timber, .rates > had meant material■,reductions: on long distances, particularly over 200' milea, where very much of the timber came from'. ' j Mf.'.EDis:' That''must be a mistake.'- The mills more than;'2oo miles from Wellington and Auckland send practically-no timber to either, place: _ - The Minister said his information waß drawn from the way-bills. He realised' that there 'was tronblo at the present time, ■ but it was not, tho fault of /the He attributed it to the depression in trade, which was not likely ;: to be raised for the next six mdnths. Tho tightness of money had reduced . the: demand for; timber for all purposes. .. A reduction. in ''railway rates: would not: remove' that cause. The whole of the long-distance rates', had>been'^'reclassified,and, ; he now wanted to go into tho local rates, and the information Tie obtained _would be placed, before the'-Rbyal; Commission when appointed. Ho- thought a shilling a hundred' foet was a fair royalty He.had before hini an advertiseiflent' of a, ;neiw firm, ..which after an- inspection of mills in'America;'.and 1 , the biggest mills in . about t-o start a big s'awmijling'coucern in New, Zealand: That-did. as though-there' was .nothing, in saw-' milling! in this country. 'His information was from the' "Grey River Argus." .' Mr; Ellis;-said 5 he Tvas a shaToholdor'.in -the company . referred; to. The essential factor was : that: they- haid: seoiired.:2B,ooo acres at only £1. an acre, timber and all. ; The Minister went, on to say_ that .if the Railway Department could. assist without reducing, revenue,he:: would. see what. could be: done.'' . of tho duty, on im- : ported timbers '.was..one of policy,. and would be dealt-with, after the Royal Commission had reported:.: -. -.He.did .not think .the public would 'standi,any:(.incre^seof•: the' duty. on, Oregon,, except perhaps'on;the'sm'aller sizes,so that the timber, might be; cut up jn the New Zealaiid mills.. .. • . • ... -