TIMBER COMMISSION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 455, 13 March 1909, Page 13

TIMBER COMMISSION.

t. • ' APPOINTMENTS CRITICISED. "NOT ENOU.CH PRACTICAL MEN." MERCHANTS' AND BUILDERS' VIEW'S. j Neither timber merchants nor builders as 8 rule feel much satisfaction at tlio constitu- / tion of the Royal Comnyssion which has bfen : ' appointed to inquire into tho conditions of tho timber industry. Half a dozen leading ' ?, representatives of both classes were severely critical of the appointments when asked to express their views by a Dominion representative yesterday. The general complaints woro that thero wero too many Parliamentary members, and too few.practical men on tho Commission, and that a membership of twelve was much too large. The .following aro the individual views expressed :— ( . ' ' "Too Much of tho Pollt:cal Eloment." "I think thero is too much of tho political element in the constitution of the commission," said Mr. F. N. Marley, secretary of the Timber.Merchants' Association, when asked for.his opinion. He went on to refer , to tho representation which had been given to the timber merchants. There wero two men, he said, who stood for tho sawmillers and the merchants,, and of. the two ono was a sawmillor and the other, Mr. Leyland, was a merchant,.dealing chiefly in kauri, who, he understood, was not affected by the importation of Oregon pine. "Mr. Loyland is probably. a ; good man in his place," he added, 'but he does not deal largely in other.timbers as most merchants do. It seems to mo that the constitution of'the commission was framed under, a misapprehension. A . (smaller number of commissioners who understood something about the industry would do much batter work." Certainly tho constitution was cumbersome, and fewer men would . have dqnp the work better. , What about tho order of reference? asked ~ the , reporter. it seems to be ,wido enough, and v the commission has power to call all tho . evidence it wants, but there is ono thinr. Idp not understand in tho order. Tho I third "subject for inquiry in regard to Now Zealand timber is: 'The price when sold by tho mill to (a) the consumer, (b) the middleman and (c) tho retailer.' Who is this middleman?" Mr. Marley , went on to say that the timber merchants wero retailers . pure and simple. :He had. never heard of a .middleman as distinguished from a retailer— it thero was such a person he was not awaro • ' -ii j mercllan ts bought direct from tho mills, and they were prepared to sell to anyone—builders or private people. It was the •samo-in regard to Oregon timber where tho subiect for inquiry was: "Its price when sold by the importer to (a)"'the consumer, .. (b> tho middleman, and (c) the retailer." • Le knew of no person who camo between the • importer and. the retailer, or could in any . • other; way be styled a middleman. • "Timber Merchants not Represented." ■ "Wβ simply say as timber.merchants that ire are not represented/' was the verdict of aT : t x^ ol l klr ! v ") ": hairma n of tho Timber Merchants _ Association, when a reporter approached him for his opinion of the commis- -• f lon iTi institution and scope. Much more he .did not care to say. Information of value might be-brought out by the inquiry, but ho thought that as much could have been found out by a.few departmental officers. Acaiu ; there wero one or two experts among the . commissioners, but some of them—well, he . • wanted to know where they got their experience, if they had it. The commission should , be.composed either entirely of unbiased men or .else entirely of experts who were well acw l d /''m the im]ustl -y- Sir Joseph Ward had raid-, that the fanners were well represented, but had,thp farmers so much to : •••-.ao with-timber? . Did they •crow it? ii! ; -Bon, and though he would not say that they r (1 er M ncx rr oetl ' u , did not &<> to say ]«ct._. they, might bring out Scope not Wide Enough. Wnfr" F' h S 01 "? 801, . President of the * S gt f f B ?- I,deM, Aesociation, expressed goat satefaction wth the appointment o? «f f h v J ke ,' °f Au °klandi ex-president ftf it" d U° con,raiss , io » was boMd to lie! the HouTr try When lcgislation ™ brfS The Q U estj On of Combination. ciation, aKi Iri"?b\r.1 ri "? b \ r . Merchants' Asso- , of. the' co m l m ° ss H e ? s ot Sjf'i,? m ' m - b6r ttic commission Z 'i "' " l . hls opinion, of practical men m"l ft.'i n" 8 CTiUrel y Commission. HV tho ,lt nston W,]w «y Parliament who hav h tho me ml'ers of tho sole excej ion oi JIT hi^ 1 witl > Practical knowledge of ,wn" der ' " a(1 uo t,mber trade. Mr! Mo rr S VI ?~ , ° r , Lhe presumably Mr. Clarle „ Lt!ylan<:1 ' and practical men on h 0 enmm 9 * ho onl ? othn havo been well if the ™ ? '°- n - {* woull ' •uted- of sawmillers anT Si i lon had t0 "- one hand, and an «sal n S ""V , on the and representatives of he ttf ° f buildors public on tho other HU J er ? onsumin S this view was that" timt *? a for hoI(l; "" ' trolled, throushoUft^D^nfon 3 T° C 0"" ohanta , associations, which f U,CI " ■ S^r^K^^f atiiSet^f^t^rgranted that prices weroTot Ljt, ° eratiro to tho sawmillers, yet th nS" with tho present high prices, was d,,?!'!',"' •ctarnof the associa'tions. It'was„fc ,„± n,tt tl . KrordM of reference did not authorise tho commission to deal question of combination. lth tl,,s iimoer. Here could 110l 10 no doubt thit il,, ' how Ltt """'""""'n «»uM inquire as („ Too many M.p.'s. nrolfri T" f H M "'ho rcprescnls (.be president of the Zealand Builders' I-Vd-WBtion on the Executive, said:-"?' ,«,»i confess on rcarhng.thc names of the commission a feeling of disappointment camo

over mo, as it appeared ,that there were too many M.P.'s an.ong them —no less than eight out of twelve. 1 also think that tho commission is ton ciiinhcriiomc Seven members would have been quite sufficient, in niy opinion, one each to represent the imilriurs, 'getters,' millers, merchants, and labourers, and two to represent the Government, of whom ono should be the chairman. I think tho representatives of these interests should have been men engaged in, or having a special knowledge of tho branches represented. Those M.l'.'s may havo that knowledge for nil I know, but certainly if tho report is to ho of any use a good deal of delving will be necessary to K find out whero the leakage is that causes the exorbitant price of timber of late years. What part of tho industry does Mr. Harbor represent, or Mr. Field, or for that matter any of tho M.P.'s mentioned? With tho builders' representative, Mr. S. I. Clark, of Auckland, I am more than satisfied. Ho has given this subject special attention, and has also given a lot of study to the subject of afforestation, but I don't Eiippose that that will como up for consideration. It is to be hoped that the very best evidenco procurable will be placed before the commission, or else the country's money will be thrown away. I certainly think that the M.l'.'s, cither present or past, should have boon kept out, with tho exception' of two to represent the Government. Tho trouble with members of Parliament is that, they are too apt to be swayed by the opinions of their constituents in the matter.

"£IO,OOO fo be Wasted."

"There's going to be £10,000 wasted over this commission," said a leading member of [ a largo firm of timber merchants, "and when it has done its work it will tell us just as much about tho timber industry as wo know at present" Another leading mcrnber of the firm expressed tha opinion that there were too many members of Parliament, and not enough practical men on tho commission. A commission of three men, representing tho Government, the sawmillers, 'and the public (including builders), could do the work , efficiently with a fraction of the expense. In the present stato of tho money market, the Government should have shown economy, and not set up a commission, of twelve persons, whose cxpeuses -would be very heavy when they went about the country talcing ovidonce. Hβ referred to the greatly reduced demand for timber, not only in* Wellington, but in all the provincial towns, and declared his conviction that the only thing to set right the timber industry would bo a return to normal prosperity.