"WORSE THAN BEFORE."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 646, 25 October 1909, Page 8

"WORSE THAN BEFORE."

n. TIMBER COMMISSION'S REPORT. d' ; PEOTESTS OF, SAWMULERS. . , d; PREMIER'S SYMPATHETIC REPLY. y ■ ■■ e Tho proposals of the • Timber Commission n regarding! the importation of Oregon timber do not. appear to meet with tho' approval; of sawmillers. Tho commission recommended that the duty , on small sizes should be increased L .! to 3s. 1 , and that the largest sizes should''-be d submitted, free. But these large sizes, state the it' millers;. can -■ bo cut ■' down, in New , Zealand >>' at a cost of,from 6d.. to 9d. per 100 feet. x If the,commission's,recommendations are adopted, e all the Oregon will comb in largo, lengths, free s' of. duty, and be cut.down in New Zealand; r and the imported timber will compete with i- the home product at. a greater advantage than e before. It was arranged last week that a s deputation representing the sawmillers of the [.- Dominion . should wait upon the Hon. G. y Fowlds, Minister for Customs, last Saturday, f to point-out this contingency.. At the last mo- : ment it was thought that it would' be an advantage if the Prime Minister could hear the ■. views of tho deputation ,at the samo tiiue with i- Mr. Fowlds, and the appointment was alii tcred'to an unusually early hour with this obi ject. The result was that the Prime Minister was present, but not the Hon: G. Fowlds, and ■. the deputation waited onrhim afterwards. i . e Likely to Kill the Industry, k- At the meeting with ;tho Prime Minister Mr. H. D. Bennett, representing the Rangitikei 7/ sawmillers, said it was evident irorn the pre- ' amble that the commission's report' Was intended to -give/ the : miljing industry somo f measure of protection, but they would suggest, ■ as experts in the business, .that" no protection was given, and that if the recommendations of ■ the commission were adopted the position would j" be worse,than it was before. The report dealt with the protection of the industry in regard 0 to ordinary, building sizes, and suggested that certain other sizes of Oregon timber should be a allowed, into the country at a lesser duty, and 1 .that the largest lengths should be received free ? of duty.The last,proposal, if effect were given to it, would simply kill, tlie industry altogether. Most of tho Orugon and other' timbers were imported in baulk sizes, and it would only cost from sixpenco to ninepence per 100 ft. to turn this baulk timber, which was to come in free, . into ordinary- building timber.. "If. we were ! asked to choose the alternative," said Mr. Ben- • net, "of adopting the commission's report or ; accepting the old position .against which we .: made such a cry, and rightly, wo would prei: fer the old position of 1 2s. a hundred feet all . round.".'. , . ~ . . r Tariff Should Apply to all Foreign Timbers. < Mr. H/Voider'(South of Auckland and King' l : Country) .endorsed all that had-, been; said by Mr. Bennett;' It was evidently tho iiiteiltlOD 3 : of tlie Commissioner to. give a larger measure/ sof protection .than now. 'existed;,'but the" sawmillers were of opinion that the-'report' wfSulu • give them less. It was, only a question of " importing 35ft.. lengths and putting the cross-' • cut saw \ into, th.ein and .they were'in the ! Dominion free. .The commission had argued that • the cost of. the conversion would be such as 1 to place, the ;baulk- lengths, when they :were s . ciit down, in the same position as timber im-: • ported in, lengths under 25ft.,; and that long " lengths ■'cost more at-'the port of shipment.' i The American millers'could get long timber ' much 'moro easily than they in I'New Zealand, i and could sell their long' lengths just'- as f cheaply 'fas their shorter lengths. It , was f quite possible to get 95 per cent; of, tlie build--3 ing rtimberin; this colony out. of the 82ft. lengths; The commissioJ had done'good work i in showing that-the-sawmilling industry wah j npt tlie'grasping combine' it was often repref sented to be, And. that the sawmillers had not ■' been fleecing the public. : If the.recomraenda-. - tions regarding Oregon woro given- effect to, E, orders would be sent to America for lengths -: of J2ft.'r, by' -2ft. 'and/over,' and as .often. 'as 1. possiblo for lengths from" 35ft. .to 4flft. and over.* 3 Again,, the report proposed to limit, the duty, 1; to Oisgoii only. At' the. present time there i. was a very large proportion of Pacific'pine t .being imported, into Australia, and if the l duty were limited to Oregon this timber would b? admitted frfeel :■ Tho deputation asked that 1 any ; tariff adopted should apply .to'all foreign , timbers,' and not merely' Oregon. Mr. G. A. Gamman (Ohakune) said tho report. J. stated'that'GO per'cent, of tile .cargoes shipped s were of long- lengths. in his' dis--r trict had to/pay 3s. lld.f per 100 ft. for railway 1 freight,' Is.-'royalty, 25." for carting and'loading the trucks, and twopence discount;'a total ' of 7s. Id.,' leaving only. lid. -per 100 ft. to pay s the whole oost of production if the. timber was 1 to compete 1 with free Oregon, which .could be a landed here db Bs. per 100 ft. on the ivhtitf. Tho competition-would-be .almost impossible. 3 ; The Effect of a Compromise. ' ■ > ■ Mr. W. H. Field, M.P., as a,member, ot -the' . Timber Commission, said that the commission r intended; to afford additional protection to the , industry. He thought that he oould speak for s nine or ten members of:the commi6sion. : Those . members who represented the sawmillers' ins terests set out with the'idea, that it would t be a fair thing to double' tho duty all round : or. small and largo pieces, but, evidence •' prompted them to Believe' that it' was "really ■ a good thing to have very large pieces, for 1 which there was a need in this country, admitted. free,, so - long as . theywore , .not re-, sawn upon-arrival.. The commission understood ■.. when • they adopted tliereport, > which . was a majority, report, .that •. the., cost of. re-, sawing lengthwise would be so great that the Ban-millers would be protected; It-appeared that the commission had fallen short of its intention, and he was in full sympathy, with j the, request of the deputation that- the report „ should be. accepted so far as small lengths [■ were concerned.A large-portion, of the report' was framed on majority voting, and this was j the case with the recommendations as to Orej gonv. ,A. number of the'commissioners . wanted B to increase the duty further, than it. was increased,, others did not want, to it . at all,, and .they arrWed at a compromise. 1 -i -The Hon. A. E. Guinness (Westland) said, ho ; was'in entire sympathy,.with'.,the request;, Hoj. endorsed Mr. Field's remarks, and, hoped .that' r the would,look into the .question' [ -very carefully with a view, to providing in any f' .measure that might' be, brought''down—and he 8 hoped', that a measure; would;be brought down • to enable the House,to;deal 'exhaustively'with the subject—safeguards to prevent 1 getting > round the commission by the importation of lai'ge lengths and lecutting. ' . Mr. W. R. Smith, 1 member for ,Ranfitikei, I. said that the commission's recommendations,. if j they, were carried out, would practically ahni-, J hilate the timber trade. •. He understood that a 3 deputation from the workers would wait'upon 0 ' the Prime. Minister later;.. ' ■■■•• ". ' }'• • , The Prime Minister's Reply. - , ; i - ', The Prime Minister, said that tho matter was . important, and would receive' the careful co'n--3 sidcration of the Government. They; had not r yet arrived at a decision, but in considering the important recommondatious made by the - commission, they would examine that aspect b which' had been brought forward by the deput tation. -He thought they could depend upou it ■ that when tho Government came to a" decision' " it. would be one- that would' not ;be injurious ' to the timber industry. They -wanted, to see that so great an.industry was not injured; and - at the; 6ame - time jay some respect to, the } general recommendations of the commission ,in ' regard to the utilisation of Oregon timber for. ■ certain purposes in this country. If-the'spirit J- of the report could be defied by cutting up the' > large lengths and so dispensing with the duty, altogether, he-thought they would agree' with ' him that the Government would not'permit 3 that. ..-. • -..In reply to a question, ,the .Prime Minister stated that-the . matter would be' dealt with in. the House this session, but it would probably,be some weeks off. yet. ' It . depended on how they got through; the other' business.' • MTi.Guinness said that the West-Coast was.very anxious for the matter.to bo dealt with this session. It had boen hanging on for. 8 eighteen-months. 3 The Prime Minister said that if it'had been dealt with earlier :.by the Government they would'still have had difficulties '.in regard to ! it. ' When the Government had.. arrived: at a decision, an intimation would probably bo mado concerning it to the House, and then tho ". interests concerned would be able to review the j prospects, and would havo an opportunity to i make any representations thoy thought fit. 1 Mr. Powlds gave a. similar reply to the de- ' putat ion's request. ',