CONSERVING TIMBER

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 241, 6 July 1920, Page 6

CONSERVING TIMBER

WORKERS SUGGEST MEASURES i . • ... WASTAGE ALLEGED ■-:■'« conservation was one of the matters brought before members of the ..Ministry yesterday by representatives of the federated timber workors, who waited t- upon the Minister of Labour William Hemes), the Minister of Forestry -r (Sir Francis Bell), and the Minister of Public Works (Hon. J. G. Coates). The deputation, presented resolutions adopted by the annual 'conference of the fedora- -■-■■'' Mr. T. O'Byrne v.rgect the need for the conservation of the forests and for reafforestation. He pointed out that the exhaustion of the remaining timber resources of the Dominion was a matter merely of years. The Government should take over the timber industry, and place it under the control of a business departI ment, which should be free of all political and commercial influence. Inspectors should bo appointed to see that '"bush was properly worked,, and that wastage was .avoided in the cutting and milling. The wastage under present cou- ."■■■ ditions was a serious item. Private sawmillers wanted quick, results at a minimum of expense, and fiiey did not always make the best use cither of the standing ■ '—'•bush or of the logs when they reached the mills. ::•■■ Mr. F. Turley stated that . a West Coast syndicate had- got control of, 10,000 acres of bush; and was proposing to exploit it. The prospectus of the syndicate showed that the promoters were going to receive ,£28,000 for htiving induced the warden to issue a license. Tho timber workers objected strongly to this ■•■■'■■■' sort of thing, and they wished the Government tojnterfere.- If the Government would not act, tho workers' were .prepared to take -action on their own "account, by declaring the syndicate's mills to be non-union mills. An official document just published had stated that """the wages paid in the industry rcpr(v / seated seventy per cent, of the cost of •the timber. This was not true. Tho ■wages did not represent more than half that percentage, and operations of tho kind proposed by the syndicate were . simply exploitation of the national resources and of. the workers. The federation was prepared to prevent its'niembera ..working for the syndicate, t ~,.'■, • Sir Francis Bell, in reply, 6aid that he. was delighted to hwr the representations of the deputation. He had been A,fighting for just what tho deputatioiMfas ... risking. But when ho had gone to the ■ West Coast to urge the conservation measures that had been proposed by the speakers, he found tne whole district .against him. Even the waterside work- - ers had protested ngarcst the limitation .<.:,'■■ of .the. export of timber. It seemed to ,-• him- impossible to conserve timber for the people of New Zealand and at the same timo allow export. He""agreed that the powers of the wardens' must be curtailed if the forests were to be conserved. The Forestry Department had moved in that direction by placing provisional reservation on certain forest areas, which then>ame under the control of the Minister of Forestry,. and could not be worked without his consent. The proclamation of forest reserves had raised • -many protests'on the West Coast. The , wardens ought' not to be allowed to allot '- areas of forest to sawmillers without the „ consent of the Forestry Department. ;-- " Reafforestation, said the Minister, could a large part in solving the timber problem. The Government had 'planted some 37,000 acres of land at a cost of .£300,000; but there were hundreds of thousands of acres of standing ..forest which would give much better results if-taken in hand and developed . methodically. •'• The jnotection of existing forests and reservation of the timber for the people of New Zealand was tho -■policy of thte Government. The establishment of co-operative sawmills had been considered by the Government. The ,v objection to. that scheme was that the Government wished, to conserve the re. mnimng forest areas, and not work them while private areas.were-supplying the* necessary timber. He wis in. entire agwem.ent with the w-rkers as to the importance of having all timber .cut and milled to the best advantage. His biggest •fight, as Minister at tbb head of "the .. Forestry Department had .been on that - -point The sawmillers did not want to be interfered with, and he did not see now thevGovernment could interfere with existing licenses. The protests had arisen from the fact.that the Government was putting new conditions in the new licenses. He was ,glnd to -have the sup-■'-port of the-workers.

'■••■; Sir Francis Bell added that lie had been .' blamed for consulting the sawmillers ■y; and.not the sawmill workers about tim-ber--rep ahons. The fact Ins that his : -;.r£eht had been with the sawmillers. The GoTernment,had insisted upon seein» the books of the sawmillers and ascertaining the profits. --Then it had fixed what it , regarded as a fair rate of profit, and it had regulated the prico of timber on • that basis. Permission to increase the pnce of timber, had been granted only i after increased cost of production had been proved The Government had been concerned wholly with the cost of nro-,-_■.eduction, and so it went to the sawmillers . tor the necessary information.