TIMBER IMPORTS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 82, 31 December 1929, Page 13

TIMBER IMPORTS

CANADA’S PORTION ENDEAVOUR TO INCREASE TRADE Dominion Special Service. Auckland, December 30. “Wc do not want to till New Zealand with foreign timbers, but we recognise that you must go outside for some of your needs, and it is this business which we want for Canada,” said Mr. L. C. McDonald, a member of the delegation of four mill-owners of British Columbia who are through passengers to Australia by the Aorangi, which arrived from- Vancouver yesterday. With Mr. McDonald are Major L. R. Andrews and Messrs. T. T. Gadd and J. G. Robson. \ The object of the delegation is to discuss the timber business with representatives of the Government and milling industry in Fiji, Australia and New Zealand. The party will spend two or three weeks in New Zealand in February. The delegation was organised by the lumber trade, but it is backed also by provincial and Federal Governments. The mission is to capture some of the timber export trade of the United States, and it is stated that the prices are about on a parity, and only a slight tariff preference is asked. Douglas fir and doors, sashes and similar products are the principal offerings at present. British Columbia supplies only half as much timber to New Zealand as does the United States. “There is a general desire in Canadian industries for more trade with Empire colonies,” said Mr. McDonald. “We would like to see an economic conference between the statesmen and commercial and financial experts of New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and Canada.” • New Zealand and Australia were the only markets in which Canada had not extended her timber trade since the war. “Canada can supply all the timber New Zealand is likely to require for many years,” said Mr. McDonald. “Nature has been very bountiful and we do not need to follow any programme of afforestation. The natural growth generally keeps pace with our cutting.”