THE PRICE OF TIMBER.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 130, 29 November 1904, Page 6

THE PRICE OF TIMBER.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir — I have read with interest the letters appearing in your columns from the sawmillers, al-so your leaders on their demands for a further increase of the tariff. As a rciitpa-yer and consumer, I should like to put in a word from another point of view. I find that the Customs duties for sawn and dressed timber amount to 4s per hundred superficial feet. The sawmillers, during the last two or three years, have taken full advantage of their opportunities to increase the price of timber to the full limit of the tariff; they have now bumped up against the fact that they have reached the point where it pays to import timber, their < monopoly having ceased at the tariff limit, plus transportation. They can raise the price no higher, hence the agitation for a further increase of the tariff. It is a matter of general comment among housebuilders, furniture and carriage makers — in fact, any industry in which timber largely enters — that the price at the present time is excessive. Many people are desirous of .building on their sections, but defer doing so, hoping that something will turn up to lessen the cost of building material ; and the eagerness to buy old buildings and second-hand furniture is a clear proof of excessive prices. Among the rentpaying and house-seeking, poition of the community there is a continual outcry about dear rents, and that decent houses are hard to get — of course, the latter is the cause of the former. ' The sawmillers are fond of figures — here are some. A man I know is building a house, and he requires 30,000 ft of timber. The Customs duty of 4s a hundred feet enables the sawmillers to rob him of £60 more than he would pay without the tariff, to say nothing of the furniture to be put in the house when completed. The sawmillers will probably say that they do not get any profit, but the trouble is that they are enabled by this duty to use obsolete tools and methods, probably fifty years out of date. The sawmillers always quote how much is lost in wages by the importation of Oregon pine ; but neglect to mention the amount that is lost in wages in the building trade and allied industries by the excessive price of material of which timber is the y important factor. For every one that is now employed in sawmills at a more or less sweated wage, the present Customs duties on building material prevent ten skilled tradesmen from getting employ-, ment at from ten to sixteen shillings a day, t6 say nothing of the tremendous reduction in rents that would ultimately take place. The truth of the matter is, tihat the sawmillers have fdrmed a combine under the shelter of the tariff, and like most other combines having a monopoly, it is a very greedy and cheeky combine. The sawmillers first fought their employees in the Arbitration Court fiercely ; then they petitioned Parliament to be left outside the scope of the Trades Monopoly Bill ; now they are clamouring for more protection. , The evils of comoines in Protectionist "countries are proving a serious burden on the general community, and thoughtful men are almost in despair of overcoming them, in countries where they are well entrenched, on account of the unscrupulous methods they adopt to gain their ends. If the people of New Zealand are wise, and act promptly, the monopolists can be rendered quite harmless by abolishing the Customs duty on all products they control. — I am, etc., THOMAS LYNCH. 19th November, 1904.

On the Government Railway Station recently the watchful Inspector of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals saw a large pig tied up in a sack, which had a hole in it through which the animal's nose protruded. A ring in the nose had chafed on the side of the hole and caused the noso to bleed. The forelegs of the animal were tied with flax. In this uncomfortable position the pig had been brought from Poherua, having been in the bag for over two. hours, and if Mr. Seed had not seen it, it is stated, it would have remained from 11 a.m. until evening. Mr. >Seed remarked on the cruelty inflicted by the above mode of carrying the pig, and said the offenders wore liable under the Police Offences Act. Messrs. Harcourt and Co. will hold a public auction sale of furniture to-morrow at 1 o'clock, the contents of a len-roomed dwelling, al No. 9, Snapshot Vill», Herald•treetj Kewtown ( '

An old offender, who has repeatedly I given the Inspector of the Society for i the Pievention of Cruelty to Animals v>ork by illusing hoises, figured in the report presented at Saturday's meeting of the society. Mr. Seed &aid he saw a pony in Harbour-street with a large swelling 8m to 9in long on its body, and it had also been severely flogged. He counted nine blislei& caused by the use of a whip. The horse had been driven into town from the Hutt. The inspector informed the committee that he had evidence that the horse was not fit to pull a full load back to the Hutt, but it would be able to work about the Hutt. He did not think any veterinary suigeon would give a certificate permitting the owner to work the horse on hard roads. The driver admitted that he had flogged the horse coming into town. The committee, did not take any action in the matter, but the inspector cautioned the driver. Mr. W. H. Hampton writes that we were misinformed in regard to a portion of his remarks at the- meeting of the Socialist parlor on Sunday. He denies having, as reported, used as an argument In favour of the Shops and Offices Act that the effect of early-closing would be that "the woikers would be able to pay more rent for better dwellings and in other directions." He states that he has always been a fighter against excessive rents. A little difficulty in nomenclature was discussed by the Hospital Trustees today. Recently the Trustees decided that the word "incurable" should be replaced by the word "chronic" in the inscription on the tablet of the "Home for Incurable Invalids," but Mrs. T. C. Williams and the ladies interested made representations to the Board through Dr. .Newman to the effect that the -word "incurable" should be retained, on the ground that, in the future, when the present Board has passed away, the present understanding of the situation may also have been replaced by ideas which may result in the exclusion of incurables from the home built specifically for their reception. The Trustees prefer the word "chronic" as being less likely to afflict patients with a sense of hopelessness than the word "incurable" — in much the same way as medical authorities prefer the name '"home -for mental diseases" to the bold and uncompromising "lunatic asylum." After discussion this morning the Trustees appointed Messrs. C. M. Luke and R. C. Kirk to wait on Mrs. Williams with a view to overcoming the scruples which insist on. the retention of the term "incurable." This morning, his Honour the Chief Justice gave his reserved decision in the Wairarapa appeal, Isaac Nation, farmer, v. the Masterton County Council. The Council sued Nation, before the Magistrate at Masterton, for rates due under a special rate made to meet the interest charges of a loan which was raised under the Loans to Local Bodies Act, after a poll at which Nation did not vote. The Magistrate gave judgment for the Council for £3 5s 6d, one year's rates, with costs. Nation appealed, and the case was argued | before his Honour by Mr. Herdman for appellant Nation, and Mr. Martin for the | respondent Council. In his judgment, his ' Honour points out that apparently appellant first entered into occupation of the land when he became allottee under a ballot under the Farm Homestead Regulations of the 27th February, 1891. The Land Act, 1892, was not then in force, but that Act contained provision for a lessee of perpetual lease lands to surrender his lease, and get a lease-in-per-petuity in exchange, the new lease to be antedated to the date of the surrendered lease. The lease under which appellant now holds is issued for 999 years commencing from the Ist July, 1893, though he was in occupation before that date. His Honour does not see any authority for the issue of this lease dating from the Ist July, 1893, if it was a lease in exchange for an existing lease, because by its date gives appellant about two years longer than he would be entitled to on a. proper exchange under section 150 of the Land Act, '1892. It might be however,, that appellant's earlier tenancy was not of the nature referred to Before, therefore, answering the central question of the* case — whether appellant was an occupier, within the meaning of the Rating Act, 1882, on the 28th M^arch, 1893, when the proposal to raise the loan was carried—his Honour thinks that the nature of appellant's earlier tenancy, if he had any, should be definitely ascertained. A new trial is ordered for this purpose ; and the pre&ent appeal is allowed, and thejudgment against appellant is set aside. The new trial is conditional on £5 5s cosis being paid by the respondent Council, as it is necessitated by respondents not proving clearly what appellant's position was. The two-storied wooden building at the corner of Featheiston and Grey streets, belonging to Messrs. Y6ung and Tripe, solicitors, is to be replaced by a handsome brick building of four stories, for which Mr. J. C. Maddieon (late Hislop and Walden) is architect. Messrs. Young and Tripe will occupy a large suite of rooms, and the remainder of the new i premises will be fitted up as offices for various people. A contract for the erection of the building will be let this week. Mr. i Maddison is calling for tenders for the erection of Messrs. Harcourt and Co.'s new building at the corner of Lambtonquay and Panama-street, on the site of the Orient Dining Rooms. With regard to the fire in Mr. Trevethick's brushware factory, Holland-street, the insurance figures given on page 4 are somewhat in error. The corrected figures are £650 on the building and £810 on the fitOi and machinery, in the South British, with reinsurances ill the New Zealand and f tuidanL.

Preparations are being made for the trial of the Seddon-Taylor libel case, which opens at the Supreme Court at Christchurch on 13th December. It is understood that the .selection of fortyeight names from the grand jury lists has been made, and the names of several prominent citizens are mentioned as having been included. This list will be reduced by one-half, counsel for each party having the power -to object to twelve names. This will be done in about a week's time before the Registrar, and comprises the only power of challenging possessed by the parties. When the case comes on for hearing the special jury will be selected from the. twenty-four names remaining, the first twelve taken out of the box by the Registrar forming tlie special jury. A further stage of the Otaki water rights case, Ryder v. Hall, which occupied Mr. Justice Cooper and a jury for a long time in Palmerston North, is before Mr. t Justice Cooper this afternoon. The jury brought in certain findings, and now Ihcse have to be interpreted. Plaintiff moves to enter up judgment for himself on the findings. Defendant moves to j enter up judgment for defendant or for a nonsuit, or alternatively he moves for a new trial on the ground that, the findings are inconsistent. Messrs. Chapman and Morison appear for plaintiff, Dr. Fiudlay and Mr. Martin for defendant. Argument is proceeding. The Trustees of the Hospital wish to state that they will be pleased to receive contributions for the entertainment of the patients at Christmas. The Colonial Carrying Company shipped two deer to Invercargill by the Tarawera to-day, consigned from the Wellington Acclimatisation Society to the Southland Society.