WHAT IS NECESSARY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 21, 26 January 1909, Page 5

WHAT IS NECESSARY.

DIFFICULTIES OF SAWMILLERS. "TIGHTNESS OF THE MONEY, 7A<L\EKET." RAILWAY REVENUE MUST NOt BE! SACRIFICED. MINISTEBJAL STATEMENT. A deputation of sawmillers waited on the Minister for Railways (Hon. J. A. Millar) thits morning in reference to freights oa timber. The grievances of the sawn? filers were set out at considerable 'Jength in the columns of The Post a f few days ago, when was published tte text of the letter of the EangitUrei Sawmillers' Association in request iug the interview. SUIJgjTANTIAL CONCESSIONS WANTED. Mr. Field, in introducing^the deputation, said the deputation 'represented pract^aiiy a n the sawm in ers of the iNortlt; Island, and among othei things it uv-^ed that the promised Royal Commissj.on should be set up without delay. As to the railway freights, the sawmi Hers considered that the Premier ecu Id not have considered fully the question before him; otherwise he v Pould not have made such small con- ' Missions. No European, he added, was /getting inordinate timber royalties; no one was getting more than Is a hundred all round. The Government, in fact, was charging higher royalties than any one else. In one place at Raefcihi they were charging £20 an acre. Also, there was a necessity of increasing the duty on foreign timber generally. He was told that the so-called Oregon pine was not Oregon pine at all. Ifc was an inferior timber altogether, and he could not understand why architects should specify it. He understood that it was being specified at the new Maori College at Ot?Jd, although New Zealand timber of -}ust as good qraality could bo supplied aft the same price. He understood thai, the people of Sydney and Melbouin>e had proved thai; the so-called Oregon pine was of inferior quality, and nofj equal to our white pine. They heard with regret, he added, that the New Government Hospital in Wellington,; was to be built of Australian timber*. At least two-thirds of the mills up U t e Main Trunk line were shut up, and the output from the remainder was only.- one-half that -of the total output tor the corresponding period' of last y p >ar. The closing down of the sawmills f/f the Dominion would be disastrous, and the deputation asked for some substantial concession on the rates <£ freight on tim'oer, which, so far, had always been charged on a much higher rate than any other freight. The deputation was, asking for a greater concession than had already been given up to 200 miles. POSITION VERY SERIOUS. Mr. W. T. Jennings, M.P., said that a great many men had been put out of work, and the mills of Taumarunui were not working evf-n half-time. The position was very serious; a crisis had arisen, and steps should be taken to terminate that crisis. Mr. W. L. Bayley, representing the Rangitikei sawmillers, declared that no SEwmiller would close his mill if it would pay him to keep it open. Their chief request was a reduction of freight to the ports. The royalties paid were only such as paid the holders of the bush to retain the bush; in some cases it would pay the holder better to put the land down in grass. As to Oregon pine, they were chiefly asking for a higher duty on the smaller size. THE CONCESSIONS SOUGHT. Mr. J. W. Ellis, representing the South Auckland, sawmillers, gave details of the concessions in freight that \rere asked for. . They asked that a concession of Is pea- 100 ft be. allowed jii all maximum loads of timber sent to any station withiji ten miles of Wellington and Auckland, and the ports of Wanganui, Napier., and New Plymouth; after having travelled 100 miles by rail, minimum freight 2s 9d per 100 ft. As to white pirje, they suggested that after having been carried 80 miles it should then be carried at the sanio rate as the heavier timbers. Lastly, they suggested that class F be extended to include "timber for cases, casks and crates not exceeding 4ft in length." The heavier classes of sawmill waste, such as slahs, mining and fencing timbers, were now carriad under that class. They now asked for the inclusion of light seasoned timber; it was doubtful if an average load would weigh four tons. Ha ■*is& urged that the increased freight on Oregon pine should be extended to'include all imported timbers. - Mr. H. D. Bennett, Taihape, dealt, chiefly with the question of royalties, urging that the amounts paid were reasonable, and simply the i-esurc of the working of the law of supply and demand. Unless a settler got a f-hihijig a hundred it would not pay him to reserve the land for sawmilling purposes. In his opinion, that was a fair and equitable price, and in most cases it would not pay the settler to take less. Mr. W. T. Urwin, Dannevirko, said that if the freights were reduced as requested, the price of timber would be reduced to that extent. THE. MINISTER'S REPLY. The Minister, in the course of his reply, said that he had been looking through the records, and found that for the past 25 years there had been a. constant agitation for the reduction of timber rates. He was trying to get details of all the local rates that had been granted, so as to see if a uniform rate could be made. The railways ought to pay, and he was not in a position to sacrifice any revenue. If any anomaly could be done away with he would be glad to give redress, but he could nob bring down the freight to a rate that was absolutely unremunerative. '('he readjustment of the scale made the other day meant a concession of £15,000 per annum. Freights are, he continued, now lower than at any time in the history of the Dominion and the cost of carriage is higher. It was not the railways that were at fault ; it was the tightness of money. It was that which had reduced the demand for timber for all purposes. There was no speculative building going on, and if the rate was leduced , by 6d per hundred it would not induce building for some time. He did not think he could make any promise, seeing lhat the Royal Commission would in all porbability be set up in the course of a very few days. That commission would go into the whole question, and the whole of the information in the possession of the department would be placed beforo it. Then it would be able to form a very good idea of what was absolutely necessary to be done for the business, if it required any assistance at all. If it was only a question of the tight ness I of the money market, that was a trouble from which they all suffered ; and even if a concession was made, it could only be regarded as of a temporary character. The railways must be run to pay the dividend that they had been paying. He did not believe in the principle that the general taxpayer should pay for tha users of the railway. To a certain extent they were justified in making the country as a whole pay for the opening I up, a,mi, a, (district jvhich, pnty required

development, bufc ho did not intend to make it the policy of 1 the Department to carry freight at a toss, and he hoped that the House and tha country would support him in that opi.uion. The railways should, at any rate, pay interest, Che same as any other business, 60 that th,ey should not be a charge on the Consolidated Revenue. Be hoped that He, would be able to place something definite before the commission, and it the commission could suggest any method by which the timber industry could be put on a better footing, without the Railway Department sacrificing any of its revenue, he would be prepared to do what he possibly could do to assist them. As to the duty on Oregon pine, that a was a" matter of policy, and he could not commit himself o.n the subject. Tie did not think that the people of New Zealand would allow a> prohibitive tariff to be imposed.