THE TIMBER TRADE

Feilding Star, Volume II, Issue 351, 23 August 1907, Page 4

THE TIMBER TRADE

IS THERE A COMBINE. STATEMENT IN PARLIAMENT. •The subject of the Timber Trust in Wellington was further mentioned by Mr Barber in the House on Wednesday. A few years ago, he said, the price of ordinary red pine building timber was 8s per hundred, but to-day the so-called ordinary building timber, which was really selected as the inferior timber from the log, was 13s 6d per hundred. This was one of the causes of the very high rent which prevailed, particularly in Wellington. He had some tables which gave a comparison of the price of kauri timber in New Zealand and Australia. He would give one item. In Wellington the price for 6 x I tongued, grooved, and beaded, or V-jointed lining was 255, in Sydney it was 20s 6d — a difference of 4s 6d, notwithstanding the cost of shipment to Australia. He was not correct in what be had previously said that the association in Wellington was raising the prices on builders and manufacturers purchasing outside the association. That was not the way they penalised those people. They did so by depriving them of certain discounts, which came to the same thing. He had a communication which had been addressed to one manufacturer in Wellington by the association to this effect: — "I am instructed to inform you that your name has been deleted from ' the Builders and Contractors' Special Discount," There was another letter from the association saying: — "These deletiona have been made for procuring supplies outside the association." This, said Mr Barber, was interfering with legitimate competition. He had a list of the firms in Wellington who had been penalised to this extent simply because, as the letter said, they had gone outside the association. Seeing that ordinary building timber had risen from 8s to 13s 6d, high rents prevailed in Wellington. Very nearly half a worker's wages was paid for his week's rent, and it was not altogether the fault of the landlord if the cost of building was increased to this extent through the high price of materials. He hoped tho Minister would do something to prevent this extortion by removing the duty off Australian timber. Although the price of New Zealand timber sold in Sydney was so much lower than that charged here, they could get Australian jarrah landed in Wellington, with a duty of 2s a hundred, and retailed at 18s a hundred, while they had to pay here from 24s to 28s per hundred for kauri and totara. He did not say it was the Wellington Timber Association only; it was a combination of the merchants of Wellington, combined with the timber millers, and they had raised prices to such an extent that it would. very soon be impossible for working men to live in this country. He also knew of an individual who had tried to get a shipment of timber from Pelorus Sound. It was to be delivered on Miramar wharf, and the purchaser offered to take between 50,000 ft and 60,000 ft of ordinary building timber, to be delivered on Seatoun wharf, and to pay all cartage. The association, however, would not deliver the timber on those terms, but wanted to charge him the same rate as though it was carted away from a timber yard in the city. That showed there was a combination, and he hoped the Minister would do something to remedy the matter.