THE PRICE OF TIMBER.

Grey River Argus, 26 June 1908, Page 4

THE PRICE OF TIMBER.

MERQAWT'St/PPiNT O,F VfEW. j THE SUPI^tV FbR^THE'WELI.INCT.QJI MARKET. . v, ■■<•> a:ii in) ,(/Thi Dominion. ■':•.■'.-! •■■>-.[ With ' ia :; 'Vie* 1 of ascertaining the ' .poMi .of- view 'df 'the tiniber ; merc!hants : ih' : regard 'to' ; ;^ie v statemeht- : appearing ] in a fec€nt.iss i ue.of The Dominipcp on the. ■price of riinber, a reporter called 1 onlMir'N! F. Marlsy, Secretary of the Timber Merchants' Assoxiation. T It,. might ; b^ .true, said Mr-Marley,: that Oregon pine was quoted at 17s 6d but 'that meant' 17s 6d less 7J- per cent disccunt on the 20th of the following 1 month, and thefewas a vast difference between the itwojas the money, in the first .instance, must be paid before delivc'i/ On such .an order as two or three?- million feet or, ,£6OOO would haye 1 Ho b r 6 paid down. No' doubt Oregon pine could be procured cheaper if rjurchase^p la^ge quantieics but the difficulty was in providing 1 storage ! , room, Atliich , in Wellington cost 30s. pef" week. .Then it. had to be recut', as' it ckm^ ;i:8f t 12x6',' 4nd fou- feet were wasted; ,i.n; making it 14ft. 6x6. Fluctuations/ also, had to be tillowedfor. The staiement appear ed that.a"q r uotatid'ri T \vas made at 8s 3d for 100 superficial f eet landed at Wellington, 1 duty paid,' 'but" he had never heard of anyone btiying at that price, and he imagined that' the article must be ivcry .inferior.- 'lt' was 'r : eporte'd >: in 'the last nyp' :7 da^s/ that' ■ thY price " : pf .^clv&iiman. wh©, bought ■two .o', three nidMionr. f ee.t had- to risk lik^'the'^e^ ■' - * r , "The .nierch.a.njs.^wefe : ,not - pitting 'tiresron 'pine again'si "the 'N^w'iZcalaiyd -pine,", jcon'tatiied. My. Marldy, "but the difficulty ;r h,as ( ; beeh to' Obtain a supply:". '.T'^Kf)^ last." year for "instance, „;T;lic;. whpfe' of : ',the- : mills m this Island which' supplied tht Welling ton. -mairktr only supplied a fraction over half of the total imported in Wellington for the ", year,. " ,}jc|j, it is very .fi?:. a .l!> .but' we know ih'at die quantity is^diminis.hia^ (fast, . amdryve , have to look somewhere for p.ut timber* i <; "As to the timber. along' The Main Trunk line, it will 1 be practically aU absorbed by the. -, towns qn ih^/line and those' inland Jvem ;4-t...,-I ; j".)ijnder^tind that -tiiere- is nothing -likTrthe* quantity of- timber ! al6ng-N that l i i oute / that jhas been Stated.' : At ! : tiic'' ( cor^ren<:c .at New ' Piymcuth in Marc'h ; !lasJ,''a "sfist Coast (South Island) miller, an expert on the subject,- reported (hat he^aa'speat a week ih that district, and he had thai -befelc he was /rio6o,.ri'c;hpr after seeing thafbush as hehad Ijeen frighten^ -ed-a^-the-q'uantity' which was- said to ■"exist. No doubt there jsa largc.quan tit/ cf timber in that part of the country, but certainly not as much as has been represented. We cannot got the supplies we 1 want in the' North Island, so we must Tall back on seaborne timber.' ' .... Mr Marner said, in answer to a ques tion, that.. a large portion -of the timber used here came from Greymouth. The Hawkers Bay mills were very nearly cut out,' and pnlr a small quantity came from there, r lie ' did not think ■| that the duty should be taken off Ore--3 \ gon pine altlio'ug'.h' they a's timfier n\er.::'charts; Would'-'Hke' t6 ; see it off. He l\ ..did no), s'ee^ho^^ie Government could :ta^e" th,e ; »,duty.o^ ; Snowing- the prices at which this timber could be bought. -I Sonr.: saw-millers-- would, of course, 1 3 jffi tti ■"$& tffM<?> increased.