THE GREY RIVER ARGUS TUESDAY, April 21, 1925. THE TIMBER TRADE.

Grey River Argus, 21 April 1925, Page 4

THE GREY RIVER ARGUS TUESDAY, April 21, 1925. THE TIMBER TRADE.

\\ hatever may be the underlying causes of the slackness that has of late prevailed in the sawmilling industry on the West jCoast, it is to be hoped a restoration of normal conditions will be -witnessed during the coming months. It is probably the workers who feel the worst -effects of the slackness existing, a a lost time for them means lost wages, whereas the miller retains his commodity for which he can look forward sooner or later to a reasonable return. That one factor in checking local production is the importation of timber from abroad is quite obvious, but why this should be the case is not quite so obvious. The millers doubtless would 1 prefer to «ec a prohibitive duty imposed as against the imported article, but otherwise they appear not Io have attempted any concerted measures Io I meet the competition of millers who n-nd their product a distance of thousands of miles to the Dominion mar- ' ket. So far as the consumer is con- | corned, of course, there is no great gain from the importations. The mid- ; i.llenieu see to that, because whatever preference they give the imported article is gauged with an eye solely to the degree in which it will increase their profits. The result is that the retail price of timber does not reflect the cheapness of the imports, and the only effect, therefore, apart from an increase in the profits of the middlemen, is a reduction in New Zealand cutting. Considered ns a maesurc of , timber conservation, this process is . of very doubtful advantage, but the | millers cannot expect the Government to make a move to help them unless I they do something to help themselves. | The price of New Zealand timber is I higher to the consumer than it ought ' to be, and the millers should unite to lower the retail prices. If they are | working in with rings, they have only I themselves to thank if they arc undersold by outsiders, and if the very dealers who compose the rings turn them down in the outsider’s favour. There is no doubt the demand for timber at present is less than it shoutd be, and. the reason is the high retail prices. The fact, moreover, that imported timber is successfully competing against the local product, even if there is dumping, goes to show that the millers of New Zealand arc not out for competition, but expect to be helped without making any adequate attempt to help themselves. They should restore competition as for as possible, and should not plan to eliminate it as far as possible. Tn that

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