TIMBER TRADE

Grey River Argus, 29 June 1925, Page 2

TIMBER TRADE

EFFECT OF NEW RAILWAY 'TARIFF. “PREMIUM FOR FOREIGN WOODS.” WELLINGTON. June 26 1 hose interested in the sawmilling trade are inking a serious view of the new railway tariff as it affects limber freights, and in a statement the secretary of the Dominion Sawmillers’ Federation (Mr A. Feed) indicated that it was probable that a meeting would be held almos! immediately to discuss the posi I ion. Mr Seed stated that as business men they recognised that the railways had to be made to pay their way, bnl he questioned how fur this policy could be ]>ursued at the expense ot the general industries of the country, upon which the prosperity of the people depended. •The limber industry at the present time was not in a too nourishing con. (lition, due principally t () the competition from foreign timbers, and Ihe increasing exclusion yf wood in the erection of the larger buildings in the cities. The iis ( > of wood substitutes, such as fibrous wall boards ami pre.-sed steel ceilings, in the erection of the modern collage was also a fleet ing the position. The proposed now tarilf on timber was approximately a 2.”. per cent increase, which would further hamper local product ion Io that de_ ,gree. as it would offer just tlmt much increased premium for the importation of foreign woods. 'I hat meant that not only would Dominion sawmiliers suffer a very considerable reduction in their nmikets. but the railways would lose the ■ irriagc of the locally produced limb; , r, for which would be substituted in the main centres of population increased (piantities ol the foreign and inferior article. 'The prospective increased expensi’ entailed in the delivery of timber from the mill to the main centres would, mean that to the extent of the increase millers would be handicapped in competition with the foreign timber whicn was produced by cheap labour ami long hours —conditions which would not be tolerated in New Zealand. “So far as the timber industry is concerned,'’ said Air Seed, “the proposed increased charges are certainly to the advantage of the foreign competitor. It. means that there wil be a lessening in the volume of New Zealand limbei carried by thi> railways, and it is questionable whether the loss of revenue thereby caused will not counterbalance any increase which the Dep.u tm. u hopes will accrue.”