TIMBER CARTAGE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 54, Issue 32630, 5 October 1945, Page 5

TIMBER CARTAGE

QUESTION OF ROYALTY CONTRACTORS COMPLAIN little left for themselves Correspondence relating to the application of Messrs Leach and Wotherspoon, Kimberley road, Waihi, for a permit for carting timber of Waitawheta road was read at the September meeting of the Ohinemuri County Council. The county clerk, Mr A- A. Jenkinson, reported that after consultation, he had written to the applicants, stating that the application would be approved by the council on the following conditions: —(!)■ That all bridges used in such carting be strengthened to the satisfaction of the county engineer before carting was commenced; (2} that the applicants agreed to pay the council a royalty at the rate of 6d per 100 superficial feet on all timber carted over the Waihi-Waita-wheta road; ('3) that the council reserved the right to stop such carting at any time, and that no carting be done in wet weather.

Royalty “Excessive”

From further correspondence it appeared that the applicants considered the council’s requirement of 6d per 100 super, feet of carting excessive, it being pointed out that the applicants were carting mining timber, not milling timber, and that its rate of profits on this- work was small. With the carting, splitting, squaring and delivery involved, and the royalty asked for by the council, amounting to a quarter of their individual earnings—they found the whole thing impossible. Applicants asked to be allowed to wait on the council to explain the position more fully. Contractors’ Protest In reply to an intimation by the clerk, after consultation with the chairman, Cr. T. A. Barrett, that the charges were the stipulated charges and must stand, Mr A. Wotherspoon, under date September 1, wrote accepting the council’s terms, but under protest, stating that the conditions regarding the royalty made carting for -the mine unprofitable and necessitated the company’s turning to cutting for farmers. “It would be better,” the letter concluded, for us to give you the profits and to keep the royalty for ourselves.

Subsequently to the foregoing communication, Mr James Thorn, M.P., had written on behalf of Mr Wotherspoon, asking for information to enable the member to write to the applicant — a returned serviceman, he thought—in reply to a complaint made by Mr Wotherspoon of “stumblingblocks encountered in the endeavour to make a go of carting for the mine” Undertaking Unprofitable

One of the applicants’ statements, the member mentioned, was that the royalty required by the council was equivalent approximately to £2OO a year, and that this amount, on top of £45 a year for registration and heavy traffic licence, would make the film s undertaking unprofitable. The clerk stated that he had informed Mr Thorn that permission had been granted to the applicants to cart timber on the road in question to a total weight of five tons, when the classification of the road was only foi three tons. Th e royalty was one that was imposed on other carriers of timber when the road classification had been exceeded, and in no other instance had the condition been objected to. Strain On Road It had .been further pointed out to Mr Thorn that the proposed carting would be a tremendous strain on the roads used, as was borne out by the firm’s own statement that a royalty to the council of £2OO a year would mean that 800,000 superficial feet of timber would be carted over the road in a year. The council was entitled to reimbursement for increased costs of maintenance of the roads under such conditions. The logical solution, the clerk had suggested, was for the carters to pass the charge on to their clients. It was obvious from the royalty paid to the council that the applicants income from the business must be considerable. The chairman commented that heavy carting knocked the roads about and the council was justified in making the charges commensurate with the damage done and the cost of maintenance. The correspondence was received, and the action of the clerk in regard thereto confirmed.