TIMBER TRADE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16742, 24 December 1914, Page 2

TIMBER TRADE.

MILLERS’ TROUBLES. SOME COMPLAINTS FROM AUCKLAND. FOUR THOUSAND MEN AFFECTED. [From Ovr Correspondent.] AUCKLAND, December 23. The timber trade has certainly suffered more severely thru} any other in New Zealand as the result of the war, aud the sawmills have had to reduce ! their output by 60 per cent, while in Auckland province along nearly 'IOOO men are affected. Yesterday a deputation of sawmillers waited upon the Prime .Minister and urged that, because of the plight of the industry, State assistance should be given in the shape of moratorium protection and remission of rentals. The Prime Minister’s reply was that nothing could be done until Parliament met. When a newspaper representative made inquiries this morning with a view to ascertaining the position so far as the milling industry is concerned in the Auckland province, lie gained some exceedingly interesting information from Mr W. B. Leyland, a well-known timber miller and a member of the Royal Commission set up to inquire into matters pertaining to the timber trade. “ Tho suggestions made by the deputation have no effect as far as Auckland is concerned,” said Mr Levland. “We have to pay in advance for bur timber or else offer approved"! bills, so that a moratorium or remis- 1 sion in rentals would' not help us, | though they would no doubt bowel- J coined by the King Country millers, | who have to pay royalties to Native j owners and others. There they have J to pay so much annually and make so j much annually in order to meet their i obligations, and now that the bottom ! has to a large extent fallen out of the timber market they naturally find themselves in difficulties.” There are, however, other aspects of the timber trade which are .causing much concern and in regard to which the Government might very well take ' some action calculated to bring about a readjustment, Mr Leyland said. Auckland' timber millers have to put up with a great deal of- unfair treatment and unfair competition as.regards the conditions applying to the timber trade on the west coast of the South Island. There the millers’ have been spoon fed for years under conditions which allow them to land timber at Cheltenham and Onehunga and un- j fairly compete with the local article, . while in the Australian trade they have a very considerable advantage/ For instance, in Westland the millers only pay 6d per 100 feet, for the sawn output, which means that they pick the eyes out of the timber and' nay only for what they take. A Crown lands ranger visits the mills once in six months for the purpose of valuing the timber cut. Here in Auckland the miller pays Is per 100 feet gross measurement, and he must pay before the timber is taken. Westland millers giving evidence before the Timber Commission declared that 50 to 60 per cent of the timber was lost in conversion. That can readily he believed, since they only pay for what they take, and naturally prefer to take only the most profitable timber out of each log, so that in this respect alone the Westland miller is 50 per cent better off than the Auckland miller. Yet another grievance the Auckland miller has is the manner in which the Westland millers are pampered in re- j gard to railway freights. Down there they pay Is 4d for freightage over I fifty miles. In the Auckland' district J the conveyance of timber over a simi- j lar distance costs 2s 2d ; If there is any excuse for differentiation in rail- ! way rates, it is when railways are in 1 competition with water-borne freights, J In Auckland this exists, but there is j comparatively no competition at Grey- j mouth. When the Timber Commission ! was making inquiries into this aspect I of the business, Mr Ronayne was asked, whv the differentiation? His reply was that the West Coast had always come under the favoured nations clause. That is on record. “ And yet,” Mr-Leyland said, “these West Coast peoole working under such spoonfed conditions are at liberty to bring their timber up to Auckland, and are in constant competition with the mills here. Auckland has to toe the line all the time. It is penalised all along the line. Tt pays the highest royalties, the highest rates. Here we are at the mercy of every, little local body, and there is one timber contract in the north on which the local rates alone total £BO per year. The result is that the West Coast miller can land timber in Australia at a price uith which we cannot compete. It is time that the industry was on an equal footing, and that the northern millers enjoyed eciiutl privileges witn those in the south.”