Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1926. THE TIMBER INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 199, 23 July 1926, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1926. THE TIMBER INDUSTRY.

On Wednesday reference was made in the House of Representatives to the depression in the timber industry in this Dominion by the Leader of the Opposition, who asked the Minister of Industries and Commerce whether he had noticed a newspaper report referring to the number of inen who had been dismissed from West Coast sawmills through the scarcity of orders and through the heavy importations of foreign timbers no improvement was expected. The Minister (Hon. A. D. McLeod), in his reply, said he “had noticed the report and he was making enquiries into the statements made. It was recognised generally that the timber mills were not having a particularly' good time throughout the country. Orders had slackened off probably for more reasons than one. It might be true that imported timbers were having an effect in that direction. The whole matter was being investigated by the officers of the Department of Industries and Commerce at the present time.” The Minister was correct in sajdng the orders had fallen off for more reasons than one—quite a variety of reasons can be advanced as contributing causes to the depression in this industry. Not the least impprtant cause is the everincreasing cost of production. No one will deny that timber prices are very high, but it cannot be said that the sawmillers are making unreasonable profits; on the contrary it is doubtful if many sawmilling enterprises in this Dominion are showing even rea-' sonable profits. All costs incidental to the milling of timber from our forests are much greater than they were ten or,twelve years ago and these costs have of necessity to be added to the price of milled timber or the mills cannot keep going. Some have already reached the non-paying point and they must of necessity close down. A remedy may beeasy to find but difficult to apply. For example, quite a lot of inferior class timber could be disposed, of by the mill owners but for the cost of marketing in addition to the high cost of production so far as this Island is concerned. Some millers claim—and apparently with reason—that if the railway freights on inferior grades of timber were reduced they could sell large quantities for fencing, sheds and farm building purposes and yards which do not necessitate the use of the better grade timbers. At present the bulk of the timber we refer to is permitted to rot in the mill yards; while many trees that could be milled for second or third grade timber are left to rot on the ground or are fired and burnt. All this is an economic waste which need not occur. The people who could use this timber are not sufficiently, wealthy to buy the first grade timbers—-

nor are those necessary for the purposes we refer to—and a reduction in railway freights would be of all round benefit; the millers and users in both town and country and wage earners would all benefit, the latter as a result of an increased demand for their labour. The producers of any commodity can only continue to produce so long as the cost of production is covered by the return obtainable from the sale of the commodity. There is, possibly, no necessity to reduce the railway freights on the . better grades of timber; but there is an urgent need for a revision of the tariff in so far as it applies to inferior grades. The Government can, if it thinks fit, thus assist in alleviating the depression in the timber industry; but, of course, this would only be one step in the desired direction.