THE PRICE OF KAURI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13482, 5 July 1907, Page 5

THE PRICE OF KAURI.

THE MERCHANTS' POSITION

A LETTER TO THE MINISTER FOR

LABOUR.

[BY TELEGRAI'H. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

Ciieistchbkch, Thursday. The following letter has been addressed to the Hon. J. Millar (Minister for Labour) by Mr. William Goss (president- of the North Canterbury Timber Merchants' Association): —-" I have the honour, by direction of the members of the North Canterbury Timber Merchants' Association, to write you on the matter of the prices ruling for kauri timber in this district. The matter has attracted considerable attention in the daily papers, and the members of this association nave not been afforded any opportunity of being heard on the subject. It has been deemed proper that I should place before you the true /acts of the case, and it is believed that after on.s-ideration has been given to them you will have reason to modify the views which, we fear, you have hitherto held with regard to this very important matter.

'Briefly stated the position is as fol- ■ lows: Cost, of f.o.b. at shipping port, is I 17s; schooner freight to Lvttelton 2s 9d; I insurance, 2|d; railway charges from Lyttelton to Christchurch Is 2-Jd ; discharging and. cartage from railway to yard 4d; stripping aud stacking in yard, 6d ; total cost, £1 2s; selling price, £1 7s, less five per cent, trade discount, and 2£ per cent, cash discount, 2s; net price received by merchants, £1 ss. The foregoing leaves a margin of gross profit of 3s; but from this has to be deducted the cost of giving I delivery. This is ? considerable item, | owing to the fact that kauri is only used j here for especial purposes, and as a good deal is subsequently sold in very small quantities, 6d per 100 ft would be about the average cost of doing so. A* indicated, the timber is always stripped for drying, and we cannot, therefore, reckon less than 12 months as the average time kauri is kept in stock in Chrktchurch. This being so, five per cent, must be added to the cost to allow for this; that is another Is Id off the gross profit. We now have a bare is 5d left of our gross profit, and out of this all expenses incidental to running a timber yard have to come, and it also has to provide for all risks, many of which are very considerable in a timber trade, such as tire, split boards, and other damage done to the stock through exposure to the weather, besides unavoidable damage in handling ; and, in addition, the ever present risk of bad debts. VERY HEAVILY TAXED. " On the matter of fire, we would point out that in insuring against this, we are ;heavily handicapped, for not only are the premiums high {higher, too, than in most other large centres, owing to the absence of a high pressure water supply), but we cannot . effect an insurance on a timber I stock without the general average clause '.being inserted."

i "We must also point. out .that timber.! j merchants in Christ church are very heavily | (taxed in the matter of rates through I the ■ rating .being on unimproved values, a timber yard requiring such a large area of land in proportion to other businesses. The members of my association . are extremely sorry that the Minister for labour should bave lent his ear to .one side only of the story, without attempting to properly inform himself as.to the true conditions obtaining in connection -with, this industry. That this is so if proved by the fact that no merchant in Christohurch lias, so far as we are aware, been officially approached by yourself, certainly not any official of our association, although you have not hesitated to allow statements emanating from you, of a very damaging nature to the Christehurch merchant?, to bo published; and, further, that although our selling price, in the trucks at Christchurch, is only 23s per 100 ft super, for lots of 5000 ft and over, this latter fact has beec entirely ignored in all your statements. This, we presume, has been done by your being unaware of the fact, and serves to emphasise the one-sided nature of your inquiries, which we can scarcely call generous.

"We have delayed answering the statements made by you earlier, as it was stated in the Christchurch papers that you intended going very thoroughly into this matter, and we had hoped that you could have done this ere now, and so have relieved us from the necessity of making these | explanations in this .manner. The memi hers of this association will readily welcome any inquiry into this matter, and on their part will be only too pleased to afford any information that they may have it in their power to give."