IMPORTED TIMBER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13870, 2 October 1908, Page 6

IMPORTED TIMBER.

THE QUESTION OF DUTY. : DISCUSSION IN PARLIAMENT. [BV TELEGRAPH.—PRESS association.] Wellington, Thursday. In the House of Representatives this afternoon, the . Extension of Commerce Committee reported upon several petitions praying for ■an .; increase of duty, upon imported timber that, in its opinion, it would be inadvisable to increase the duty, but that the petitions be referred to the Government for consideration.' : - Mr. Seddori moved an. amendment to ( refer- the report back to the committee,/ and recapitulated the arguments in favour of increasing the duty adduced by him several times this session., He thought such a report as that brought up would prejudice the Royal Commission set up by the Government to inquire into the whole position. : - : • Mr. Jennings seconded the amendment, which Mr. Izard opposed, on the ground that working people wanted cheap timber. Messrs. Colvin, Thomson, Hall, and Mander supported the amendment. Mr. Alison said the industry was an important one and should be fostered. On the other hand, it was patent that a combine in the industry here had of recent years put up the price of timber to an abnormal height. The Government was doing the right thing in appointing a Royal Commission to investigate the matter independently of interested parties. Mr. Field strongly supported the amendment, and spoke at considerable length in favour of increasing the duty. rHe referred to tho evil of American trusts here, and said the increase in the price of timber in the past 10 years had been very small. It was only Is per 100 ft, so far as sawmillers were concerned, in the past five or six years on the ordinary building timber. . . : Mr. Hogan thought it was not so much the sawmillers as tli9 timber merchants who were to blame. • '. Mr. Wilford said the speakers who supported the sawmillers were the country members, and those 'who supported the timber merchants were the town members. -.-'.. The Prime Minister remarked that it was obvious that there was a great diversity of opinion. One,thing was quite certain, that people could . not , go on paying the high prices prevailing lor timber. Whi' was making the exorbitant prices? Nobody seemed to know, but, certainly, somebody was. It was for the Royal Commission to investigate the whole question. The industry must be fairly dealt by, but workers desiring to build houses must be protected julso. After some further discussion, Mr. T. Mackenzie : (chairman of the committee) said they had only done their duty in reporting. upon the matters before them. He did not see why the Commission should. in any way by influenced by the report of the committee. . i The amendment was defeated by 35 votes to 32, and the report was referred to the Government for consideration.