THE TIMBER COMMISSION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11856, 21 May 1909, Page 3

THE TIMBER COMMISSION.

- " jxcexdiarism:: suggested. t (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, last night. The Timber Commission began its Wellington sittings this afternoon. Henry Brown, Inglewood, .- Tara^aki, sent a sworn affidavit, in which he stated that indirectly the admission of OMjron pine to Taranaki had been prejudicial; to the local timber industry. Clem. Knight, •of the Dannevirke Timber Workers' Union, said hisumon wished to have the duty on Oregon t>ine considerably increased, or the twnLr shut out altogether. The mills in his district had suffered severely, and fifteen of them had shut down, or were working on greatly reduced time, lhey had *ach employed 20 Rand* at 10s a day. paying an average of £3000 a month Men who had been earning £11 a month were nbw earning £7 <3s a month each, where they could^get work on the Government roads at Piripiri—To Mr Field: It was recognised that the slackness was duejtp the stringency of the money market, but Oregon did a great deal of harm. There were over 200 men (mostly married) out of work There was general distress in his district due to the milk shutting down. __T6 Mr Bafberi There were not many m Ms working in the Dannevirke district. He had never thought about the matter of one class of workers being penalUed by paying more dearly for their houses in consequence of the high prices of timber in order that another cl**> hi -workers (timber workers) might beneati The workers were always prepared to pay a fair thing. Mr Hannan: How do you know that Oretroh pine' has rained your trad©?— Oregon has displaced rima and matai. • What do you base your opinion on? — Upoh what I have gathered from the workers and from the papers. To Mr Jennings : If the present conditions continued, the eawmil hands must leave . the Dannevirke .district, as there was nothing there for them to do —To Mr Clarke : If the importation of 'Oregon pine were stopped mills would r<*ume working straight away.-To Mr Arnold- He could not say whether the importation of Oregon bad tended to . keep down the price of timber here. Henry Smith, sawmill worker, of Eketahuna, v said that liis mill was oniy employing two-thirds of the usual number of* hands, owing to the shortness of orderß caused by Oregon importations. The workers did not think the slackness wa« d tie to the stringency of the money market. For 12 months past trade had. fallen -off considerably. Last month h( only earned £5, and, so far this month •he had only eight days 1 work. The timber" industry wu dying, principally owing to the competition of Oregon.— To Mr Field : There were about a hun dred men out of work in h?a district, and their position wan getting moTe terrible than he liked to think about. But for the ; present slump in price? there was enough timber in his districi to keep the industry goina for soim years-— To Mr Leyland : The averagf yearly supply in Wellington was nbouf ffffcy million feet. *& tnat tne importa tion of Oregon was only 5 per cent, o 1 the total. Mr" I»eyland said that merchants hac! * informed him that of^the Oregon sold 75 p«r cent went to replace kauri, sr thnt really the general market was no* nffecW to the extant of 5 per cent. If Oregon could be imported it would per mit of the export of kauri ; and fo.< every £1 spent in purchasing v Oregon thev could get £2 back. for. the expor tution of kauri. The witness *aid that, if he were pwharf laborer, .he would feel inclined to have a fire near some of the stacks of Oregon. TAIHAPE, this day. A meeting of workers «ngaged in the Rawmillina industry, held last night f |iac"sped the questipn as to how the Timber Commission w*ould affect th< industry. Strong comments weTe mad« re the targe number of unemployed now Keeking work in the district, and' tfifini'irioi's effect on trade. It was even tually decided to put the workers' cast before the Commission by sending tw r<M^wates to srive evidence. They reach Wellington to-day.