DIFFICULT TIMES

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1005, 23 June 1930, Page 1

DIFFICULT TIMES

TIMBER INDUSTRY SEEKS ASSISTANCE GOVERNMENT MAY ACT Special to THE SUN. WELLINGTON, Today. Further reports of closing mills, and talk of restricted output indicate the stress which lias fallen upon the timber industry and lumbermen are hoping that the Government will find time to deal with the Timber Kfficiency Bill which was crowded out last session. Endeavours are now being made to have this made a Government measure during the coming session. •Everything goes to show that the industry is faced with a further lean period,” said Mr. A. Seed, secretary of the Dominion Sawmill ers’ Federation today, in a statement on the position. “The general depression is causing the timber trade to fall off still further, though the depression seems not to have Affected the quantity of foreign timbers imported to da,te. It appears that the Government may be obliged, before I long, to increase the duty upon foreign I timbers where the importation is excessive. “The immediate hope is to be found in the general recognition of the new timber standards. In some cases, there has been a definite response to these already. Some Government departments, notably the Public Works Department, have regulated their orders accordingly. The greatest good to the industry will result when the advantages of the standard grading system are fully appreciated and when it is understood by the timber user that he can specify what timber ho wishes under the new grading rules and depend absolutely on receiving just what he has ordered—that he has a definite safeguard in respect to supplies, whether he places his order with the miller direct or through some agent. He can select whatever timber suits his purpose and rely upon obtaining it. There is no chance of an inferior grade being sent to him. “We hope that the Timber Industry Efficiency Bill will receive sympathetic consideration at the hands of the Government. This provides for the organisation of the industry on lines to secure fuller efficiency. We hope to provide for a small levy on output to enable the establishment of milldoctors— mechanics who are thoroughly conversant with mill machinery and with the logging and saw-milling practice—and a costing account to investigate the position of each mill and advise the sawmiller on the subject of increasing his efficiency and reducing the price of his timber for the market.”