Reason For Shortage Of Timber Is Not Only Lack Of Supply

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 October 1950, Page 5

Reason For Shortage Of Timber Is Not Only Lack Of Supply

WELLINGTON, Last Night (PAI— The supposed shortage of timber tor building was not due to lack of supply, but principally to a general failure to take advantage ot what was available, said the secretary of the Dominion Sawmillers’ Federation (Mr A. Seed) today. "There is ample timber available,” he said. “Any apparent shortages are due to unfortunate prejudices in official minds and to no other cause.” Mr Seed was replying to a statement by the president of the New Zealand Builders' Federation (Mr J. R. Smith) that there was not enough timber available to keep the men currently available for housing work fully employed. “The control of specifications for most buildings is in the hands of either Government or local authorities,” said Mr Seed "and most ot these authorities persist in calling for grades of timber which are no longer in plentiful supply.” The country was experiencing an increasing demand foi building materials in a period when its supplies of native timbers were rapidly diminishing, he said. "This would be an alarming state ot affairs were it not for our enormous resources in the way of exotic forests. The production of pinus radiata is approaching 40 per cent of the total output of sawn timber, and this proportion will increase annually in the near future. “Despite the slow appreciation ot pinus radiata for building purposes." Mr Seed said, “in some districts houses built totally or predominantly from this timber were satisfactory. As soon as this wider appreciation ot the true values extends to other parts of the country, the shortage of which Mr Smith complains will disappear. Some authorities also were still applying restrictions on the use of nonheart rimu and matai which the sawmilling industry believed to be unjustified, said Mr Seed.