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CHAPTER V.—GUN URAL. Report of the Timber Trade for the Fiscal Year ended 31st March, 1922. Production. A statement showing the actual output in superficial feet of the various kinds of timber from New Zealand sawmills during the years ended 31st March, 1920 and 1921, has been compiled from figures supplied by the Government Statistician. While' complete returns for the year ended 31st March, 1922, are not yet available, it has been possible to arrive at a fairly accurate estimate from figures supplied by the Government Statistician and tho Secretary of the New Zealand Federated Sawmillors' Association.

Production of Sawn Timber.

The estimated, total output for the year ended 31st March, 1922, was approximately 15 per cent, below that for the previous period. The general decline in demand, which set in during the JanuaryMarch quarter of 1921, continued during the year. Production, however, did. not fall away immediately, owing to the existence of unfilled orders and forward contracts. The South Island, mills were the first to experience the slump. The production of these districts has shown a heavy decrease

Graph showing Production of Sawn Timber for Period 1919-22.

since July of last year. The North Island mills, on the other hand, continued to produce at approximately the January-March, 1921, figure until December, but have since that date been forced to reduce their cut considerably. In several districts where mills only supply the local markets, and particularly the farming community, the production has fallen from 47 per cent, to 70 per cent., a reflection on the serious curtailment of the spending-power of the rural population. First-class skilled and unskilled labour has been available during the whole period under review, and millowners have been enabled for the first time in many years to raise staffs to pre-war standards of efficiency.

Item. 1S)2(). 1921. 1022. Kauri (Agalhis australis) Rimu IDaerydium cupressinum) White-pine (Podoearpus dacrydioides) Totara (Podoearpus totara) Matai (Podoearpus spicalus) Beech (Nothofagus Menziesii, N. solandri, and N. fusca) Pinus insignis Other PercentSup, ft. age. Sup. ft. 26,094,822 8-<i7 20,393,7.8 141,825,826 47-10 153,529,022 81,369,931 27-03 73,16 ,750 20,507,162 0-81 17,981,189 17,761,542 5-90 21,329,043 3,435,356 1-14 6,348,594 5,867,951 1-95 9,711,918 4,213,862 1-40 5,202,530 Percentage. 6-63 49-90 23-78 5-85 6-93 2-06 The estimated total output is approximately 254,000,000 sup. ft. Complete returns are not yet available, but details will be obtainable from Volume III of the Report on the Statistics of the Dominion for the year ended 31st March, 1922. 3-16 1-69 Totals 301,075,952 100-00 307,667,834 100-00