TIMBER ALLOCATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 15, 23 August 1946, Page 3

TIMBER ALLOCATION

MR W. SULLIVAN’S PROTEST

SOUTH AUCKLAND REDUCTIONS A protest against the reduction of 33 per cent, in timber allocation to the Hamilton district, while the Auckland quota had been increased by 900,000 feet a month was voiced by Mr W. Sullivan (National, Bay of Plenty), in the House of Representatives. Mr Sullivan said the reduction in the allocations to the South Auckland district in the last reshuffle had brought about a very serious position in his own district, in Rotorua and in Hamilton, and he felt satisfied that those places had been deprived of their rightful share of timber. Auckland had been squealing to get larger quantities, and had got them. It was a fact that only the previous month or so Auckland had received just on 3,000,000 feet of imported Oregon timber. A Government member; They need every foot of it.

Mr Sullivan said that was quite true, but the same applied to every .district, and the imported Oregon had not been taken into consideration in making out the Auckland quota. Bay of Plenty’s allocation had been reduced by 100,000 feet a month, leaving it only 150,000 feet a month for the whole area, which was totally inadequate. The Commissioner of State Forests (Mr Skinner) had said that the allocations were made -on the basis of population and manpower engaged in the industry in the particular zones. In all the districts he had referred to there had been no decrease in population according to the previous census, nor had there been a decline in manpower engaged in the industry. He felt that Auckland had been given a distinct advantage over and above its quota at the expense of the other districts he had named by putting up a fight to get more timber. Recently, figures had been published showing that the country’s timber output had been maintained. Mr Sullivan said that in his own territory there were eight or ten houses going up on one settlement for returned servicemen and those houses required about 100,000 feet for the buildings, or two-thirds of the total monthly allocation for the whole zone. If a policy of sending the whole of the country’s timber output to the main centres was adopted it would result in more and more people going to those centres to the disadvantage of the rural districts. He knew it was a problem, but he felt that no proper effort was being made to produce the kind of material required. Timber output per annum equalled that of 1941, but that had been possible by increasing the output of inferior quality timber. Over the last five years timber output had decreased by 30,000,000 feet, and it was towards building up the supply of such timber that attention should be directed. He would like the Minister to review the whole question of timber allocations and take into consideration the urgent needs of rural districts to provide housing on the settlements that were being developed.