Overtime Subsidy loss To Timber Mills

Chronicle (Levin), 12 September 1949, Page 5

Overtime Subsidy loss To Timber Mills

Pr*>ii A ssnointinn)

(Pe>r

TTEW PLYMOUTH Sept. 11. The King Oountrv sawmilling industrv will be greatlv handicapped if the Government is too harsh in its plans to remove the subsidv on overtime worked in some mills, according to a nrominent King Countrv sawmiller. As far as' he krtew,.no operators of sawmills enttinv indi^enons timbers in the Palmerston "iVorth conservancv of the New Zealand jForest Service. which inclndes most of +ho King Conntrv, had been notified thnt it would not eontinne to receive as-sistani-e. He understood that renorts were now being prepared bv the Department at Wellington and thnt those uriti* affeefod bv the removal of the subsidv Would be notified in due course. At the outset it' was stated that the subsidv' would be removed from the exotic timber industrv and it was la for announced that the decision would also applv to those indi^enous mills in which the eapacitv would not be affected or, in other w'ords, to mills that did not have sufficient log snpplies to work a 44 hour week. The mills that lost the subsidv would have to revert to a 40hour week for without Government assistance there would not be a sufficient tnnrgin of pTofit to justifv tha pawng of overtime sa.id the miller. Overtime was a definite advantaire in ensurin" that there was sufficient. manpower and jits loss would have a detrimental effect, 'ou Production, the extent of which could n,ot be gauged at present. Representations to the Minister of FOrests, ^ilr SkinneL had failed to have the de1 cision altered. \