THE TIMBER TROUBLE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 404, 13 January 1909, Page 9

THE TIMBER TROUBLE.

Speaking to a representative of the "Manawatir Daily Times.'.'a prominent sawmiller. referring to . the 1 Oregon pine question, said. that he was satisfied this was not at. .the root, of the trouble at all. Naturally they felt sore" at the pine ooming in in subsidised steamers, but there, was no idea of its- coming wheu the' steamers were subsidised, and' it had only come because of the great depression among the sawmillers in America arid Canada, which would be relieved by tho revival: of trade in America. ' Neither the United - States. nor Canada .had tiinhor to spare, and this sending out of Oregon pine all over the world as was being done at present was, purely temporary. ; It was the fashion just now to blame the Government about it, but if this Government 1 was to blame, the various Australian and other. Governments would bo •'blamcable with as much, or as little, justice. V ' The curious thing in connection with' this Oregon pine was, not ;that it was coming in and selling at cut rates below our own timber, but that they were actually getting moro for it. than for much superior New , Zealand timber. Why was it that architects and others wero specifying it? '.

There was room for a good deal of conjecture. • '.' '.'■'■ Then ns to our own timbers. In several years there had- been very little n'gn in the price of timber received by tbo millers. A sixpenny rise would cover most of it, but tho prico of timber, to'tho public b»s riarn materitlly. It was tho middleman and cot the sawmiller who had raised the price of timber, and it had gone up so much that, obupled with the h»rd times, people refrained from buiHins. The f»11 in -wool »lone stopped the buildinj of many hundreda of houees, and tho tightness of money in all directions had mado people postpone so much building that the whole trade wte affected, The coming of the Oregon was therefore only one factor, »nd a temporary one at that, and a pood deal of the talk that was being indulged in wns , bluff for political purposes. No ono rpccrctted more koen'y than our informant thi , npcossity- fov shutting down so many mills, but ho said that,at least they shonl.d tell tho truth as to the situation and not set up bogies, for ulterior purposoa.