The Dominion. THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1909. THE TIMBER COMMISSION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 453, 11 March 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1909. THE TIMBER COMMISSION.

The Government has no doubt acted properly in setting up a Royal Commission to examine the condition of the timber industry. So many conflicting statements have been made by various persons interested in the timber business in its various branches that it vill be as well to obtain a full report upon the actual position, although we are bound to add that there has not lately been any desire apparent in the public mind for such an investigation as is now projected. So far as the scope of the Commission's inquiries is concerned, there is not much to complain of: it is quite wide enough to allow every phase of the present position to be thoroughly investigated. But there appears to be nothing in the order of reference to enable the Commissioners to extend their inquiries into the past; and it is manifestly desirable that tho -position five, ten, and fifteen years ago should

bo investigated as far as possible in order to discover the causes, apart from importations of foreign tiirbcr, which have led to fcho cm-rent disco::!.;"!, of t'..(,'r -:v.>-

cv.ned in t'.ie business. The Cominissio:i is to report, amongst other things, upon the necessity or expediency of legislation to promote the development of the industry, and we do not understand how, if legislative assistance is recommended, it can take any shape other than a reduction of the various charges made by the State, in the shape of freights, royalties, and so on, or the imposition of a prohibitive duty on foreign building timber. In other words, legislative assistance to the industry must mean the levying of a new toll upon the general public. That, it need hardly be said, is a remedy which must not bo undertaken without a good deal of hesitation.

In a country so richly endowed with forests—a country, indeed, in which sawmilling should be a staple industry— there ought to be little need for special protection by the State. If pine can be milled in America and shipped under ordinary conditions to New Zealand for sale at a price that injures the home millers, there is either something wrong about the home timber or the methods followed in this country. Of course it is easy to keep out the foreign timber altogether. But the public has the right to ask that it shall be able to obtain its timber supplies as cheaply as possible. Why, they may ask,, should we bo required to pay more for our timber than is necessary 1 It is worth notice that the Prime Minister, in his statement respecting the personnel of the Commission, did not include the general public in the list of interested parties represented—unless we regard the M.P.'s as representing the public. The farmers have such and such representatives; the workers such and such others, and the builders and sawmillers have their advocates. But there is nobody, apparently, to represent the consumers as a class. We look in vain at the list of Commissioners for a name that might, guarantee the conservation of the general taxpayer's interests, and this despite the fact that the Commission is unnecessarily large. A largo Commission, both on account of the greater number of persons to be paid, and the greater length of its investigations, naturally .costs very much more in proportion than a small Commission, and it will not necessarily produce better results. In any event, the Government does not appear to have been very happy in its selection. The members of Parliament selected are not, on the whole, men who. will carry much weight with the public; their names will assuredly not go far towards reconciling the public to the unnecessary expenditure which the Government has seen fit to undertake.