TIMBER COMMISSION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 508, 15 May 1909, Page 15

TIMBER COMMISSION.

| AUCKLAND SITTINGS CONCLUDED. (nr TELEoairn—ruESS association.). I . _ Auckland, May 13. Tho Timber Commission concluded tho taking of . ovidonco in Auckland ,to-day. Sir. H. AVhite, mill manager for the Kauri Timber Company; said that it was .quite untrue that, tho high price of kauri meant largo profits for the millers. Tho high price was duo. to the heavy charges on raw material. There was no ring in tho industry. As a • kauri miller ho was : not particularly. interested in- the Oregon quostion, but, looking at' tho ' situation, from tho workers' [ point of. view, 1 ho. was decidedly of opinion : that an import tax should be increased. It stood to reason that every, million feet of foreign timber, which camo in, .displaced an equal quantity of local timber, and Kept men out of employment.' Rimu was far better timber : than Oregon' pine: It would, not bo practical to conserve tho' kauri bush, and no was Entirely opposed to an export tax on kauri, which could not possibly benefit ai*rbody. He was strongly of opinion that reafforestation should bo pushed on vigorously.' .Mr. T.; Mahoney, architect, said that, between 1901 and 1907, tho price of timber had gone up from 30 per cent, to 35 per cent., and the cost of joinery from 20 per cent, to 40 per'cent. ■'-A'.cottage, Which he built in 1903, cost £260. :He wished to build a similar cottage. recently, and the lowest tender ho could get was £338—an. increase of £78. Ho considered Oregon pine a thoroughly satisfactory timber for building purposes. He knew of houses built of Oregon pine forty or fifty years ago which we're as good now as over they were. ■ Mr. E, Bartlo.v, architect, gave evidence to the offect that'it was very desirable to import Oregon. Local timber was not' properly seasoned. . 7 The, members of the commission will proceed to-morrow to the Rotorua district, where they will inspect' the Government nurseries and tree-planting stations, thence proceeding to AVcliington.