THE TIMBER COMMISSION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 634, 11 October 1909, Page 6

THE TIMBER COMMISSION.

The mere printing of the report of the Timber O6mmission : cost no less;a sum than £525. " What:' the total cost of tho Commission will amount to can only Ibe guessed at, but it will certainly be a Igreat many times as much as it has shown itself to bo worth. When the.Commission was appointed we .'differed from many of our contemporaries by taking .a. hopeful, but not very hopeful, .view oi its possible usefulness.' N6t;only has the Commission discovered : .very little that overybody did not know before it commenced its investigations: its recommendations arc neither original nor very helpful. ; , We are told that the machinery used by some sawmillers is out; of: date; that the sawmillers should look about them; that improved methods would reduce the cost ot sawn timber, and so on. One of the things that the public wanted to know was whether it was being exploited by rings, and on this; point the report is quite vague and valueless: "there is evidence to show" that "attempts" have been mado to "unduly raise'.' prices. Tho material recommendations of the ■ Commission are that the freight on timber should be reduced, that a duty should bo' placed on Oregon pinej that the Government: should encourage the use of native timbers and-in-vestigate the question of artificial seasoning and make some experiments in pulp-: ing. Finally it is urged that a policy of afforestation should be vigorously, pursued. Upon tho whole the Commission does littlo moro than tell us what wo'all knew, namely, ;that the industry is just drifting along in a dull and unenlightened fashion. The country cannot adopt a policy of sheer protection in the matter. Those connected with the industry must do the things chiefly necessary to make their business a brisk and successful one, and of great value in -the. national economy.. It ; is for them to teach the public the merits of the native timbers, and to back up their activity in this 'direction, by improving their mothqds. The Government will probably do littlo more than attend to tho afforestationproppsals' of the Commission,; and if the Govornment will really treat the question of afforestation seriously it will dd as much as'can reasonably bo expected of it in the matter,/.ln.the.meantime, the cost'of-the Commission msy be considered a simple