THE TIMBER TRADES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2355, 11 January 1915, Page 6

THE TIMBER TRADES

OWNERS' PLEA STATE AID SOUGHT MR. MASSEY'S REPLY Matters of interest to the timber in iu6try were discussed by a deputatioi riiich waited upon the Prime Ministei 3n Saturday morning. Mr. B. A. Wright, M.P., said th< deputation represented architects builders, and owners of timber countr; in different parts of New Zealand, ani they_ desired to bring under the Piimi Minister's notice another side of thi same question as was brought under hii notice by the savvmillers in regard t< the moratorium.' Mr. Massey: As a matter of fact, thi moratorium docs not apply to the saw milling industry. The Intermediary. Mr. P. T. Moore said that the own ers of timber lands did not think th postponement of 'the payment of timbe royalties would be equitable. Mr. Massey said that the deputatioi had asked only for the postponemen of the royalties on timber on Crow; and Native lands. Mr. Moore 6aiid that the timber o: Native lands had mostly passed froi the Natives to Europeans, and if th payment of royalties were postponei a, largo number of Europeans wouL suffer very serious lose. Many had pu all the resources they possessed int investments in timber land, .and if th royalties were not to be paid to ther For timber cut they would suffer grea hardship. The view the deputation too! of the problems facing the timber ii dustry was that they would all disaj pear if the Government would fin money for persons desiring to build. ] the State would find money to permi of building operations being carried or all the sawmills which were now close could be reopened, all the men nounemployed could be reinstated, aii men who were working at a reduce l wage could earn a full wage. Mr. Massey: You meah that men ar not working full time. Mr. Moore: Many of them are not but also many who are, working fu time are earning reduced wages. Mr. Massey: Where is that takin place? , Mr. Moore: In the King Country. , Mr.' Massey: Can you give instances Mr. Moore gave the names of thre mills at which the wages of the mor highly paid men had been reduced, an he 6aid there were qther firms who, ha ieduced time, without reducing the rate of wages. The general state of th industry was serious, as represented b the other deputation, and the only wa to set the .industry on. its feet agai was for the State to come to the reset and find money so that people wl wanted to build could borrow 'mobe to keep the industry going. An arch tect who was a member of the deput; tion would tell the Minister that b had had plans in his office since Augusi because the intending builders could nc raise the money they required. It migb be difficult for the Government to boi row the money, and he would offer a his own opinion, as distinct from ths of ■ the other members of the deput; tion,' that the money could be raise by the issue of State notes. Mr; Massey:. No, thank you. I thin we can .leave that question. Mr. Moore offered another suggei bion.. He, said that the banks ha plenty of money which they were wil ing to advance if the security offerin ivas adequate. Often intending buile srs could not offer security that woul satisfy the banks, although it was, pel fectly safe, and he would suggest tha the Government should guarantee suo men in order tbat the banks might len to them'. One Thing at a Time. Mr. Massey: Let us deal with oh thine at a time. I understand tha you-have come.here to protest again; tho prayer of the other deputatioi What the other deputation asked fc was that where they were not able t cut timber from Crown lands they woul not be required to pay royalty on tli timber until they were able to use ii Do you object to that? Mr. Moore: No. Not on Crow lands. Mr. Massey: Very well. In the cat of Native lands they asked that som arrangement be made either by som amendment of the Moratorium Act t by some other method, so that the pa; ment of royalties should be postpone in the same way. Do you object t that? ' . Mr. Moore: Yes. I object to that i •cases where the timber on Native lane is now held by Europeans. Mr. Massey: But not when it is hel by Natives? Mr. Moore: Well, that will be for tl Natives to raise their own objectio against. He added that as a mattx of fact the Natives would be under hardship by the postponement of roya ties. In the case of his own firm, had spent thousands of pounds in roai ing Native timber land over which held rights, and to stop the payment i royalties would deprive the investoi from receiving legitimate interest c their investments. Payment of royalti< should certainly not be stopped, unlei the payment of all rent and interei were postponed. It was unfair to sing out his class for special treatment! Mr. .Massey: It la difficult for me 1 get to know what your class is. Yc are not the saw miller? Mr. Moore: No. , . ' Mr. Massey: You come between tl owner and the sawmiller. . Mr. Moore: Yes, we sell logs. Yi do not sell sawn timber. Mr. C. Wackrow informed the Prin Minister that he':was a builder, ai that he like many others was idle. I urged the Government to provide pleni of cheap money to allow building open tions to-be carried on. PRIME MINISTER REPLIES. | NO MORATORIUM YET., The Prime Minister, in reply, sa that the previous deputation had '\ma( what seemed a reasonable request regard to royalties on timber on Crow lands —that payment should be poB poned until they could find a mark* for timber cut. That request he h: referred to the Lands Department fi report, and the report would probab bo considered by Cabinet at its ne: meeting. With regard to the propos to apply the moratorium to royalties c Native land, that could not be doi without legislation. He did not; kno when Parliament would meet, but was unlikely that it _ would meet, i any rate, for legislative purposes, f< some months. By that time it was po sihle that the .end of the war might 1 in sight, and times would be.better. Cheap Money. On the question of cheap money, 1 'thought'the public scarcely understo< <viiafc had been done with regard to thi He was prepared to admit that the Wi had had a serious effect on the timbi industry. The building industry w: stagnating, but the Government lit done everything possible to meet tl difficulty. The Advances to .Worke Act, for. instance, was in fi; operation to-day, and any work with the requisite security to oft' could secure a loan up to. £400. Ai ■ it, was not the Government which lei the money. No Minister had. anythii to do with lending tho money. It w; 'all coAteoM t>x a Board* Biwl if bo '

any other Minister tried to interfere the Board would probably Bend him about his business. The Board had to say whether the security offered was .sufficient, and if the security was there the applicant would get his loan. The Government, for its part, had ' taken every care to see that the Department was well supplied with money for advances. In the Advances to Settlers' branch, preference was actually being given to those applicants who wished to borrow for buildings—this in order to help the timber industries. He did not know what the Government could do more. Paper Money. . Mr. Moore had suggested that paper money should be issued. This would virtually mean the issuing of a number of promissory notes, and it would have the worst possible effect on the credit of this country. Surely it was the Government's duty to keep the oredit of the country as sound as possible, because if the credit of the country failedw,e would certainly have some very bad times indeed. Keeping Publio Works Going. When .war broke out the finances of New Zealsad were very satisfactory, more satisfactory than they had been for many years, but at a time such as this the first, duty of the' Government was to keep sufficient money for public works, in order to. ensure that there would be no unemployment, or as little as possible. If it had become necessary to close down the public works of this country a serious state of affairs would have arisen. This had happened in other Dominions, but fortunately not here. The Government therefore cut down the limits of advances to settlers and local bodies_ in order to retain, more money for public works. No men had been discharged from public works for financial reasons, and the Government had enough money in hand to keep the public works going for a considerable time. If it was possible for'the"Government to get more money for 1 building_ operations the Government would do it. As showing that the Government were doing as much as possible he referred to the branch of building under his care—the building of the workers' homes. Thero were more ' workers' homes under construction than there ever had been before. - Mr. Moore: Pardon me, sir, but you are using a good deal of Oregon pine. on those jobs. Mr. Massey: Are we using Oregor pine here? Mr. Moore: Yes. in those houses or the hills at Kelburn. Mr. Massey said he lad not heart of this before, and he was patriotii enough to he anxious to help local in dustry. He would give the matter hii attention. He promised the deputatioi that he would look into their proposals but he could not promise to give effect to Mr. Moore's suggestion regarding paper money. Mr. Moore (laughing): I thought yoi might agree to it now, and so captun the support of all the Labour memben of the House, and be safe for the nex three years—because it -would captur< them, sir.. - Mr. Massey: I can't buy votes. (Laughter.)