A PRACTICAL SUGGESTION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 247, 12 July 1919, Page 6

A PRACTICAL SUGGESTION

Thk difficulty of obtaining seasoned timber in this country, except in a few imported lines, gives weight to a suggestion by a local building contractor which was mentioned in a recent news item. Pointing out that as a result of the railway restrictions several sawmills along the Main Trunk line were already working reduced hours, and that some were likely to close down altogether until means appeared of getting their timber away, ho suggested that the Government might advance money on stocks of timber at current rates. Since the advance need be only temporary and the security would be a commodity in keen demand, the idea seems well worth considering as one means of averting unemployment. It commends itself also on other grounds. A very large proportion of the timber used in the Dominion in house construction and for other purposes is cither wet or very imperfectly seasoned. The use of such material is inconsistent v/ith sound economy. Properly seasoned timber would, for most purposes, be much more durable. The use of wet timber also militates to a serious extent against good workmanship and finish. Any reasonable step towards encouraging the accumulation of stocks of cut timber at _ the _ mills, therefore, merits consideration. Some practical objections may be raised to the proposal under notice. . Not all the mills in question, for instance, may possess the facilities for stacking any large quantity of timber. Then, again, if the Government agreed to make advances as suggested, the question of insuring the. timber mortgaged as security might present difficulties. Hut the better seasoning (if timber is in itself so desirable that any possibilities in this direction ought In be carefully examined. Apart frnm the extraordinary conditions which at present obtain, the. use of wet timber is in general absolutely opposed to sound practice and economy.