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Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 128, 1 June 1937, Page 16

The restrictions imposed by the Government on the cutting of white pine for the making of butter boxes have proved disastrous to the timber industry on the West Coast, according to Mr. F. L. Turley, secretary of the Westland, Nelson, and Marlborough Timber Workers' Unions, in a statement he was authorised to make by a meeting of the Westland Timber Workers' Union held recently. Through these restrictions, he said, many timber workers had been thrown out of employment by the closing down of some sawmills and the possible closing down of others.

"The union has become quite alarmed by the turn which events have taken," said Mr. Turley, "and looks to the Government to • clear up the position. The difficulty is chiefly in the price and classification of white pine, and the prevention of the export of :white pine to Australia. We agree that it is only a matter of time before, rimir will be /definitely used for butter boxes, and in.thbse conditions we cannot see any advantages in not-allowing the white pine forests to be cut while they are a marketable asset. In a few years they may not be as valuable as rimu. The Government is asking the millers to cut white pine in Greymouth at a price which makes it quite impossible for them to maintain decent wages and working conditions. "The classification now asked for would mean an enormous waste of the poorer qualities, which, in turn, increases the cost. The Australian market, which the Government is restricting, would take the cut of the log and give a better rate for this than the •■ Government wants millers to cut clean for. We say that, so long as white pine is supplied to the users m New Zealand, there should be no embargo on the export of it to Australia. I The embargo will simply mean that Australia will get suitable timber from foreign countries for butter boxes, and will then get other timbers as well this in turn definitely killing °V rimu trade with Australia, which has taken j years to build up."