THE PRICE OF KAURI

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2130, 12 July 1907, Page 1

THE PRICE OF KAURI

TILE MERCHANTS’ POSITION. A LETTER TO THE MINISTER Jj’Oß LABOR. The following letter lms been nildressed to the Hon. J. Millin' (Minister for Labor) by Mr. ’Wiliam Goss, President of the North Canterbury Timber Mereliants’ Association:- —“1 iiave the honor, bv direction of the members of the North Canterbury Timber Merchants' Association, to write to you on the matter of the j trices ruli'iin for kauri timber in this district. The matter has attracted considerable attention in the daily papers, and the members ol this association have not been afforded any opportnnitv of being heard on the subject. It has been deemed proper that I should place before you the true facts of the case, and it is believed that after consideration has been given to them you will have reason to modify the views which, we fear, you have hitherto held with regard to this important matter. “Briefly stated the position is as follows:—Cost of f.o.b. at shipping port, is L7s; schooner freight to Lyttelton 2s Oil; insurance 2RI; railway cl urges from Lyttelton to Christchurch Is 2jd; discharging and cartagi from railway to yard 4d ; stripping and stack-ng ill yard, Gd ; total cost, in 2s; selling price, LI 7s, less 5 ]ier cent trade discount, and 2j per cent cash discount, 2s; net price received by merchants, £1 ss. The foregoing leaves a gross profit of 3s; but from this has to be deducted the. cost of giving delivery, This is a considerable item, owing to the fact that kauri is onlv used here for especial purposes, and as a good deal is subsequently sold in very small quantities, Gd per 100 ft would he. about the average cost of doing so. .As indicated, the timber is always stripped for drying, and.we cannot, therefore, reckon less than twelver months as the average time kauri E kept in stock in Ori-stelnirrli, Tins bein' l ' so. 5 per coni must be added to tile cost to allow for this; that is another Is Id off the gross' profit. W( now have a bare Is 5d left of our gross profit, and out of this all expenses incidental to running a timber varcl have to come, and it also has to provide for all risks, many of which are very considerable in a timbei trade, such as fire, split boards, and other damage done to the gtqp.k through exposure to the weather, besides unavoidable damage i n handlin' and, in addition, the ever present risk of bad debts.

VERY HEAVILY TAXED. “On the matter of tiro, we would point out that in insuring against this, we are heavily handicapped, for not only are t.]io premium- '■ mi* (higher, toil, thaii in most other large centres, owing to the absence of a high pressure water supply), but wo cannot effect an insurance on a timber stock without the general average clause being inserted. “We must also point out that timber merchants in Christchurch arc very heavily taxed in the matter of rates through the rating being on unimproved values, a timber yard re(p.iiring such a large area of land in proportion to other businesses. “The members of m.v association are extremely sorrvtiiat the Minister for Labor .should have lent his ear to one side only of the story, without attempting to properly inform himself us to the true conditions obtaining in connection with this industry. That this is so is proved by the fact that no merchant

ill Christchurch lias, so far as wo aro mvarc, boon officially approached bv yourself, certainly not any official of our association, although you have not hesitated to allow statements emanating from you, of a very damaging nature to the Christchurch merchants, to he published ; and, further, that although our selling price, in the trucks at Christchurch, is only 2.‘ls per 100 ft super for lots of oOOOft and over, this latter fact has been entirely ignored in all your statements. This, we presume, has been done by your being unaware of the fuel, and serves to emphasise the one-sided nature of your enquiries, which we can scarcely call generous. “We have delayed answering the statements made by you earlier, as it was stated in the Christchurch papers that you intended going very thoroughly into this matter, and we had hoped that yon could have done this ere now, and so relieved us from tlio necessity of making these explanations in this manner. 'Die members of this association will readily welcome any inquiry into this matter, and on their part will he only too pleased to afford any information that they may have it in their power to give.”