THE PRICE OF TIMBER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2367, 7 December 1908, Page 5

THE PRICE OF TIMBER.

TIMBER MERCHANTS’ SIDE OF THE QUESTION.

ANOTHER DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER. [Special to “Times.”] WELLINGTON, Dec. G. The statement made by the recent deputation of sawnaiillors _ to 'flhe Premier that the price of timber had not been increased by more than Is a hundred feet during the past seven or eight years, is denied by the Wellington timber merchants. A leading timber merchant informed me yesterday that lie Had gone carefully into tins matter, and he finds that there lias been an average increase during the past seven and a-half years of 4s a hundred feet. On some lines there has been an advance of Gs a hundred. The sawmillers say that they have hid during the recent bad times to stand the brunt of the whole loss through bad debts; but my informant saws that, while the miKers have not lost £IOO in bad debts irom tlie merchants, the latter, in Wellington alone, during the past six months, have lost between £SOO and -£6OO. The fact that some of the mills rare now closing down he regards as a bit of bluff, because it is, hq says, the u::ua ; l thing to close the milLs for some weeks at the time of the Christmas and New Year holidays. He points out that the cry for a heavier duty on Oregon pine should not for one moment be" listened to, that the present duty of 2s is ample, and if this is increased it will simply menu that the general public will have to pay more for their houses, and that rents wll lie maintained at ti higher figure. Instead of increasing the cost of building material the tendency should be in the direction of cheapening it. Oregon pine -is suited for many purposes in connection with building, and it has the merit that it is proof against the ravages of the ties tractive borer Staiir&a a dark or dark brown color it makes most wrtistic doors and mantelpieces, and altogether it is eminently desirable to have such a timber imported into the Domnion ut as reasonable a cost as possible. A deputation of timber merchants will wait on the Premier to-morrow to put the other side of the question before him. Meantime, -the sawmillers are very insistent and persistent, and the Premier is being deluged with telegrams urging him to grant them further protection.