WEST COAST TIMBER.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 July 1919, Page 4

WEST COAST TIMBER.

RESTRICTIVE REGULATIONS

STRONG FEELING ON THE COAST.

(“Lyttelton Times.”

Captain T. E. Y. Seddon, member for Westland, stated on Saturday that residents on the West Coast viewed with a good deal of alarm a proposal to enforce regulations restricting operations in tlic timber industry there. The regulations have been prepared in order to preserve tho forests, and they empower the Minister in charge to forbid the milling and export of timber. Captain Seddon said that if export was restricted as proposed, people on the West Coast would suffer heavy losses. The. knowledge that the legislation had been passed came as a shook to those who had invested capital in sawmilling. Sawmillers would be thrown out of work, anil railway hands and waterside workers also would suffer. Residents deeply resented action that resulted in about 900,000 acres of forest being reserved by the State in one county alone, in addition to an area of more than 1,000,000 previously set aside as a national endowment on the West Coast.

Sir Francis Bell, the -Minister in charge of Forests, in reply to a deputation at Hokitika, bad made it clear iliat the regulations would be enforced, and that the export of timber from Now Zealand would bo curtailed. Sir Francis bad left no doubt in the minds of those present as to what he intended to do. The strong feeling was caused largely by the fact that the legislation was embodied in a war measure and was passed, apparently, without any discussion. The real effect of the regulations, therefore, at first was not realised, and indeed, was not known on the West Coast. One serious aspect of the position was the loss of rates collected by local bodies. A considerable sum of money, under the recent legislation, would be swept away. No provision had been made to iind other means of raising the money, and Sir Francis could give no guarantee that anything would be done in that direction, saving that it was a question for tho Minister of Finance to deal with. An effort would be made to show the whole Dominion the unfairness with which it was intended to treat an important industry on the West Coast, and an appeal would be made to Parliament through the people’s representatives.