The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “The West Coast Times.” THURSDAY, AUGUST 18th, 1921. THE TIMBER TRADE.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 August 1921, Page 2

The Guardian AND EVENING STAR, With which is incorporated “The West Coast Times.” THURSDAY, AUGUST 18th, 1921. THE TIMBER TRADE.

The disciiKßion re^a tho outlook for the timber trade at the meeting ot the Progress League on Tuesday nij-tht, did not reveal a. very promising aspeet. The sawmilling industry is passing through a eritieal time, and apparently conditions will not mend very quickly. During the war period, the sawmilling industry stood to the fortunes of the district in quite it surprising manner. The industry flourished greatly and expanded considerably. The demand for timber was quite unsatisfied, and the promising outlook enticed many to enter the trade, an apparently lucrative business ahead being assured. .MiH’li capital was sunk in the business of sawmilling and many huge and costly projects were uuder way. The collapse came suddenly and unexpectedly almost in a night. One week the (auditions were flourishing, the next they were damped, and the succeeding , weeks were attended with stagnation. The financial slump which struck the Dominion after the new year appears to have been the primary cause, also, of the local trouble. The restriction of enterprise elsewhere through want of capital reflected itself here where orders for supplies were of course the life of the industry. The shortening of hank accommodation began to he felt on all sides, and with orders stopping and even being cancelled, millers were b ! ‘ without work to do. That condition continues to-day. The lack ol money to go on building the houses so urgently lequired for housing the growing population, is affecting also the Government and the local body schemes planned in that direction in the ordinary course

had the financial prosperity of the <onntry continued, the mil!' would :C he completely employed for the reason that duelings .are most urgently :e-----quiied everywhere to accommodate peoph*. The icvelatiuns at fhrCteiiureh in regard to the hick of ado. cat bousing are a .sad commentary on the position, which is really im si acute. In war time when anything was considered e-s iitial for the task in hrmi it was possible to provide it. in peace time there are not those unlimited powo:s exorcised, yet the comfort and good health of an army of men, women and children are at stake, and the authorities remain inactive, lu the face .1 the conditions revealed at Chris:■lc.ii e!),‘ ami which are said hut to he a reflex of like conditions in other ( iCes m the Dominion, it seems criminal tbu human beings have to le heidrd together as they are, and the public > - icy remains indifferent to the social : iiioii. The conditions an a trim ' aguin-U ■htimanity. \\ e « t e a' ' : ■ahies horn in existing conditions sucli as prevail in the crowded tenements of Christchurch, are horn hut to die be- ! cause of the surrounding conditions in "hie'i they are brought into life. We :re told that young members of a family a;e .deeping in an uniiiit'd * out house : that a Will ole family all through the ■'iiitv'r has lived in a tent, dl.ese emiditions reflect on our Immatmy. ’i m y suggest tli.it the spirit which prompt"! the humanitarian policy under w 1 1 he Seddon regime swept the polls it.''. I .> has been dulled of late year.-, an ’ ‘he countiy is in need \ of‘ a health,, political revival i! the social conditiono! Ihe people are to he taken into se. i “'is account. In the meantime there is; the plight of the timber trade, and the urgency for public policy shaping itsell <o relierc the position. If could do so very profitably by dealing adequately with the housing question on a comprehensive scale and so ensuring orders which would keep labor remuneratively employed at the same time.