The Hokitika Guardian TUESDAY ,OCTOBER 25th. 1921. THE TIMBER TRADE.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 October 1921, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian TUESDAY ,OCTOBER 25th. 1921. THE TIMBER TRADE.

Tun outlook f‘>i' the timber trade is again somewhat gloomy. The spurt which Ims been made of lute is again dying down, and quiet times arc ahead. This sag which is overtaking the trade is the inevitable rise and fall which invariably attends industry, hut in this case there have been some untoward circumstances contributing to the cause which a different policy could

have avoided. Of that more aVunr At the moment there is a slackness in T)o----minion orders, whMe the overseas trade is palpably weak. In Australia orders for Xew Zealand timber are now few and far between, and that condition it is feared will last some little time. Xot. only is oregon pities being rushed into Australia, hut bnltie pine is also finding a market at cut rtit'es. Ihe prices arc said to he such that Neu Zealand millers could not look at at the present state of the industry, so that for the present- it looks as if Australian market which was so useful and profitable over n period because of the classes of timber it took, will he lost nt all events for the time being. Looking hack at what lias transpired under the regulations and restrictions of the Forestry Department, it would appear that the policy of that costly Department has been a contributory cause to thu position. Had the Xew Zealand export been free, the foreign timbeis could sot have looked at- the Australian market- as they are noiy doing, because Xew Zealand would have been able to keep the market Overflush, instead of allowing it. to hear. A great national loss will befall Xew Zealand because of the shortsighted policy of the Government in restricting export. It is another example of the futility to upset the natural law of supply and domain}. New Zealand is losing, if it has not lost the Australian market, at a time h hen employment is most .urgently required, when production is most essential. and particularly when overseas trade is imperative for the financial well-being of the country. Act the folk most interested, the sawmillors and their employees, appear to he accepting the position quietly. Yet both master and man are being ruined and the country will in turn suffer seriously from the loss. It is taking the people generally iv long time to realise the wicked nature of the forestry policy of this country. The policy is built up in theory hv theorists. There is nothing practical about the policy nor the men directing it. We hear on all sides how tlie Department is endeavouring through a fetish to chock industry, to block enterprise, and to bring ruin on those engaged in the trade. Hero where there is such' a. wide extent of timber land we shall feel the effect of this policy the most. Instead of the industry being allowed to expand materially as trade warrants and facilities for traffic and export permit, the whole business of sawmilling is being hedged about hv regulations and restrictions which meet the industrialist at every turn. It is time for those most affected to speak for if the present regime is given untrammelled acion the ruination of a great industry in Westland is one -of the certainties in sight.