The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, APRIL 15th, 1925. OF OUSTANDING IMPORTANCE

Hokitika Guardian, 15 June 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, APRIL 15th, 1925. OF OUSTANDING IMPORTANCE

Tun timber industry is of outstanding importance to this district from every point of view. It is nature’s bounty to us, and is it not incumbent that the best should lie got- out of the largess S' Yet, as a community, folk are indifferent to the languishing of the industry, dost.ite the fact that much of the present day prosperity ol the community is hound up in the volume of trade resulting from the timber industry. On it depends much of the employment available in the district. which in turn measures the amount of ready money going regularly into circulation. The timber trade offers advantages in many directions. The benefits of the trade are not conlined to the millers and those engaged at flic sawmills. The trade has far greater ramifications, and its effect is felt in many"directions. It is an industry which creates or supports other important industrial activities in the district. It dTaws supplies of all kinds, whether in plant or material, or fodder and sustenance supplies, for the •working of the mills. It provides extra revenue for the Treasury or local bodies

as the Crown Lands are cleared, first in royalties and then in land brought to profit. It employs largely in the matter of transport, whether it- he the private contractor or the •. overnment railways. As the commodity reaches port, shipping is required for marine transport. which calls for loading facilities and affords work for waterside workers, When the port of destination is real lied. more labor is required to further handle the timber and so on till the timber reaches its final destination. From first to last then the timlier trade calls for constant labor in handling the commodity from the time the tree is felled in the forest, whore already train ways have pierced, to the time it is in the hands of the builder or fashioner of the article for other trade pursuits. Here, where there is a bountiful supply of timber, there is a.'i asset of rich value, yet its use is being restricted and the trade is fieing undermined by a | olicv which is having a very ill-effect on the trade itself, and the stagnation is being reflected in the quieter times tradespeople and others have to put up with. Expert men about sawmills trained to special work find a difficulty in securing employment, and are forced to drift away. Valuable labor is being lost. From other quarters nomadic labor finds its way here in the vain search for employment, and stringent times prevail. Yet all the while there is the standing hush capable of providing work for all and bringing back the disappearing prosperity, if the people would but wnkc up, and by united voice and action cull attention to the drift, the danger it is encompassing, and the need there is for the overhauling of the policy which is responsible for the miscarriage of the present trading difficulties. This is a matter in which all classes are interested, for with it is bound up not only the livelihood of the workers, but the volume of business for the tradespeople which means the difference between failure and success. In times past the local bodies made strenuous efforts to stem the position, hut, were largely unaided. The millers moved, hut they were considered to he more concerned in vested interests, and their influence was lost. The workers arc waking up to the fact, and their voice could be the most insistent of all were it raised in unison. Lastly, the people as a whole through their various organisations should appeal for a revision of a policy which is stagnating the industry and throwing men out of employment. The time to intervene is opportune because of the recent change of government, and with a fresh session of parliament opening, ami a general election looming ahead. The timber industry from first to last is the greatest employer of labor in the country, and if that army of employees were organised, the efi'e: t could not lie otherwise than ol advantage to the industry nml to (he country at large. The time is ripe as the time is opportune for action, and if not seized now may cali.-c more difficult, times still to fall upon the community in the i erv near Inline.