WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 July 1926, Page 3

WELLINGTON NEWS

1 THE TIMBER INDUSTRY. (Special to “ Guardian.”) WELLINGTON, June 30. 1 According to accounts from the various timber milling districts the indus--1 try is in a bad wiiy, and work is leI ported to be ceasing at several mills. The reason for this collapse is said to bo the increasing imports of timber ' which is underselling the local product. AA'ith tho great shortage of houses it is essential that there should be an abundance of cheap timber available for it is quite absurd to suppose that working men can afford to pay £I2OO for a four-roomed cottage. Jt must ho remembered that the imported timber lms to stand freight and landing : charges and if alter all tho this can be sold cheaper than the New Zealand timber there must be something wrong with the latter. The true explanation of the matter appears to be that we are maiiitiiiing the wartime standard while other countries have got back to somewhere near the pre-war level. AVe have made no effort to adjust affairs, and now adjustment is being forced upon us. The closing down of mills will mean loss to individuals, but not necessarily loss of raw material. Tho timber will still remain to be cut, and perhaps the cutting when undertaken later on will be curried out on a more economic basis. In the meanwhile it is stated that the farmers are desirous of having tbe duty on imported timbers abolished, and they can advance many sound arguments in support. The timber trade of course wants the duty increased, but this will not confer much benefit on the trade. The fact remains that the purchasing power of the community is much lower than it was a year ago, and artificially raising the price of timber will not bring about an increase of business. It seems reasounble to suggest that owing to the lessened purchasing power there should lie a cheapening of timber and other cominoditiies. ’Closing down of timber mills will certainly throw a number of men out of work, but it is better for tbe community that a few should suffer rather than the whole ooiniminit should bo fixed for the benefit of the few. The employees in the industry apparently do not consider that there is any depression for they are considering applying for an increase of wages. THE BANK OF NEAV ZEALAND. It was expected by many people that the proposal of the Bank of New Zealand to provide for long-term loans would meet with some criticism, but it was not anticipated that so much stupidity would find its way into the correspondence columns of the newspapers. Not so very long ago the Prime Minister stated that he lmd suggested to the financial institution that tlie'y should engage in this form of mortgage business and so when the Bank of New Zealand responds with n scheme that is at once sound and feasible, its motives are questioned and its bona fides unassailed. One correspondent says: “Now, when farming is precarious, tbe Bank of New Zealand proposes to institute a mongrel system of departmental agricultural hanking—not with its own legitimate capital, but as ft vct-to-be-logalised side line.” A more stupid statement < it would be hard to discover. It- is 1 absurd to say that -farming is precari- ' ous. It is not. It may be precarious • to tbe incompetent farmers, and those who paid absurdly high prices for their land, but the competent farmer is finding farming as profitable now as at any previous time. The Bank cannot engage in these long term loans, or provide capital for same without legislative authority. If the farmers do not desire the Bank of New Zealand to establish this branch of the business they can easily prevent it by requesting their representatives in Parliament tiToopose the Bank Bill. This same 1 correspondent says: “Tile necessity for . friendly finance of fanners’ institutions —freezing works, etc.—can be gleaned from that part of Sir George Elliot’s report which says that it seems inevitable that the whole freezing works industry' will be left in the hands of a few proprietary concerns.” The correspondent should endeavour to find out what that Soviet organisation the Meat Control Board has done in the matter, and he ought also to ascertain the actual losses made by the hunks in connection with the freezing industry.”