THE SAWMILLERS' PETITION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue 17, 29 October 1880, Page 2

THE SAWMILLERS' PETITION.

From the FeUding Gnardian we quote the followinf text of the petition being signed by ihe sawmill*** of the) district:----«To the Honorable the Minuter of Public Worke, Wellington, thii the humble prayer of yonr memorialist*, the lawßilleif in Manawatu, sheweth — " That for some time past an export trade of timber from thia distriot to tb* South Island ha* been steadily growing, and that though the profit to the sawmiller* has been, very *mall, it ba* bee» suflicieut, when combined with the, local trade, to enable the mills to be kept work* ing. •« That it ia altogether owing to the timber trade of Manawatu, that the Fox-ton-Wanganui railway has shown ao large * a surplus of receipt* over expenditure, and that failing the timber trade, the line would have a difficulty in paying expense*. " That the inorease in the tans of th reepence on every hundred feet sent by railway carriage will have a prohibitire effect on the export trade, and that only the small amount of timber locally requires! will be sent along tho tine, and that miny of the mills which now assist to iwell the railway returns, must necessarily stop working. 44 That the alteration in the minimum number of feet allowed to be oartied on one truck will also have a pw judicial effeot on the trade, without any corresponding benefit to the railway returns, as it will prevent millowners from accepting small orders, and we respectfnlly pray that the minimum on * a single truck be reduced to 800 f t, and on a double truck to 1,60Cft., and further, that the minimum oharge on timber ahonld be reduoed to 4d per 100 ft instead of the 7d charged on the old tariff, and the lOd charged on the new regulations. "That if the chsrges for freight On timber exported were reduced by one half, the export trade would be immensely inoreased, and the railway returns be greatly benefitted thereby, as the present charges handicap the oustomers of the Government railways in favor of those millowners who contribute nothing to the railway returns."