THE TIMBER TRADE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5662, 23 May 1879, Page 7

THE TIMBER TRADE.

(From the lianyitikei Advocate, May 17.) The saw-mill owners are now beginning to realise the seriousness of the present position of affairs with regard to their trade prospects. They have been invited to attend a private meeting to be convened in Feilding to-day, at which °the whole question will be discussed, and a programme for future operations decided upon. An effort will probably be made to bring pressure to bear upon the Government to obtain a re-imposition of the former timber duty, without which the industry cannot be remuneratively carried on. An arrangement will also probably be entered into by which one general depot will be established in Wanganui, under the control of a competent and responsible person, who will virtually act as agent for the mill proprietors. Hitherto the timber merchants have had the best of the bargain, as they were supplied at 2s. per 100 ft. below the rates charged to the general public, though they could demand their owh prices and discontinue orders whenever they felt disposed. . By the proposed arrangement a uniform scale of prices will be adhered to, with which the public can easily make themselves acquainted. A project will, we believe, also be mooted to combine to reduce the price fer

expert, bo as eventually to drive the foreign importers out of the market. This we do not believe can be accomplished. The saw-millers have hitherto made splendid profits ; but they are not in a position to compete in the large seaports with shippers on an extensive scale from other timber countries. In one word, it could not be made to pay. A combined and well organised effort must be made to get the duty re-instated, and meantime a less amount of business will have to be done, the cost of producing curtailed, and profits will have to be computed on a diminished scale. We hope all the issues involved will receive careful consideration, and that the result of the deliberations to-day will tend to place things on a more equal, and also on a more permanent, footing than heretofore. With judicious management, and by agreeing to certain necessary concessions the present crisis may be successfully tided over, though the direct loss to the mill owners, and also to the Railway Department, will be something considerable, clearly showing a palpable fiscal blunder.