£38,000 LESS

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12610, 22 November 1926, Page 6

£38,000 LESS

RAILWAY TIMBER FREIGHTS SAWMILLING INDUSTRY STILL EMBARRASSED LITTLE ASSISTANCE GIVEN A conference of sawmillers from all parts of the Dominion has just closed, and, according to Mr A. Seed, secretary of the Dominion Federated Sawmillers, reports from all centres disclose that so far there is no sign of any improvement in tlie sawmilling industry, and that, if anything, present conditions of the trade are somewhat worse than they were during the winter months. “We simply must liavo some reasonable protection,” said Mr Seed yesterday. “We approached the Government before and presented our case fully. The result was that in the last tariff western red cedar was made a dutiable timber. But since it was onty excluded from the schedule through an oversight in the first place and that the duty on it remains the same as it was 55 years ago this can hardly bo said to have been of much assistance to tlie industry. BEFORE COMMISSION “Tlie Government has announced that a tariff commission will begin sittings in the New Tear, and steps will be token to have the position of the timber industry brought before that commission. I suppose that is all that we can do. In tne meantime we can only sit tight and do our best to prevent more hands being put out of employment than is absolutely necessary. The sawmillers could probably stand a siege, but very few of the men established in the baekblocks with their homes and families cfluld find other employment without undergoing great hardship. “Taken on the whole the trade is simply losing money or else just turn iug over the pound. We are getting little assistance from the building that is going on. What local timber is used is mostly of higher grade, and would command a market in any case. Also it represents only 10 to 15 per cept. of the output. LOSS TO RAILWAYS “The new railway tariff reduced our Customs protection by 50 per cent. In the freight on timber calculated on the average distance which it has to be carried to the main ports the tariff made a difference of Is per 100 feet. The duty was only 2s per 100 feet. Now I see by the railway returns for the period ending October J6th that the timber carried dropped by 42,533 tons. There is 450 f£et of timber to the railway ton, so that the amount of timber railed for the period was 19 million feet less, and at an average freight of 4s per ton this means a loss in freight to the railways of over £38,000. “Little imported timber is railed, the bulk of it being utilised at the main ports.”