SMALL MILLER CRUSHED

NZ Truth, Issue 1174, 31 May 1928, Page 6

SMALL MILLER CRUSHED

A Crushing Blow

Economic Disaster

How Timber Octopus Is Spreading Its Deadly Tentacles MONOPOLISTS' CHOKING GRIP 'i

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Travelling Commissioner.) Burly men, toiling like galley-slaves, their brawny arms swinging With even tythym as the sharp blades of their axes bit deeper and deeper into the bodies of the giants of the bush until they shivered m the death** throes, toppled and crashed to earth under the vigorous assault of man and blade.

AND almost as they fell, they were stripped bare and hurried to the mill, where the metallic ring &nd shriek of circular saws told of marketable timber m course of preparation. Oh all sides of the bushlands of Westlarid could be heard the sounds of vigorous industry — and the scraps of song and laughter of bushmen and mill hands.

But to-day the picture of yesterday has faded. No longer does the bush echo and re-echo with the music of the swinging blade arid singing saw. Only here and there, m all that vast area of . forest land, can be heard the medley of noise that spelt contentment for hundreds of workers, a full week's wage and a happy wife with a full larder at home.

For the timber industry on the Coast is dying— choked by mono-

poly. The process of strangling the small miller, who has little to sustain him m the fight for existence but his own strength and courage, is a slow one, but sure and certain.

The monopolistic octopus of big: interests is slowly, but surely, squeezing the life blood but of the small men, many of whom have gone down under the terrible pressure of competition and ruthless price-cutting. " Those who remain are dooihed to go down sooner or later as their fellows have gone down /before them. The pressure is too great for the little fellow to withstand; the time is not far distant when big business will step m and batten upon the spoils of its ruthless conquest. To appreciate the full significance of what all this means to the West Coast, one must visit Westland and see the extent of this creeping paralysis that is striking at the very heart of one of the main industries of that district. Idle mills, great stacks of timber for which there is no local demand, stagnation and creeping decay. ' ' : And m the towns along the Coast, idle men, workless through no fault of their own. The net result is a slackening of trade' with all its attendant difficulties

began playing the waiting .arame, getting m a quiet, but deadly, thrust against their competitors whenever they could. , A little price-cutting here and a" little there soon had its effect; gradually the creeping paralysis of the present stagnation set m. These tactics have had the effect they were intended to haye — that of freezing out gradually the small man and forcing him out of business. Mill after mill has ceased working on the West Coast; the more daring / and optimistic small millers, who have hung on by their teeth to the.ir enterprise, are doomed , to go under; noth-: ing can save them as things are at present, for the big fellow is too powerful. v • ' And so we are hearing a good deal i. at present about over-procruction being ; the root cause of the slump. ' Operating on a swamped market, timber is being cut m price to as much ! as twenty per cent. And yet people wonder why the little men are out of business! The wonder is that they held on so long as. they did. „

Of course, the big interests will, not have it that they are m any way to blame. •

They argue that the whole trouble; has arisen through the large number of small men. going into the bush: to; mill without capital behind them. '■■' :' "Truth's" investigator was ' told, when he visited the West Coast recently, that the small men had only themselves to, blame m many instances, as they went out without any due regard for economic conditions arid the aormal vagaries of trade and market conditions. :

It was also put forward as an argument that the little men were so 'numerous that their combined production, added to that of the large mills,

taken, the big men

commenced to shout I out that this could not go on. More timber than was rer quired was being produced. That was the cry of the timber combine, who proclaimed the dire results that would inevitably follow "overproduction." The little men, instead of wasting time arguing or joining m the controversy, kept at work. ■ No bigger thorn has ever lacerated the side of big business monopolies than did the thorn of the small -miller groups on the West Coast. For the small men were marketing their timber at sound competitive prices.

There was no chance of the big men putting on their own price and getting away with it. They were compelled to fall into line.

They did not like it, naturally, and it is difficult to know what would have happened had things gone along the satisfactory channels that were being followed under the keenly competitive system that, was built up. But the Government stepped m and came to the help of the big man. It was a Godsend to them when the powers-that-be introduced the embargo on timber exports to Australia. The greatest piece of luck for the big firms, however, was still to come. About the same time the embargo came m, the Forestry Department was created. , And it is from this point that the real difficulties of the small millers began. The small men, almost without, exception, were milling timber on Crown lands.

. The first thing the Forestry Department did was to bump up royalties on timber. ■ ; ,\ This was playing right into the hands of the big firms, practically all of whom were milling on their own bushlands.

They had no royalties to pay by way of taxation to the department, whereas the little men were laboring under the severe handicap of a royalty tax, up to as high as 4/6 per hundred (super) feet. . '

This was bad enough m all conscience, but it has to be remembered that the small millers had little — if any— -financial weight to lean on and were ill-equipped to withstand the cramping effects of the embargo on exports. The result was that the big firms, with their almost unlimited resources,

created a. timber supply that was out of all proportion to the demand.

In order to obtain business, it was also suggested to "Truth," the little men took great liberties with prices, cutting down to such a

fine margin that they were asking for trouble for themselves from the , start. •■' ."•.;■ . '.. '" '.'.'. ;■'■■

Then again, the small millers were charged with failing to keep m time with the law of supply and demand — •• to their own detriment. ;

The big milling interests, whose views were sought by the representative of this paper, denied the charges that have been levelled against them of working for the destruction of the competition of the small man. ' :

"Truth" is always prepared to give due weight to all arguments, ho matter, ': from what side they may be advanced, .tj but after hearing the story from alf J angles v this journal cannot' see -eye'vtd eye with the big miils ; ixi^s^aft^^ ■ The weight of eyidence. is all oh/thff .. side of the small men: The bare facts! •'/;■ which are Self-evident to all who have *. studied the question at first hand on ; the Coast, constitute an indictment against the big interests involved. .

Once the small man has been eliminated from the field of competition, ks he undoubtedly will be unless a miracle happens, the few big milling interests will have things all their own way. ■'..■■■',

It will be within their power to restrict output for a while and put up the . price on the plea of shortage of, supply. ' ■ ' " .■''■

And any further restriction of

production will necessarily mean more unemployment and a decrease

m wages,

In fairness to all parties, this problem cannot be dismissed without re- " ference to the large importations of. « foreign* timbers into this country. ■.) Without a doubt, these importations - have seriously aggravated the present . position: the big firms, m some cases, V do not fail to make a song abou.t tb.e disadvantageous effects of this foreign competition. ...■•: ■ r-. s Here- is an avenue down ■which. : material assistance might — and ought to — come from the Government. Greater protection is necessary for our own ' timber trade and there . should be a complete overhaul of the protective tariff.. The duty on tim-

— : ■ ; — "' ber Imports is by no means adequate; several lines"*, of foreign timber can be landed m the Dominion at a cheaper rate than at what it can be produced locally. In this matter the G'overnrnent must help— and help substantially. But the Forestry Department, the avowed champion of small millers, must make good its word by backing the small men to the fullest extent. It can do this by reducing royalties and standing at the back of the small millers with ready and sympathetic support.

Something must be done if ; widespread economic disaster is to . be averted. . ■-'■■: In normal times, it is estimated,.-«ome 2000 men find employment m the industry on the Coast. Some idea of the gravity of the situation may be gauged by the fact that only half that number at the most are engaged to-day. Barely a week goes by but what some niill closes down. If nothing is done soon, the position; will be grave m the extreme.

The small millers have as much right to live as the big men. The dis r advantages under which the former suffer at the hands of the big man's capital strength and economic power musflbe removed, at least to the extent of enabling him to compete m an open market on. a fair and equitable basis. This is where the Forestry Department can — arid must — help, by making milling conditions on Crown lands as favorable as possible. • Next to the mining industry, the whole well-being and prosperity of the West Coast is bound up m timber.

The props are being rapidly Kicked * from under it;, an enterprise which'", should be fostered is wilting; business people are feeling the pinch and hard-., working men are being forced into idleness when they should be fully employed. . , ;

The whole question is clamoring for immediate remedy and attention.

If the Government has any concern for the welfare of a large proportion of citizens who are up against it m Westland just now, it will lose no time -^-when the forthcoming session opens — m investigating the position to the last detail, so that it may be made possible for the small millers, thebackbone of the timber trade on the^ Coast, to receive the square deal they are being denied at the present time.

After a full and exhaustive investigation of the position on the spot, "N.Z. Truth" is definitely of opinion that the present parlous condition of the timber industry m Westland has been brought about by the most shameless, exhibition of monopolistic exploitation that this Dominion has seen for many a long day. The whole of the West Coast is suffering a serious . and crushing blow to its prosperity and development— a blow from the effects ot which it will take a long time to recover. . The Government and its Forestry Department are not free of culpability for the scandalous position that big commercial interests have been permitted to create. .'.:.■- .

They must take their share of blame m the indictment which "Truth" presents against them. '

In the past, the small miller has played a great part m building up the industry on the Coast to the stable and flourishing condition it enjdyed until a year or so back. These small men went forth m little groups to mill on their own account. Work was their aim— and work they did. ,

Many of them went out with little behind them but their own capacity for hard graft and a high determination to succeed and win their fair share of trade m. open competition. , ' •

The very nature of this small-group system was highly competitive and naturally created a demand for workers which made unemployment something to be laughed at.

Wages were higher m the small mills than weve paid m those conducted by the big firms.

Everything was flourishing; the small men were producing at a good rate and the timber ring, began to feel very dubious about its own intei'SSts. The small-group system was inimical to the big interests, but the way to cope with it was not apparent — then. But where direct action could not be