TIMBER DEPRESSION

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 125, 17 August 1927, Page 16

TIMBER DEPRESSION

AID FOR INDUSTRY GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE (THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The House of Representatives was given the assurance of the Hon. K. S. Williams, Alinister of Public Works, to-night that, so far as his department is concerned, instructions had been given that New Zealand timber was to be used wherever possible. It had been represented to him, however, that in many instances this timber was not procurable in a proper condition. Mr. T. E. Y. Seddon, Westland: What condition ? Air. Williams: Properly seasoned. Mr. Seddon: You can get it now. Air. Williams: Whatever is done by the Government in this industry the user had to be considered, and we have to see that they do not pay too much for it. Mr. R. AV. Smith, Wuimarino: The millers are asking the Government to fix the price. Mr. Williams: I assure you the Government is doing all it can. The timber is paid for out of the people’s money and the people therefore have to get value. A PROPHECY FULFILLED Air. Smith recalled his prophecy of last session that unless the Government imposed a greater duty on foreign timber, employees in the sawmilling industry would soon be looking for work. He was sorry that that prophecy had been fulfilled. Caution was necessary in dealing with the industry, and he urged that a special differentiation should be made for tariff purposes between imported timber used for packing dairy produce and that used for building purposes. He asked the Government not to misapprehend the lull in the agitation in connection with the timber industry. The position was more critical to-day than it had been, and was getting worse, but the millers wer.e doing their utmost to keep the struggling workmen going. He did not want the Government to interpret tlie silence on their part to mean that the trouble was over. They were hanging on, and were depending on the Government to rescue them. REVISION OF TARIFF Revision of the tariff was necessary for the whole of the timber industry, said Mr. Smith, and if it were not given the sawmills would have to close down. The greatest menace- that the industryhad to face was the foreign wall-board, which replaced New Zealand 0.8. timber. Unless the latter was protected the prices of heart timber would increase. The Hon. W. Downie Stewart: Wallboard is made in New Zealand. Air. Smith: If any wall-boards are being made locally they are, of course, entitled to protection, but we are buying sawdust and earth and paper in wall-boards from other countries. As far as the Auckland industry is concerned, I hope the Government will see its way to protect it. Air. Coates: If local wall-board can compete with the imported, what about it? Mr. Smith: I am quite sure it can’t; all the more reason for protection. He congratulated the Government on the setting up of a committee to consider the question of the use of 0.8. timber.