Empty Gesture?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 355, 16 May 1928, Page 10

Empty Gesture?

TIMBER EXPORTS AUTHORISED Commissioner’s Temporary Expedient THOUGH it is a fortnight since the Government ban on timber exports was revoked, outside markets have not vet issued clarion calls for New Zealand timber. Auckland merchants say it will take years to recover the lost trade. Their comments on the Hon. O. Hawken s remark, that the removal of export restrictions is “ a temporary expedient,” are terse but expressive.

Speaking as Commissioner of State Forests, Mr. Hawken advised timber merchants, in making their commitments, to bear in mind that the Government, in accordance with its policy, would be reviewing the position from time to time, and that the ban now lifted might at any time be reimposed. In the view of most millers, and probably of the general public, this statement will imply that the Government’s latest contribution to a solution of timber problems is a gesture not to be taken too seriously.

It would be perfectly obvious that, after overseas combines, and the Australian States particularly, have become accustomed to doing without the New Zealand timbers on which they formerly relied, the market over which New Zealand once held absolute sway will not be easy to recapture. How far these difficulties will be accentu-

ated by a warning that commitments cannot be made far ahead may be just as easily judged. WAIRUNA’S CARGO Last week, leaving Auckland for Adelaide, via Wellington, the Union Company’s freighter Wairuna carried a paradoxical cargo over the first stage of her voyage. On her decks were stacks of American cedar, to be landed at Wellington; and into her holds, as she lay at Queen’s Wharf, she shipped New Zealand kauri for Adelaide. To

the casual observer this might have indicated that the removal of the export embargo had already had effect; but the fact is that kauri has been leaving New Zealand in small quantities ever since the Kauri Timber Company, backed up by the Timberworkers’ Union, last year presented an ultimatum to the Government, along with the unpleasant news that its rejection would plunge more workers than ever Into unemployment. There is more warrant for concern about rimu than about kauri. If a rimu market could be picked up overseas, not only private millers would be assisted, but also the Government might be relieved from the embarrassing situation created by the stocks of sap rimu it has accumulated during operations at Frankton.

In the meantime, however, many Australian importers have large contracts for American timbers which must expire before they can even consider reverting to rimu. Mr. D, Goldie, an Auckland miller who recently returned from Australia, thought there was a possibility that excellent openings for New Zealand timbers would develop there, and the possibility is heightened by the fact that a tariff wall of lls a 100 ft has recently been raised in Australia against American timbers. As New Zealand timbers would be admitted free, the local exporter had a big advantage at the outset; but an Auckland merchant received word, last week, that Australian importers resented the new duty, and would continue, for spite, as it were, to deal In American lines. NEW ZEALAND IMPORTS

Last year New Zealand imposed a higher duty on imported timbers, but it has so far had little effect in discouraging the use of American cedar or Oregon. Mr. Hawken stated that “it was evident that the extra customs duty imposed was having the effect of steadying importations,” but this tendency has so far not been very noticeable In the North, and the obvious counter-move the disposal of New Zealand timbers abroad on a large scale—will not be greatly Assisted by the “temporary expedient" now adopted. Instead a vigorous campaign, supported by aggressive propaganda, Is needed to achieve the desired end, and clear the Dominion’s timber yards of accumulated stocks. The embargo on exports began with the adoption of the slogan, “New Zealand Timber for New Zealanders.” Lofty though this ideal seems, it is held to be one of the ractors that has contributed to the decline of New Zealand’s greatest industry, an industry that employs more men, and pays more in wages, than any other enterprise in the country. Now that the industry is facing a crisis, there is a general belief that something more than temporary expedients should be adopted to help it through. J.G.M.