More Foreign Timber

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 625, 30 March 1929, Page 6

More Foreign Timber

SHIPMENT ARRIVES TO-MORROW Tariff Measure That Failed DUE at Auckland to-morrotv, tlie American freighter Golden Cloud has an Easter present for timber-workers. She brings a shipment of American timber, the commodity indirectly responsible for throwing hundreds of men in the province out of work. In spite of the restrictive duty imposed by the Government in September, 1927, heavy timber imports continue. The Golden Bear and Golden Forest, recent arrivals from the Pacific Coast, both carried timber.

r winter of 1927 produced a crisis in the timber trade. Stagnation had seized the milling centres in the King Country some time before, and the slackness was reflected in the city when some of the large mills, employing hundreds of men, found themselves compelled to put their staffs on short time. The millers claimed Government assistance, and in September a protective tariff was imposed to discourage importations from America. The desired effect was achieved for a

m % Hi 3t Hi Hi HZ & Hi time, but it is now evident that the demand remains firm, and in recent months imports from Canada and the United States have reached a higher mark than ever. Shipments such as the Golden Cloud is bringing are typical of the traffic in overseas timber. To stimulate recutting in New Zealand mills, the tariff embodied a concession toward large or “junk” sizes. Consequently the timber arrives in very large “sticks.” The method of handling these at the local wharves is to drop them overboard and float them around to the waterfront mills. A harbour frontage is just as useful to the miller who deals in foreign timbers as it was in the days when kauri was almost the only product handled. PICTURESQUE PHASES From the spectacular flavour of the discharging operations, to the extremely long lengths in which American timber —particularly the Douglas fir—arrives and is often used, the dealings therein tend to have picturesque phases, through which the adverse economic effect on the New Zealand timber industry is often lost to sight. Last year New Zealand spent nearly

a quarter of a million pounds for the 23,000,000 feet of American timber that she imported. Much of this timber came from Canada, but the bulk of it from the United States. Practically every foot of it came in American steamers, whereby the sum of £80,600 in freights was handed over to a foreign mercantile marine. Much of the timber, of course, was indispensable. No one dares to dispute, or would reasonably attempt to do so, the fact that American timber in New Zealand tills several legitimate functions. The structural work at Buna Park, for instance, represents a shipment of American timber. None other would have been suitable. An enormous amount was used in the Dunedin Exhibition buildings. Here, too, the outside product was legitimately used. But a great deal of the imported timber, when used for joinery, flooring, * weatherboarding, and other purposes, competes directly with New Zealand lines. Joinery made from redwood and Douglas fir has secured a great vogue, yet competent authorities claim that rimu is as handsome and as serviceable. Attention has been drawn to the responsibility of New Zealand architects, who are in a position to guide the public demand. Charges that many architects entertain a prejudice against the New Zealand product have been made in all seriousness. On the other hand, many architects believe that a complete embargo on American timbers, subject to relaxation when long lengths for special purposes are required, would inflict hardship on no one, save perhaps on the importers engaged in the lucrative business of catering for the present public taste. AUCKLAND BY-LAWS In Auckland the City Council bylaws have had much to do with maintaining the prejudice against homegrown timbers. At the instance of a national committee, the council recently agreed to a new classification permitting a slightly wider use of sap lines, but it has yet to be shown that this will be any more effective in a broad sense than the entirely ineffectual tariff provision of 1927. The truth appears to be that a number of factors has combined to create among consumers a prejudice against the New Zealand timbers, which have been admired by forestry authorities from all parts of the world. To overcome this prejudice, and restore confidence in New Zealand timbers, a national campaign may be necessary. Such a campaign, if successful, would yield benefits on a national scale, as the timber industry, in spite of the severity with which. adverse influences have hit it, remains one of the vital industries of the country. While the Golden Cloud and her sister ships are making the Pacific a highway for the damaging traffic in overseas timber, it is interesting—but not very consoling—to learn that American millers have a problem of their own in the competition of Canadian. and Scandinavian timbers on the Atlantic coast. Possibly it is to offset such competition that American millers have reduced their prices to New Zealand, thus countering the tariff, and initiating what is practically a policy of ‘’dumping.”