N.Z. TIMBER TRADE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1032, 24 July 1930, Page 7

N.Z. TIMBER TRADE

INQUIRY INTO FOREIGN COMPETITION PRIME MINISTER’S PROMISE Press Association WELLINGTON, Today. Ail investigation of the timber industry was yesterday promised to a deputation of members of Parliament by the Prime Minister, the Hon. G. W. Forbes. In the opinion of the deputation the industry was being crippled because of unfair dumping of American limber into the Dominion and that if a prohibitive tariff was placed on foreign timber the sawmills would absorb most of the unemployed. It was also suggested that New Zealand might bargain with Canada as between timber from Canada and butter from this country. Mr. Forbes promised that an Inquiry would be held into the position this session. VALUE OF INDUSTRY AID TO UNEMPLOYMENT GROWERS HOLD CONFERENCE Prom Our Resident Reporter WELLINGTON, Today. The possibilities which lie before the timber trade in New Zealand and the part it might play in increasing the wealth of the country were discussed by Mr. W. Fraser, of Auckland, president of the New Zealand Timber Growers’ Association, in his address to the association's annual meeting yesterday. “In New Zealand,” said Mr. Fraser, “we can grow softwoods which, under a wise system, will, in conjunction with the other parts of the Empire, enable us largely to discontinue purchasing from foreigners. It is hoped that the coming Imperial Conference will witness a definite forward move in this direction.” Dealing with tho present position in New Zealand, Mr. Fraser referred to the fact that the Unemployment Committee had strongly advanced the claims of the industry, in its seasonal importance, in the employment of large numbers of workers during the otherwise slack period. The members of the association realised that they were rapidly approaching the time when the utilisation side of their business would be probably the most important industrial factor in the manufacturing sphere of the Dominion. He referred to the provision in the constitution for the establishment of bureaux within the association, and said the majority of members realised that there was a great deal of costly research work which should be jointly carired on in the interests of forest protection, development and utilisation. Present-day conditions demanded the application of scientific remedies to industrial problems. Many of the present commercial maladies were due to failure to appreciate that fact. The best way to he prepared for the future, in so far as the timber-growing industry was concerned, was to study the developments taking place in cellulose productions, which, apparently, offered the most remunerative form of utilising suitable wood.