THE TIMBER COMMISSION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 58, 2 April 1909, Page 2

THE TIMBER COMMISSION.

By Telegraph.—Press •Association. Dune'din, Last Night. At a sitting of the Timber Commission to-day, Mr. Gabriel Hodges, builder and contractor, said he was i* favor of Orc"i m and other foreign timber being admitted duty free. Oregon and Australian hard wood Idled a inueh-fcll want. The prices for timber in general in Dunedin ■had advanced of late years, but still compared favorably with those ruliii" in other centres. The price of timber's ffected a number of buildings being erected, especially as regarded buildings of a speculative nature. Oregon and Australian hard wood supplied a want that it was impossible to lill with any native timber. Jt gave better lengths, bigger sizes, was better seasoned, easier "to handle, and retained size and shape better than any local timber. The builders nut in unseasoned timber because thev could not get seasoned. The extra cost ot timber now as compared with some

I years ago was principally for dressed timber, such as linings, ceilings, mouldings, etc. He understood there was a combination among timber merchants in Dunedin to keep up prices. Thev had a price-list. He did not think 'forest plantations would provide a duplicate of native timber. It would provide another timber of some commercial value but not as mod. '

H. V. Haddock, manager for Murdoch j and Co., timber merchants, said the im- . portalion of timber made very little . dill'crcnce to Southland and other sawmills. More Oregon had come f> Cue mill .luring the last two or three months limn 111 the past, lilue gum and black pine had given way to concrete for piles, and there was not the same necessity for importing hard wood. There liad been no revision of prices, except as to Haltic and Oregon pine. The Dunedin prices were iixed at Invercargill The railway freights were reasonable. It would not make anv difference |o him whether the duty ' was taken oil' or put on imported limber. He tlioiHil it was desirable to conserve our forests I lo some extent. Ten years ago timber was 10s, with 5 per cent, discount; now it was I3s, with 10 per cent, dis- | count. Tlie expense of getting ;|mbcr j I was a great deal less in the past than mow. I A. McCiilliuu, saw-miller and timber merchant, advocated a duty on alt sizes of Oregon pine. Timber might be hrouglit from sueli places as Colae Jluv and the West Coast by vessels at ], less price, than they we're now paring. The timber business was not as payable as it was 10 years ago. Oregon was not likely to reduce the cost of New Zealand timber. I