THE TIMBER TRADE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 166, 22 May 1879, Page 2

THE TIMBER TRADE.

[From the llangitikei Advocate] Another phrase of the -timber question i now presents itsalf. The mills in the Sound, to which, through Hie recent in' ilux of American timber, the Southern markets and large sea-ports are closed, are again opening up a trade with Wanganui, to which port, wo are informed, several vessels have recently been chartered to convey cargoes of timber. This will have the effect of reducing the price there, and also of decreasing the consumption and demand, The outlook is certainly not very cheering for those who have invested their capital in sawmills, as it is very difficult at the present time to see where a market for the produce of the twenty local mills is to be found. With the export trade cut off, and the Wanganui market supplied frcm across the Strait, Where is our timber to find purchasers 1 It is a very serious tiling for Feilding, which of course, draws the chief of its support from its timber-re-venue. If that industry should from any cause collapse, the value of property in Feilding, and its general prosperity must deteriorate as rapidly as their present position was attained, A reduction of wages is in any case inevitable, which means a diminished circulation of money. We should be shall be glad if the present crisis ends there, but we greatly fear it will not. The closng of some of the mills appears imminent, unless the proprietors make up their minds to compete at a great disadvantage, which might involve working at a loss; and that, all could not afford, and few would cave, to do. We would deprecate any species of "cutting" as regards trade-prices, but we fear it will come to that before long. The Auckland mills, with the exception of the one that secured the extensive contract for the Admiralty, arc in a terribly depressed state, and look forward to a very hard winter, unless an alteration in the tariff takes place, and even that could not take effect immediately. Feilding would no| have felt the blow so severely had it attained a more advanced age, and been deriving an agricultural and pastoral, as well as a timber-revenue. To have its principal resource thus severely crippled, while the place is yet in its infancy, will most certainly seriously and directly interfere with its otherwise rapid growth and substantial progress, and the effects of the juncture will make themselves felt in every branch of business, and will affect prejudicially the whole community, not excluding the railway department. Indications of a slightly wandering confidence in the stability of Feilding arc already apparent. It was confidently expected that two additional banks would by this time have been in business; of these, one has withdrawn, altogether, and the other

shows no disposition to open the agency, the premises for the occupation of which remain unoccupied. We should like to know—first, what sum yearly the reduction on the former price of timber represents to the firm of Guthrie & Larnach ; and secondly, what representations the last-named member of that firm, when acting as Colonial Treasurer, submitted to his successor, the present Treasurer, to induce an alteration in the tariff, the result of which now threatens to ruin the timber industry of the whole colony ?