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C. PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE Procedure (1) The rules of procedure adopted for the conduct of the Conference deserve no ■special mention, more especially as the whole of the Conference was conducted most pleasantly and informally under the able Chairmanship of Mr. R. M. Fowler, President of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association. The freest possible discussion was the invariable rule of the Conference, and no question of the right of any delegate, observer, or other member of a delegation either to speak or to vote was debated during the proceedings. Agenda (2) The amended agenda set out in Exhibit B was closely followed by the Conference. Delegates had first to sift, assemble, and present their wood-pulp statistics in usable form before proceeding to analyse them on either a regional or world basis, but because of lack of uniformity in their collection the Conference was forced to compromise on various objectives, and to judge such meagre statistics as were available in some cases in the light of the best available knowledge amongst the assembled delegates. The brief statement on the New Zealand wood-pulp position made at the opening session by the Hon. C. F. Skinner as Chief Delegate is attached as Exhibit C. Statistical Work (3) The statistical work of the Conference proved more time-consuming than had been anticipated, and in order to secure usable data for urgent analysis and critical examination it was decided to concentrate on the collection of the more important data, with emphasis upon the two broad classes of chemical and mechanical pulp. This was achieved by making individual delegates with specialized knowledge and experience responsible for the completion of the work in six sections : (a) Capacity and production. (b) Consumption and requirements. (c) Import requirements. (d) Export supplies. (e) Dissolving wood-pulp supplies and requirements. (/) Pulp-wood requirements and supplies. PART lII—REPORT OF THE PREPARATORY CONFERENCE ON WORLD PULP PROBLEMS (Note. —For convenience, all tables have been retained in their original form on the basis of metric tons (2,2041b.). In subsequent sections of the report both short tons (2,000 lb.) and long tons (2,2401b.) are variously used, but in all cases the basis is clearly defined. The Annexes referred to herein are not reprinted in this report.) Preamble 1. In 1948, world production of wood-pulp reached an all-time high of about 28,000,000 metric tons. At the same time, a number of new mills were under construction or in an advanced stage of planning in North America, Latin America and Oceania. In Europe and Japan, efforts were being made to restore, as far as possible, pre-war capacities of the pulp and paper industries. Towards the end of the year, however, the world market for pulp was beginning to show signs of at least temporary saturation, and this created some uncertainty among producers and consumers about the world situation and outlook for wood-pulp.

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