The Timber Trades Outlook.

Progress, Volume XV, Issue 6, 1 February 1920, Page 721

The Timber Trades Outlook.

One does not need to possess an inside knowledge of the timber trade in Australia to come to' the conclusion that in certain important lines the supplies are short, and the profits are correspondingly good. Builders and other consumers know to their sorrow that anything "soft" is saleable in Sydney to-day at almost any price the holder likes to ask. It is a case of take what you can get. Australian forests cannot supply the deficiency because past administrations paid no heed to future requirements. America and Canada do not just now court the .Australian markets, because shipping is scarce and Europe provides a. moire profitable field for exploitation under conditions of after- war reconstruction.

;-'" Australia is. therefore, in a somewhat parlous condition. To some extent the demand for soft woods mierht be met by the use of the valuable brush wood to be found in various parts of the Commonwealth, but meeting the demand to-day would mean worse misfortune in years to come, because it would entail further depletion of the not-too-plentiful forests. But soft wood timber of unexcelled quality is available in somewhat limited quantities, and " the existing shortage , should be the occasion for popularizing its use in preference 1 to perpetuatiner the call for imports from across the Pacific. Take the case of timber required in the butter trade! and it is a by/no means inconsiderable nnantity. It has become a recognised custom .to make buttnr boxes from New Zealand pine, but New Zealand is not. so keen now asi- it used to be about exporting its softwoods for i this purpose, and the : butter factories are faced with

difficulties. There are prejudices against the use of New South Wales timbers, but the objections have been proved to be only prejudice. And so it is in other lines. Such antipathy as there is in the Commonwealth to the use of Australian timbers must be overcome. This great island continent is quite capable of being made self-dependent for timber, as it is for many other requirements which we now purchase from foreigners; but if we are to derive the proper benefit from the forests there must be proper management. Probably if the timber merchants were given a free hand to-day they would cut. sufficient soft woods locally to meet the heavy call upon the market, and they would find the business a paying one they would quickly create a demand for the Australian article. But they would leave future generations in a. worse state than they themselves and the general public are to-day. Therefore a strict policy of forest conservation and observance of the most scientific principles and practices of sylviculture must be closely adhered to. It is a terrible, indictment of Australian forestry as it used to be, that the building of war-service homes should be dependent upon the importation of many millions of feet of Canadian and American soft wood timber; but should a similar demand arise twenty-five years hence, the position will not be any better unless Australian Forestry Commissioners and. Conservators are permitted to manage the forests without political interference, and, in the reverse, with a keen regard for future needs. The soft wood problem is a big one for Australian, foresters; but it is not too big for them if they are permitted to carry out the Acts under which they hold office.