Universal Classification.

Progress, Volume XVI, Issue 5, 1 January 1921, Page 112

Universal Classification.

A general desire appears now to be manifest in several districts to get closer to a general universal classification of timber for the whole Dominion, which, to our mind, is a thing very much to be dlesired. In the “ bad old days ” when the sawmiller was at the mercy of the merchant, timber was sold from the mills practically at one price for “ the cut of the log,” and the price was generally based on the lowest quality, but through organisation the millers have been "gradually educated to the benefit of strict classification. The classification, however, in the different districts still varies considerably, and when millers from several districts are supplying any one market this variation is liable to lead to confusion and disputes. Consequently if one classification could be fixed for the whole Dominion for each timber it would be a benefit all round, and any move in this direction should be fostered. There is now some form of classification in every sawmilling district in New Zealand except Nelson—and this is but another illustration of the generally accepted opinion of the backwardness of that province—but it .is pleasing to note that even there the millers are beginning to talk classification.