59

H.—24.

C. A. PIPER.

I have already mentioned. The reduction means 4d. per hundred in the case of Timaru—that is, takiug from Riverton to Timaru; Is. Bd. off Ashburton, and 2s. id. off Christchurch. I have given you that rate from Riverton because it is the ruling rate and applied down here. 18. Hon. the Chairman.] And does that apply to Oamaru?—No, not Oamaru. The rate 4s. is the same as before. 19. Mr. Mander.] Why not Oamaru? —Because the reduction was made to what the Head Office thought was sufficient to meet the case. There is not so much timber going along there — they use a lot of stone. 20. Mr. Hanan.] Is there not a distinction made between the rates on the railways on imported timber and local timber?—lmported timber is all charged rate and a half. 21. Can you say if the rates you have mentioned on timber pay the Department?— Well, I do not know if that is a question I should answer —it is hardly within my province—but, speaking unofficially, 1 should say they will not stand any further reduction. 22. Are you in a position to say whether that last reduction which was made on the railway rates for timber is paying?— Well, it has not been in operation long enough to properly test it. I should say, generally speaking, that the fact of reducing it the longer distance will give the merchants down here an opportunity of cutting into the trade north of Oamaru and Timaru more than they have been able to do, and when you get to Christchurch the reduction is fairly heavy. The quantities, in fact, that have been going to Christchurch have been a mere bagatelle. 23. Do you know if the rates on firewood have been increased? —Firewood rates have not been altered for many years —it is charged for by the truck. Firewood, posts, and fencingmaterial are charged at the same rate, and they are carried by the truck, which is supposed to hold 6 tons. 24. Would you say that is the bed-rock charge that is being made now?—lf you take fifty miles it is £1 3s. 6d., and if divided by six it only comes to 4s. a ton. 25. Does not the same remark apply to carrying timber? —You could not possibly carry firewood long distances—it is out of the question. So far as Southland is concerned, you cannot do any firewood business in Dunedin, because you have the Catlin's district in between. If the rates were cut down it would not pay us, and would not do any good to them. If you take 140 miles to Dunedin it is £2 6s. a truck, and if that were reduced where would the Catlin's River people come in ? We should have to carry their stuff for nothing. 26. Can you give us any figures showing any increase in revenue on account of the timber carried in this district? —I cannot give you the total, but I can give you the figures of what we have carried during the last three years. I may tell you before giving the figures for Southland that the total quantity of timber carried on the Hurunui-Bluff Section, from Culverden right down, in 1895, was 36,000,000 ft., in 1900 it grew to 58,000,000 ft., and last year it was 89,000,000 ft. 27. Mr. Ell.] Native timber only, or all classes?— That is all classes, but the proportion of imported timber to that is not very large. 28. Have you got the proportion?—No, I have not. I can give you the proportion of our local stufi, and this is simply a general statement. Now, coming to Southland, our figures for the year ending the 31st March, 1907, were 28,300,000 ft. That, of course, includes all timber that goes through our books. For the year ending 31st March, 1908, it was 28,400,000 ft., and for this year ending 31st March, assuming that this month will be the average of the preceding months of the .year, the total will be about 28,080,000 ft., a drop of about 400,000 ft. for the year. If you wish the figures for the various districts I can give them to you, only I should like to explain here that, owing to our method of book-keeping, we do not show each siding and station separately. Where you have a number of stations such as at Riverton, where you have Longwood, Oraki, Colac, Wakapatu, Ruahine, and Pahia, they are all accounted for at Riverton. The timber from Orepuki and those places beyond it up the Waiau would be shown under the heading of Orepuki. These are the figures for the year ending 31st March, 1908: Kelso, 19,350 ft.; Gore, 118,100 ft.; Mataura, an average of 200,000 ft. for the last three years; Woodlands' average is about 1,600,000 ft.; Invercargill, including Longbush, One-tree Point, West Plains, Wallacetown, and the stations on the Waimahaka Branch average for the three years 4,500,000 ft. Of course the original Seaward Bush is nearly cut out; I suppose the drop there during the last four or five years is 3,000,000 ft. a year. Waimahaka averages 300,000 ft.; Makarewa, roughly, 1,000,000 ft.; Riverton, up to- 8,000,000 ft.; Orepuki, 5,000,000 ft.; Fairfax, 1,500,000 ft.; Otautau, 2,250,000 ft.; Winton, 1,500,000 ft.; Centre Bush, 400,000 ft. These are the main districts from which the timber is sent. Of course, there are a number of smaller ones which cut a matter of thirty or forty thousand feet, but they are not worth taking into account. The total forwarded from this district for the three years past amounted to 84,780,000 ft. As regards imported timber, the total quantity imported during the last two years at the Bluff was, for 1907 838,400 ft., and for 1908 1,089,124 ft. The quantity shipped in 1907 was 446,000 ft., and last year 756,000 ft. 29. Mr. Ell.] That is all native timber shipped away? —Yes. Including the imports there are about 60,000 ft. of kauri in each year; the great bulk of the balance is Australian timber. So far as I can learn, from the Bluff during the last two years there has only been one small lot of 15,000 ft. of Oregon imported. 30. Mr. Hanan.] You cannot say what has been the quantity of Oregon railed? —No, it would be simply charged up as timber; but it could not come in through other places than the Bluff —it is hardly likely to come from Dunedin. In addition to the timber which I gave you, there is an item of 6,800 tons of hardwood sleepers—roughly, about 130,000 or 140,000 —imported by the Government last year. I may tell you that, last year, of the total quantity imported, 475,000 ft. was for the Harbour Board for wharves.