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The provision of further accommodation for married and for single employees Teceived attention during the year and considerable progress was made, details being set out in paragraph 56. A list of the forests on which expansion has been planned is annexed (Appendix X), 99. Export Butter-box and Cheese-crate Pools.—During the year ended the 31st March, 1947, the deliveries of timber to North Island boxmakers licensed under the Export Butter-box and Cheese-crate Pool Regulations 1941 amounted to only 4,169,000 board feet (8,704,000). North Island sawmills supplied 2,446,000 board feet of whitepine and 149,000 board feet of rimu, the balance, consisting of 733,000 board feet of white-pine and 841,000 board feet of rimu, having been shipped from the west coast ports of the South Island. The total supply from the west coast ports —viz., 1,574,000 board feet (5,249,000) — was the lowest received since the pool was commenced in 1936. While shortage of shipping was essentially the cause, it is pertinent to record that even if more vessels had been available the shipping of white-pine would not have increased. White-pine production has fallen to so low a level in Westland that industries that have been using this timber for purposes previously regarded as essential will not in the future be able to satisfy their full needs with respect t@ it. During the year, North Island dairy companies were supplied with 4,449,000 -(5,013,000) export butter-boxes, comprising 926,000 (1,366,000) standard wooden boxes, 1,242,000 (814,000) " Saranac " type boxes (fibre-board sides, tops, and bottoms and cleated wooden ends), 549,000 (1,336,000) corrugated fibre-board cartons made in New -Zealand from Canadian liner, and 1,732,000 (1,497,000) solid fibre-board cartons (the bulk of which were imported). At the close of the year, stocks of butter-boxes of all types held by dairy factories "totalled 615,000 (934,000). Although this stock is below normal, there appear to be reasonable prospects of satisfactory quantities being shortly received of fibre boxes •ordered by the New Zealand Dairy Board. It is accordingly expected that the dairying industry will have an adequate supply of butter-boxes by the time the 1947-48 season's •demand is felt. During the year, 1,168,000 (1,236,000) cheese-crates were supplied to dairy factories, North Island boxmakers contributing 987,000 (1,074,000) and South Island boxmakers 181,000 (162,000). Both cheese-crates and apple-cases at current controlled prices are not sufficiently economical to produce in most box-factories, and increases in price are probably necessary to ensure adequate supplies for next season. . • CHAPTER XII.—TIMBER CONTROL 100. Timber Production Advisory Committee.—The Timber Production Advisory Committee, under the chairmanship of the Commissioner of State Forests, held three meetings during 1946-47. The membership of the Committee remained unchanged. Timber Workers' Housing.—The main work of the Committee during the year was to continue its investigations into methods of effecting improvements in the standard of accommodation at bush sawmills, resulting in the Government's acceptance of recommendations which were substantially embodied in legislation under Part 111 of the Finance Act (No. 2), 1946. This legislation, which is administered by the State Advances -Corporation, provides for the construction and erection of standard demountable houses and for the disposal of these houses by the Corporation to sawmillers in bush areas by way of sale or by way of hire-purchase covering a period of twenty years. It also gives the Corporation power to make advances not exceeding £2OO in each case for the purpose of enabling sawmillers to bring existing houses up to the desired standard. The finance to cover the cost of buildirg and erecting the houses, the advances on existing dwellings, and administrative expenses is being provided by a levy of 6d. per

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