RAILWAYS AND HOME TIMBER. igj 



know better than anyone else that the home-grown Scots pine 

 sleeper was superior to the foreign. 



Mr Chrystal, in replying to Mr Sime, stated that the railway 

 companies were giving the prices asked by the merchants, and 

 that it was really a case of giving more for the foreign at 

 present than less for the home. The probable reason for this 

 was that they found that after buying all the available supply of 

 home sleepers at the price asked they had to go abroad to meet 

 their requirements, and pay the price asked for by the foreign 

 merchant. He stated that if they could get them they would 

 probably buy nothing but home - grown sleepers, but that 

 apparently there was not a sufficient supply. He thought that 

 the specification of the home sleeper was easier than that of the 

 foreign, and he expressed his own personal opinion in emphatic 

 terms to the effect that he considered Norway sleepers were 

 much better than home - grown sleepers. Dealing with the 

 general question before the meeting, IVIr Chrystal said that he 

 understood the question was one of re-aff"orestation in Scotland, 

 and that this was at the back of the idea in getting better 

 prices, and he expected that the deputation would make a very 

 strong point of this question. He informed the deputation that 

 he himself was a landowner, that he grew and sold timber, and 

 realised how small its value was. As regards the question of 

 the prices paid, he said that the railway companies, so far as his 

 information went, bought as much home timber as they could 

 get. He admitted that the prices were diff'erent, and stated that 

 this was accounted for by the fact that the companies could not 

 get a sufficient supply of home-grown sleepers. He supposed 

 that the Scottish timber merchants and others got the best price 

 they could for their timber, but he did not know how these prices 

 were arranged. After the railway companies had bought as 

 many home-grown sleepers as they could get they had to go 

 abroad and purchase the balance at the prices quoted by the 

 foreign merchants. He said that this year the railway companies 

 were unfortunately in the position of having to pay more to the 

 foreign merchants than previously, and he presumed this was 

 the reason for the deputation waiting on them. He pointed out 

 that the railway companies do not prefer to go abroad for their 

 timber if they can buy it at home, and that he thought the 

 Scots timber merchant gets better prices than the foreign 

 merchant, seeing the specification of the Scots timber was, as 



