LANDOWNERS CO-OPERATIVE FORESTRY SOCIETY. 237 



for each class of timber, then for proprietors to sell at that 

 value and not less. 



During 19 13 the Society has given much attention to the 

 present unsatisfactory condition of the market for home timber, 

 and in this they have been assisted by the leading timber 

 merchants. Owing to the causes already referred to the price 

 of home timber has been allowed to fall below its intrinsic 

 value as compared to that of foreign timber. A report upon 

 the subject was drawn up by the Timber Committee and 

 circulated among the members ; from this report it was shown 

 that for manufactured Scots pine and spruce, the prices ranged 

 from II per cent, to 77 per cent, less than for manufactured 

 foreign timber from the same species of tree. This is partly 

 accounted for by the fact that the foreigner controls the trade 

 in the larger sizes of battens and deals used for construction, 

 a department in which the home timber merchant cannot 

 meantime compete with him ; this, however, is not a complete 

 explanation, for even in those classes of manufactured timber which 

 can be equally well made of home and foreign timber (e.g. railway 

 sleepers), the prices ruling for the home-grown article are far 

 lower than for the corresponding article of foreign manufacture. 

 The true remedy for this state of things lies in standardising 

 the price of standing timber by the method already indicated, 

 but concurrently with this movement something might de done 

 by drawing the attention of merchants to the need for combined 

 action for improving the prices of manufactured home timber. 

 The Society is presently in negotiation with the railway 

 companies with a view to obtaining a fair price for home 

 sleepers ; the negotiations have not reached a definite conclusion, 

 but it is believed that in course of time a satisfactory 

 compromise will be arrived at. The position of the market 

 for colliery timber is even more serious than that for railway 

 sleepers ; the trade in Scots pine and spruce pitwood has been 

 captured by the foreigner, and it is feared will not be recovered 

 under present trade conditions ; but with regard to manufactured 

 articles such as pit sleepers, crowns, hutch cleading, etc., which 

 are mainly supplied by home timber merchants, the remedy lies 

 in the hands of the merchants themselves, for the present prices are 

 so low that it would not pay the foreigner to compete against them. 

 There is only one branch of the timber trade in which we 

 need not fear foreign competition ; I refer to larch. No larch 



