WOOD PULP 193 



year — 530,000 loads to 572,000, valued respectively at 

 £1,819,000 and £2,034,000. There was also a small 

 decrease of about £62,000 sterling under the head of 

 " Unenumerated Countries " for this group. 



Group IV. consists of miscellaneous products, in- 

 cluding mahogany, staves, etc. The details of the 

 imports for the six months' period are given on p. 192. 

 The imports of staves, as shown by the table, have 

 dropped to exactly one-third during the past six 

 months — 33,000 to 99,000 loads, valued at £237,000 

 and £547,000, the price having risen from £5*5 per 

 load to £7 'I per load. As was to be expected, the 

 imports of mahogany decreased from 92,000 tons to 

 42,000 tons, valued at £805,000 and £315,000. A 

 point of interest about these figures is that the price 

 of this fine timber dropped during the period from 

 £8*7 per ton to £7*5 per ton. The " Unenumerated " 

 materials in this group also show a decrease of nearly 

 a quarter of a million pounds sterling. 



Our last group, Group V., consists of wood pulp and 

 mill-board and wood-pulp board. It is a group 

 possessing peculiar interest at this juncture. Setting 

 aside the question of the daily Press, which is so de- 

 pendent upon this material, we should all of us find 

 it difficult to get on without the cheaper forms of paper, 

 even in our domestic life. Perhaps the most significant 

 feature of the imports of this product of wood lies in 

 the fact that whilst the imports during the war period 

 actually rose to a slight extent, the price has also risen 

 as compared with the same period during the previous 

 year. This increase must presumably be attributed 

 to the rise in shipping freights. The price rose from 



