of using up second-rate timber-trees and other trees doomed to elim- 

 ination for silvicultural reasons, which material otherwise was 

 difficult to dispose of . In the year 1905 followed the building of the 

 first State sawmill at Siuro, another was built in 1908 at Lieksa 

 (Kevatniemi Sawmill) and a tfrird in 1909 at Sukeva. The sawmill 

 at Lieksa is three-framed, the others two-framed. Still under building 

 are the Veitsiluoto Sawmill at the mouth of the Kemijoki river, 

 which is intended for completion this year as six-framed, though the 

 plans allow of an extension up to twelve frames. Its founding was 

 brought about mainly by the poor possibilities of sales from the great 

 State forests in North Finland. Besides these sawmills in the true 

 sense of the word, the State owns two larger firewood sawmills: 

 those at Uuksu and Uimaharju. The greater part of the products 

 of the Siuro, Kevatniemi and Sukeva sawmills is nowadays sold 

 abroad, although, as mentioned earlier, they were originally founded 

 chiefly for the sake of the State railways. In the year 1921, for exam- 

 ple, sawn timber for close on 17 million marks was sold abroad. The 

 significance of state enterprise in this matter lies, not only in the 

 improvement of sales from the State forest, but also in the fact that the 

 Board of Forestry is thus enabled to follow the variations in timber 

 prices abroad, and in transport and refining expenses at home, and by 

 means of its contracting activities, to find a trustworthy base for its 

 pricing of growing forest. Further, through the sale of sawn timber, 

 the State receives a supply of foreign currency. The situation of the 

 three sawmills in the interior is naturally unfavourable from the point 

 of view of export. The new sawmill at Veitsiluoto will, on the other 

 hand, be in direct communication with countries abroad. The 

 combined annual profits of the State sawmills has been: 



1917 991 159 marks 



1918 1^.667 956 



1919 4*161 262 



1920 2 113950 



1921 3 035 379 



The diversification of the business side of the State's forest 

 management pictured in the foregoing will make it easier to take 

 advantage of the business conditions prevailing at different times and 

 thus help to improve the economical results. 



An important factor in the improvement of prices and market 

 conditions is the facilitating of transport possibi- 

 lities. In this respect the most important matter is the improve- 

 ment of floating and rafting conditions. Especially in the case of 

 the larger rivers in North Finland, which are of exceedingly great 

 importance for the State forests, has rafting been greatly hindered 

 by the defective cleaning of the rivers, by controversies over fishing 



