11 



(c.) Railway rates. There has been a very general consensus 

 of opinion that railway rates have been too high. In certain cases 

 they have been so high that there has been no opportunity of doing 

 a profitable business in pit-wood and, consequently, fellings are being 

 restricted to the high-priced timbers such as larch. Two districts 

 in particular call for observations, viz. : the South of England and 

 East Anglia. In the counties of Surrey and Hampshire there are 

 probably about 640 5 000 tons of pine, larch and hardwood timbers 

 suitable for mining purposes. Railway rates between centres of 

 supplv and centres of distribution have been as follows : 



s. d. 

 Godalming-Nottingham ... ... 17 per ton. 



Liphook-Sheffield district 23 



Wokingham-Brandon, Durham ... 28 4 

 Romsey-Radstock ... ... ... 60 ,, 



Returns showing the quantity of pit-wood in Dorset have not 

 been obtained, but the conditions are very similar to those in 

 Hampshire. The following rates have been quoted : 



s. d. 

 Shillingstone-Chesterfield ... ... 25 7 per ton. 



Doncaster ... ... 27 10 



Rotherham ... ... 26 10 



Tredegar 19 10 



Somerset, where there are probably about 350,000 tons of pine, 

 larch (chiefly) and hardwoods, lies nearer to centres of demand and 

 some of the rates are low, but in certain instances they have been 

 practically prohibitive, e.g. : 



s. d. 

 Minehead-Radstoek ... ... 16 per ton. 



Porlock- Staffordshire Collieries ... 23 6 



In the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk there are probably about 

 260,000 tons of pine, larch, spruce and hardwoods. The following 

 rates have been quoted : 



s. d. 

 Thetford-Stanton Grate Collieries ... 13 10 per ton. 



Burton-on-Trent 14 10 



Nuneaton 17 9 



Brandon-Nottingham ... .., lo 9 



Swadlincote Collieries ... 19 10 

 Higham -Nottingham ... ... 21 6 



Staffordshire Collieries ... 21 6 



(d.) Inadequate prices offered. Generally speaking, merchants 

 appear to have been offering fair prices (compared with the normal 

 prices). Naturally they have been trying to buy up as large 

 quantities as possible, first in the hope of a rise, and secondly 

 because this course presents economies in conversion. 



There are so many conditions which affect the value of a given 

 lot of timber (such as accessibility, quality of timber and so on) 

 that it is not always easy to assess prices, but it would appear that 

 in general, where inadequate prices are pseventative of supplies 

 coming forward, excessive railway rates are the predominant 

 cause. 



