§ 43. Mr. HANNONasked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department if any special effort is being contemplated by his Department to develop the import of Empire timber; if any communications on this subject have passed between his Department and Dominion and Colonial Governments; and if details of available supplies of Empire soft and hard woods can be prepared for public information?
§ Mr. GILLETTAs the answer is rather long I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. HANNONIs it true that the hoardings upon which Empire Marketing Board advertisements are displayed for the edification of the public are of foreign timber?
§ Following is the answer:
§ 1. The Advisory Committee on Timbers at the Imperial Institute have been engaged for some years on the question of developing the use of Empire timbers in this country, and in 1928 issued a descriptive list of a selection of Empire woods recommended by them.
§ 2. In the same year, the Imperial Economic Committee instituted an inquiry into the general question of the development of trade in Empire woods, the results of which formed the subject of their Tenth Report (Cmd. 3175, 1928). The Committee's main recommendations indicated the need for (a) the collection of full information regarding the extent of the timber resources of the Empire; (b) the investigation of the properties of Empire timbers; and (c) special measures for introducing new Empire woods into the United Kingdom.
§ 3. Action has been taken in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee. Estimates of the total forest resources for a number of countries of the Empire were prepared for the Third British Empire Forestry Conference (1928), and the latest available information on this subject as regards the Dominions (except Newfoundland), India and British West Africa is contained in the volume of "Papers Presented" to that Conference.
§ 4. With the aid of funds provided by the Empire Marketing Board, the Forest 1748 Products Research Laboratory, at Princes Risborough, in association with the Empire Timbers Committee of the Forest Products Research Board, is investigating the properties of Empire woods, in co-operation with the Advisory Committee on Timbers at the Imperial Institute; the latter Committee, on which the Department of Overseas Trade is represented, deals with questions relating to the commercial utilisation and marketing of the timbers. The arrangements under which the work is carried out are defined in a joint statement on the Investigation of Empire Timbers issued in 1930 by the Imperial Institute, the Forest Products Research Laboratory, and the Imperial Forestry Institute, Oxford, of which I am sending the hon. Member a copy.
§ 5. A Committee of the Empire Marketing Board (on which the Forest Products Research Laboratory, Kew, and the Imperial Institute are represented) have in preparation a handbook describing building and decorative timbers of Empire origin available commercially.
§ 6. With a view to the introduction of selected new Empire timbers into this market, the Imperial Institute Timbers Committee, at the invitation of the Marketing Committee of the Empire Marketing Board, recently made proposals for the import of trial consignments of hardwoods. Owing, however, to an unexpected fall in market prices, the experiment has been temporarily postponed.
§ 7. Arising out of the work of the Advisory Committee on Timbers, the Imperial Institute is in frequent communication with Dominion and Colonial Governments. Arrangements are also made for overseas Forestry Officers, when on leave in England, to inform the Committee of the position of the timber industries of their respective countries, and of the possibilities of development.
§ 8. The Empire Marketing Board maintain for the benefit of inquirers a register of instances in which Empire timbers can be seen to advantage.