§ Mr. P. Thorneycroftasked the President of the Board of Trade the figure of profit or loss on trading in home grown timber by his Department during the years 1940–45.
§ Mr. Belcher:The Home Timber Production Department was set up to develop and assist the industry in the production of home grown timber and has been directly responsible for only a small proportion of the total production including much which was uneconomic by ordinary standards. In order to supplement private production to the maximum extent, it had to meet the exceptional cost of training and supervising unskilled labour, working remote and difficult stands which private producers would not have found remunerative and operating special forestry units, whose cost per unit of production was necessarily high. The net cost of its operations to 31st March, 1945, after deducting the value of the timber sold by it, amounted to £11,750,000