§ 74. Mr. Marplesasked the Economic Secretary to the Treasury when the Departmental Committee inquiring into the use of timber substitutes is expected to report; and whether their conclusions will be published.
§ Mr. JayThe results of our examination do not support the suggestion that it would me profitable in terms of dollars to substitute timber for steel and other materials.
Firstly, a ready market for steel of all types does not exist in Canada and other hard currency countries. These countries in the main wish to buy specialised types of steel, which, in general, would not be released by timber substitution.
Secondly, if, as we expect, steel output is sufficient in two or three years time to 178W meet both export and home needs, substitution would ultimately mean importing more timber, without any compensating increase in dollar exports of steel and steel manufactures, which could by then be achieved without timber substitution. There would therefore be an actual dollar loss, in so far as any timber imported to effect the substitution cost of dollars.