Southlond Lumbermen ftleet Joponese in SCRTA Offices

Orrie W. Hamilton, executive vice-president of the Southern California Retail Lumber Association, played host October 2 to a representative group of SCRLA members and a delegation of Japanese lumber manufacturers in his office in Los Angeles. Speaking through an interpreter, the Association members learned that the Hokkaido, Japan, delegation was concerned with the loss of business in the U.S.A., especially on such species as oak, tamo, elm and sen.

The Japanese said that, in 1958, the Hokkaido lumber industry produced 46,977,000 feet of oak lumber, 214,000 feet of which was exported to the U.S.A. ; 225,N0 feet of tamo, of which 6,000 feet was sent to this country, and 4,814,000 feet of sen, of which 789,000 feet came to the U.S.A.

The delegation was told by the hardwood dealers present at the meeting that price was a big factor on imports of oak and other hardwoods. Tamo is much darker than ash and therefore not well accepted by consumers in this country, and that sen is not currently in demand for American furniture, although it is highly desirable for mouldings, trim and cabinet work. They were also told that the good logs of sen are being made into